This is so apt and well-put. I can’t help comparing the increasingly visible strategy of relentlessly using “proximity to Arabs” as some bizarre and nonsensical marker of Jewish authenticity to the Jewish communities in Germany who thought intentional assimilation into European society would save them… only to then be disproportionately persecuted all the same. There’s even a resemblance to the regrettable strategy many antizionist Jews in the west employ by dimming and denying their own identity and peoplehood for acceptance from their peers/fans/academic institutions.
I often point out that Islamists, white supremacists and other antisemites don’t give AF whether our ancestors were exiled into Italy or Iraq OR when they returned to Israel. It’s also worth noting that there is just as much phenotypic overlap btwn Jewish diasporic communities as there is btwn Jewish and Arab communities. Indeed, many Ashkenazim are very brown and Palestinians come in all complexions, just like Mizrahi and Sephardi communities do. Personally, I love Jewish diasporic history and the diverse cultural landscape that makes up the global Jewish community. I think it’s important to celebrate and shine a light on these unique but related experiences, including Jewish displacement from mena countries, the ways the Holocaust spread into “the Arab world” and the long historical presence of Jewish communities there. However, it is no more misguided to use proximity to Arab/Islamic colonial empires as a way to prove belonging than it is to use proximity to European/Christian colonial empires to do so.
Absolutely. The Spanish were the first to identify the Jews in racial terms such as not fitting into the category of "Limpieza de Sangre" or "Pura Sangre." They were seen as alien to the Spanish, not to mention the "Christ Killer" myth that permeated throughout Europe.
Ashkenazi Jews are genetically a mix of Israelite and Roman populations with some Eastern European sprinkled in. But the European versus non-European dichotomy is new. Back in the day there was the Mediterranean and Rome and Greece and so on and then the rest of the world.
I don’t think it’s totally accurate to say Hitler killed Jews because they were Middle Eastern. There are genetic differences between Ashkenazi Jews and ethnic Germans and certainly Hitler made a big deal about the Aryan thing. But really I think his main motivation was that he thought Jews ran the world (I wish), invented communism (a leftist anti-Zionist anti-Semitic Jew did), and stabbed Germany in the back at the end of WWI (leftist anti-Zionist Jews were overrepresented among the commies that wanted Jews to surrender).
This was an excellent article and I learned quite a few things about the Jewish landscape. I'm a secular Iranian and I've also experienced the loony Left's antics when it comes to opposing Islam. It's all too similar to your experiences so I won't labour on it now, but I just wanted to say that I sympathise with your plight and I'm sorry that you didn't find allies where expected. Please know that you have many many Iranian friends. Am Yisrael Chai.❤️🫂
It should be remembered that the first Jews who came to the Americas were Sephardim. And it should also be remembered that they were sort of the "elite" of American Jewry.
Many lived in the South, and many fought for the Confederacy. (Judah Benjamin served in many important positions in the Confederate cabinet.) Not because of slavery, but because that was where "home" was. Many also looked down upon Ashkenazim. All Jews in America were considered "Free White Men." And there are many "Sepharadim Tehorim" that distinguish themselves from Mizrahim.
One thing is for sure. Jew-haters don't distinguish between Jews of different backgrounds. And so-called "Jews of Color" is not going to make racial minorities and the Left start to embrace Jews. I think 10/7 should have shattered that delusion forever.
It’s a good article. I would say that there is a “racial” or genetic element to being Jewish, in that you can take a DNA test and it can tell you if you are of Jewish descent. Just like there’s a “racial” element to being Italian or Greek or Egyptian or Chinese or a member of any other people.
But the white/brown dichotomy is stupid. I mean it’s just ahistorical. Look at a Lebanese Christian and look at a Greek. Can you say the Lebanese is a brown middle eastern and the Greek is a white European?
