Recently the ‘Scranton Times-Tribune’ of Pennsylvania published a perceptive letter by a man named Al Rogers of Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania that I republish in full with my commentary.
To wit:
‘Israeli actions could spark antisemitism here
Editor: The reactions to the loss of homes from the terrible fires in California remind me of the conditions of Palestinians on the Gaza Strip. About 60 percent of the buildings in Gaza, home to 2 million people, have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli bombing. Forty to seventy thousand of these people, mostly women and children have been killed. Children are starving because food cannot get to them. Only 17 of the previous 36 previous hospitals are partially functioning. Israel is employing a strategy of bombing areas where combatants may be without regard for civilian casualties. This has decimated the population.
People will call me antisemitic for expressing this view. Nothing is further from the truth. My children learned to swim at the Jewish Community Center in York. One became aquatics director of the JCC in Reading. I had a pharmacy in the hill section of Scranton and a great relationship with the Jewish people who lived there. I enjoyed many interesting discussions with the late Rabbi Milton Richman. I believe Jewish Americans have contributed more than any other group to tolerance in our country. Israel is a foreign country and it responsible for its actions. Sadly these actions may incite antisemitism in the future. Palestinians like all people should be treated with humanity.
Al Rogers, Clarks Summit’ (1)
Now Rogers here is drawing a parallel with the recent devastating fires that have been impacting and threatening the city of Los Angeles in California and the destruction they have caused and Israel’s conduct in – and systematic destruction of - the Gaza strip over the last year.
His point that the situation in Los Angeles pales in comparison to that in Gaza is an astute comparison and point as well as his sharpening of the initial point that Israel recognizes little to no distinction between members of Hamas and Palestinians in general and thus the destruction in the Gaza strip is both far, far worse and deliberate compared to the fires afflicting Los Angeles is also well taken.
However, the thrust of Rogers’ point is far more radical in that he postulates that Israel’s conduct will spark and motivate anti-Semitism abroad – particularly in Europe and the United States – because Israel identifies as ‘the world’s only jewish state’ – it is in fact one of two the other being the Jewish Autonomous Oblast which functions as a Russian territory in eastern Siberia – and thus the crimes of Israel reflect directly on the jewish Diaspora in the United States and elsewhere.
Rogers implies this is a be false equivalence because – although unstated the logic is – that because Israel ‘doesn’t represent all jews’ therefore ‘all jews’ are not responsible for Israel’s actions and shouldn’t be maligned with association with Israel and its action.
The truth is however that Rogers’ logic is flawed because the bulk – if not nearly all – of American and Diaspora jewry in general unswervingly supports Israel as is shown by the fact that jews regularly volunteer to serve in the IDF as ‘lone soldiers’ but refuse to serve in the militaries of the countries where they were born where they are massively underrepresented. (2)
This is also demonstrated by polling of the jewish community with circa 85 percent of American jews ‘deeply connected’ and supportive of Israel not in spite of Israel’s conduct but rather because of it. (3)
In realistic terms you cannot separate a (very) small (if very vocal) minority of strongly anti-Zionist jews from the Diaspora community and as such Rogers’ argument operates from the unsupportable assumption that Diaspora jewry is ‘critical’ and ‘not supportive’ of Israel’s actions and thus ‘cannot be blamed’. When in truth the inverse is true and this – if we follow Rogers’ logic – means that Diaspora jewry can most certainly be blamed for Israel’s actions given that they both support those actions and actively aid and abet them via the large network of jewish communal and pro-Israel organizations that exist in the jewish Diaspora historically and currently.
This then informs us that Rogers is right to be concerned about ‘anti-Semitism increasing because of Israel’s actions’ because contrary to what so many theorists about anti-Semitism love to claim: anti-Semitism is driven by actual and/or perceived jewish behaviour not by ‘irrational beliefs’.
The fact that Rogers is deeply worried about being labelled ‘anti-Semitic’ for telling this simple and obvious truth also implies that ‘anti-Semitic canards’ about the formidable extent of jewish power and influence in the United States are not ‘irrational beliefs’ either but rather a rational understanding of the realities of the structure of political power.
References
(1) https://www.thetimes-tribune.com/2025/01/13/letter-israeli-actions-could-spark-antisemitism-here/
(2) See my articles: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/dual-loyalty-american-jewish-military; https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/dual-loyalty-british-jewish-military; https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/dual-loyalty-canadian-jewish-military; https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/dual-loyalty-australian-jewish-military; https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/dual-loyalty-new-zealand-jewish-military
(3) For example: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/05/11/u-s-jews-connections-with-and-attitudes-toward-israel/ and https://www.ajc.org/news/ajc-survey-shows-american-jews-are-deeply-and-increasingly-connected-to-israel