Peter Beinart
@PeterBeinart · High-reach critics & hostile narrative — US/West
Peter Beinart is the editor-at-large of Jewish Currents and the leading voice of the anti-Zionist Jewish left.
If you care about supporting Palestinian freedom, opposing (actual) antisemitism and defending free speech down under, follow @jewishcouncilAU. It's an amazing organization.
Rula Jebreal used racist language to criticize Hakeem Jeffries. Her comments were clearly wrong. She has apologized for them unconditionally. She has also spent her entire adult life combatting bigotry and injustice— not only against her own Afro-Palestinian community and against Palestinians at large, but throughout the world. She has worked tirelessly to create scholarships for students from countries ravaged by war. As her friend, I’ve seen her dedication to human rights firsthand. If you want to be judged on the totality of your work—not on your worst moment— then extend that same decency to Rula now. And if you oppose bigotry, then press Hakeem Jeffries and other politicians to end US support for a state that practices apartheid and has committed genocide.
"Our fear." What's with the royal we? American Jews are deeply divided. 40% think Israel committed genocide. Almost half of young American Jews prefer a binational state to a Jewish one. Many American Jews fear Jewish supremacy as well as white Christian supremacy because we believe that safety, here and in Israel-Palestine, lies in equality under the law. Argue with us: That's a very Jewish thing to do. The ex cathedra thing is not.
Of course @KhalilJeries isn't blaming all Jews for Israel's actions. Anyone who knows him would find the accusation absurd. In fact, he expresses a level of empathy towards even Jews with whom he strongly disagrees that I find remarkable. I can only hope that had my family been through the hell that Israel has put his family through in Gaza I would possess a small fraction of his generosity of spirit.