Destruction at this scale and visibility cannot be understood without grasping its political message; in fact, the scale and visibility are the message.
The congresswoman was smeared—nothing she said warranted the criticism she received. But progressives should not fall into the trap of denying that anti-Semitism exists on the left.
The spirited defense of the freshman congresswoman against unfair attack was the result of years of grassroots organizing. But will it really change the entrenched status quo in Washington?
I’m Jewish and have worked against anti-Semitism for decades. I was sitting a few feet from Omar at Busboys & Poets and I heard nothing—nothing—that smacked of anti-Semitism, overt or coded or otherwise.
Scholars, activists, and grassroots organizers have flocked to her defense, a testament to the growing strength of intersectional solidarity for Palestinian rights.
The Nakba is not a just a memory, it is an ongoing reality. We can accept that we all must eventually die; in Gaza, the tragedy is that we don’t get to live.
