Amidst endless Israeli violence some leftists remain committed to obscuring Jewish supremacist colonialism.
In response to an article detailing how Stephen Lewis was “an aggressive Jewish supremacist for nearly his entire life” Alex Grant posted on Facebook, “Yves, why are you so beholden to the term ‘Jewish supremacy’ as opposed to using terms like Zionism or Israeli imperialism? The latter terms are more accurate and don’t open you up to allegations of antisemitism. I don’t understand why you are favouring the ‘supremacist’ terminology.”
In reply Carolanne Hayduk correctly noted, “what do you call an ideology adopted by a state whereby Jews (and no one of any other religion) have special rights, based solely on the fact they are Jews? Jewish Supremacy is the answer. ‘Zionism’ disguises the ugliness while ‘Jewish Supremacy’ lays it bare.” Additionally, employing the language of racial supremacy undercuts effort to deflect criticism of Israel with claims of antisemitism, the language of racial victimization.
A longtime critic of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign while editor of Marxist.ca, Grant didn’t deny that Zionism was Jewish supremacist colonialism. Instead, he focused on the need to protect what he labelled “Jewishness” and diverted the discussion to a subject not in the article.
Grant replied, “the terminology centres ‘Jewishness’. This bolsters the Zionist claim that only they can defend the Jewish people. Yves correctly points out that Steven Lewis supported the imperialist Israeli state and should be justifiably critiqued for that. But to escalate the terminology to ‘aggressive Jewish supremacist’ implies he believed Jews were better than gentiles (or that he’s an ‘aggressive supremacist’ who is also Jewish). There’s no evidence that he held such views. It’s the wrong argument and the wrong terrain. If you bend the stick too far you end up losing the argument, rather than sticking with the clear critique.”
I replied, “if someone promoted apartheid South Africa can we call them a white supremacist”?
At this point Grant revealed his hand. His objection to describing Zionism as “Jewish supremacy” was based on a concern that it could spur antisemitism. He noted, “‘whiteness’ is not the same as being Jewish. One is much more broad, the other is much more narrow. There also isn’t a white equivalent of false antisemitic tropes of a grand Jewish conspiracy. Centering Jewishness isn’t the correct ideological framework (vs centering imperialism and Zionist ideology), and it’s also a bad way to win the argument. Lewis Snr had a spotty record, not least with the Waffle, and people can be convinced with the right approach.”
In effect, Grant is arguing that we need to use (imprecise and less morally biting) language to ensure Canadian Jewry — a thriving community by all but one of the major socioeconomic indicators generally employed to detail racism — doesn’t face any negative spill over. Despite Israel’s untold slaughter and Zionist lobbyists undercutting Canadian civil liberties, Grant wants to centre Jewish Canadian sensitivities.
I replied, “why do you want to exculpate Jewish supremacism amidst genocides in Gaza and Lebanon designed to cleanse large areas of non-Jews for Jewish colonists and a war on Iran designed heavily to extend a Jewish supremacist state’s hegemony over half a billion people?”
Seeking to pathologize my opposition to Jewish supremacist colonialism, Grant replied, “why do you want to downplay the role of genocidal imperialism and specifically preference Jewishness?”
But a day earlier I published a commentary headlined “Stephen Lewis was a liberal imperialist”. It focused on his support/silence on Canadian imperialism in Africa despite being widely hailed as a “spokesperson for Africa”. I replied to Grant, “Upside down. You’re objecting to use of ‘Jewish supremacy’ in describing Lewis. On Sunday I published (on Facebook, X & my site) the section from my 2018 Left, Right: Marching to the beat of imperial Canada about Lewis, which details his odious position on Canada’s role in Africa and which labels him a ‘liberal imperialist’.”
Grant is fine with people criticizing Canadian imperialism or white supremacy but wants to obscure the aggressively supremacist character of the Greater Israel project. Grant is not alone in criticizing those who name Israel’s form of supremacism. More assertively, activist Matthew Behrens has repeatedly called those employing the term “Jewish supremacy” antisemitic.
Unfortunately, the smearing works. It deters most Canadian leftists from echoing liberal Jewish Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem 2021 report: “A Regime of Jewish Supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This Is Apartheid.” In fact, many ‘pro-Palestinian’ leftists have employed the word “antisemitism” more than “Jewish supremacy” during two and a half years of genocide to advance Jewish supremacy.
It’s important to reject this type of anti-Palestinian racism. As is widely understood in anti-racist circles, protecting a supremacist ideology/system from challenge is well … racism.
Zionism is a form of Jewish supremacist colonialism and anyone promoting it is a Jewish supremacist.
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