The Israel-US Relationship: Scrutiny Without Antisemitism

The joint US-Israel military strikes on Iran have forced a reckoning that American political culture has been approaching for years, but has perhaps never had to face as head-on as it does right now. It is a reckoning that contains two urgent, legitimate, and partially contradictory imperatives – and neither should be abandoned.

Let us start with one simple truth: Israel's role in drawing the United States into military action against Iran warrants serious scrutiny. Whatever one believes about the strategic logic of the strikes, the process by which the United States came to participate in them raises profound questions about the relationship between the two countries. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has claimed that the US struck Iran partly because it knew Israel was going to act unilaterally and feared the blowback. In other words, Israeli strategic priorities shaped American military timing, and by extension, American casualties.

This scrutiny, however, must be undertaken with great care. The same forces that have long sought to stifle any criticism of Israel are now eager to conflate such criticism with antisemitism. They would have us believe that to question the influence of the Israeli government is to question the right of the Jewish people to exist. This is a dangerous and false equation. Antisemitism is real, it is pernicious, and it must be combated. But the way to do that is not to shield Israel from all criticism, but rather to insist that such criticism be based on facts, not prejudice.

There is a deep well of legitimate grievances against the actions of the Israeli government, particularly when it comes to the treatment of the Palestinian people. To ignore these grievances, or to reflexively dismiss them as antisemitic, is to do a disservice both to the cause of justice and to the fight against true antisemitism. It is entirely possible, and indeed necessary, to maintain a critical approach to Israeli policies without sliding into bigotry against the Jewish people.

The American public is, at long last, beginning to grapple with the complexities of the US-Israel relationship. This is a healthy and necessary process, one that should be encouraged and facilitated, not stifled or demonized. But it must be done in a way that upholds the principles of fairness, nuance, and a steadfast commitment to combating antisemitism in all its forms.