When someone alleges antisemitism, what do they really mean? Are they alleging a hateful bias toward members of a religion? Toward members of an ethnic group? Both? Neither? What does it mean to be described as a bigot toward a group as diverse and historically complicated as the Jewish identity?

Last week, in a breathtaking act of defiance against American values and a slap in the face to the First Amendment, the criminal 117th Congress of the United States passed a resolution that equates “anti-Zionism” with antisemitism. Or, put another way, according to Congress, to critique or to disagree with the political ideology of Israeli nationalism is the same thing as hatred of all Jewish people.

How did we get here? Well, I can think of no better person to help me unpack this madness than the esteemed MyFitnessFeelingz aka Fitz.

Following the last visit from beloved internet intellectual and hero of the pod MyFitnessFeelingz, there was quite a bit of controversy. To my astonishment, I received allegations of antisemitism from leftist conspiracy researchers. The subject of Jews and Judaism was not mentioned once in that program, however, due to the mere fact that we discussed some works by Michael A Hoffman–who has written books critical of Judaism in the past, although we did not discuss that work in the episode–this was enough to label me an “antisemite.”

It has long occurred to me that charges of antisemitism have been often leveled in bad faith, long before it had happened to me. If we cannot make critiques of powerful institutions–including Zionism, the Israeli lobby, or Jewish financial networks–lest we be smeared as “antisemitic,” where does this leave us as a society? Before we can even unravel the tangled politics of "the Jewish question,” we had to go full Matt Walsh on ‘em, because I really, really am trying to understand: what the heck even is a Jew, anyway??

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Show Notes

The Ordeal of Civility, by John Murray Cuddihy

The Invention of the Jewish People by Shlomo Sand

Shoutout David M for the rec!

Jewish Religious Propaganda and Proselytism in the Period of the Second Commonwealth (1965 PhD thesis, unpublished) by Uriel Rappaport (from Sand):

Josephus, by way of Fitz:

https://x.com/fitnessfeelingz/status/1722672926057463929

Second City Bureaucrat on Cuddihy:

Marx on the “Jewish Question” (please cancel Marx for this)

Michael A Hoffman, Judaism Discovered:

Episode Hit Parade

* Suzi Lane - Harmony

* Phoenix - Lisztomania (Classixx Version)

* Lime - Angel Eyes (Dub)

* The Nuns - Decadent Jew

The song that got The Nuns (SF’s finest forgotten punk band) permanently banned from ever playing a Bill Graham venue again!

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