Structural antisemitism

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was appalled by President Biden’s statement that Israel has a right to self-defense. I don’t think Ocasio-Cortez is an antisemite, but I do think she’s perpetuating structural antisemitism. When she says it’s simplistic to say that Israel has a right to defend itself, she’s clearly right in a sense. It is simple: Israel has a right to defend itself. But what she and countless others are arguing is that Israel has no right to act like a normal country. You don’t have to hate Jews to believe that the only Jewish country in the world is also the only country in the world that can’t behave like a normal country and defend its citizens. But the policy that flows from that argument is, in important ways, antisemitic—even if it isn’t intended as such. That, by the way, is what Israel wants to be—a normal country. But it’s stuck in an abnormal predicament. Obviously it has never been perfect. Obviously it has made mistakes, most of which were apparent only in retrospect. And obviously there are Israelis who have bad ideas and bad intentions. Again, though, this is true of every country, normal and abnormal. (And yes, obviously the plight of the Palestinians is lamentable.) But when people point to the fact that Israel is militarily more powerful than its neighbors, they make it sound like this is somehow unfair.