This is so apt and well-put. I can’t help comparing the increasingly visible strategy of relentlessly using “proximity to Arabs” as some bizarre and nonsensical marker of Jewish authenticity to the Jewish communities in Germany who thought intentional assimilation into European society would save them… only to then be disproportionately persecuted all the same. There’s even a resemblance to the regrettable strategy many antizionist Jews in the west employ by dimming and denying their own identity and peoplehood for acceptance from their peers/fans/academic institutions.
I often point out that Islamists, white supremacists and other antisemites don’t give AF whether our ancestors were exiled into Italy or Iraq OR when they returned to Israel. It’s also worth noting that there is just as much phenotypic overlap btwn Jewish diasporic communities as there is btwn Jewish and Arab communities. Indeed, many Ashkenazim are very brown and Palestinians come in all complexions, just like Mizrahi and Sephardi communities do. Personally, I love Jewish diasporic history and the diverse cultural landscape that makes up the global Jewish community. I think it’s important to celebrate and shine a light on these unique but related experiences, including Jewish displacement from mena countries, the ways the Holocaust spread into “the Arab world” and the long historical presence of Jewish communities there. However, it is no more misguided to use proximity to Arab/Islamic colonial empires as a way to prove belonging than it is to use proximity to European/Christian colonial empires to do so.
Great article the irony is Ashkenazi Jews were slaughtered because they weren’t European.
Absolutely. The Spanish were the first to identify the Jews in racial terms such as not fitting into the category of "Limpieza de Sangre" or "Pura Sangre." They were seen as alien to the Spanish, not to mention the "Christ Killer" myth that permeated throughout Europe.
Ashkenazi Jews are genetically a mix of Israelite and Roman populations with some Eastern European sprinkled in. But the European versus non-European dichotomy is new. Back in the day there was the Mediterranean and Rome and Greece and so on and then the rest of the world.
I don’t think it’s totally accurate to say Hitler killed Jews because they were Middle Eastern. There are genetic differences between Ashkenazi Jews and ethnic Germans and certainly Hitler made a big deal about the Aryan thing. But really I think his main motivation was that he thought Jews ran the world (I wish), invented communism (a leftist anti-Zionist anti-Semitic Jew did), and stabbed Germany in the back at the end of WWI (leftist anti-Zionist Jews were overrepresented among the commies that wanted Jews to surrender).
This was an excellent article and I learned quite a few things about the Jewish landscape. I'm a secular Iranian and I've also experienced the loony Left's antics when it comes to opposing Islam. It's all too similar to your experiences so I won't labour on it now, but I just wanted to say that I sympathise with your plight and I'm sorry that you didn't find allies where expected. Please know that you have many many Iranian friends. Am Yisrael Chai.❤️🫂
Strong piece. Thank you for it
It should be remembered that the first Jews who came to the Americas were Sephardim. And it should also be remembered that they were sort of the "elite" of American Jewry.
Many lived in the South, and many fought for the Confederacy. (Judah Benjamin served in many important positions in the Confederate cabinet.) Not because of slavery, but because that was where "home" was. Many also looked down upon Ashkenazim. All Jews in America were considered "Free White Men." And there are many "Sepharadim Tehorim" that distinguish themselves from Mizrahim.
One thing is for sure. Jew-haters don't distinguish between Jews of different backgrounds. And so-called "Jews of Color" is not going to make racial minorities and the Left start to embrace Jews. I think 10/7 should have shattered that delusion forever.
That’s funny. You don’t look Seraphic.
It’s a good article. I would say that there is a “racial” or genetic element to being Jewish, in that you can take a DNA test and it can tell you if you are of Jewish descent. Just like there’s a “racial” element to being Italian or Greek or Egyptian or Chinese or a member of any other people.
But the white/brown dichotomy is stupid. I mean it’s just ahistorical. Look at a Lebanese Christian and look at a Greek. Can you say the Lebanese is a brown middle eastern and the Greek is a white European?
A lot of Ashkenazim are also very brown looking too. In fact, I’d wager a larger percentage of us were until the Teutonic scourge