As a Queer Jew, son of refugees from Iraq and Tunisia (Berber) who devoted my life to fighting anti -Semitism, I read the comments of the Night of the Einbinder of Hannah Einbinder with sadness and fear. When Hacks The actor signed a commitment to boycott Israeli cinematographic institutions and used his platform to declare the “free Palestine”, she undoubtedly believed that she was doing something fat, even just. But what she did was not courageous was a populist. And it was dangerous.
There is nothing risky in the most popular Hollywood slogan parrot. Wearing a pin or signing an open letter will not cost you jobs or invitations to the red carpet – if something, it bought applause. But for millions of Jews, it has a cost: our security.
The affirmation that anti-Israeli rhetoric is distinct from anti-Semitism collapses under the weight of reality. The Jews are attacked in the streets of New York, stabbed in Europe, shot in synagogues in Pittsburgh and Poway – by people who believe that the same conspiracy theories have spread the activists.
A Jew struck in Los Angeles does not care that his attacker says that it is “about Israel”. He cares that there is a fist on his face.
Last May, a shooter opened fire outside the capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, during a reception organized by the American Jewish Committee, killing a Jewish woman and her partner. Witnesses say that the shooter shouted “free Palestine”. Hannah Einbinder did not condemn him. Instead, she repeated it on stage.
Hannah should know that there is no “good Jew” who can whiten anti -Semitism. The trope of “good Jews” – those who sign the boycott of promises or reassure the progressives that it is not a question of hatred – are always used as a blanket. They are never enough. And at the end of the day, people who ask for “good Jews” do not really believe that there is something good to be Jewish.
This is why Einbinder’s words bite so deeply. She is not only an actress with a platform – she is a Jewish actress. When it is part of Israel, the Jewish state of the world, which houses half of the world’s Jewish community, it tells millions of us that the most unifying part of our identity is illegitimate.
But the truth is that, according to a PEW research survey in 2021, more than 80% of American Jews say they are pro-Israelis. Add to that half of the Jews in the world who live in Israel, and it becomes clear: Zionism is not a marginal ideology. It is the consensus of the Jewish people – the belief that we have the right to live freely and safely in our ancestral homeland after centuries of exile and persecution.
Opposing Zionism is not simply contesting a government policy. It is a question of challenging Jewish existence as a free people. You can criticize Netanyahu and the actions and policies of her government – I know I have it, and I always hold this truth.
Words have consequences. When celebrities make Israel disseminate, this feeds the climate that leads to Jewish schools under police custody, the synagogues have set fire and beaten on their way in class.
The real bravery would have used this Emmy scene to request the release of the 49 hostages still held in Gaza and at the end of the war. The real courage would have meant calling peace, coexistence, for the humanity of the Israelis and the Palestinians, even if it risked hooks instead of applause.
Hannah Einbinder had a rare moment when the world was listening to. She could have built a bridge. Instead, she burned one.
Chicken is a writer, speaker and digital influencer of Israeli origin who advocates Jewish identity and against anti -Semitism. He is the co-founder of Tel Aviv Institute, the author of The bad type of Jew and creator of the series And they are Jews, which celebrates Jewish diversity and seeks to build bridges anchored in tolerance and peace.
