SPOTLIGHT ON ERASIVE ANTI-SEMITISM

Written By Daphna Kaufman

The Trend Monitor covering this six-week period focuses on events and discourse affecting Jewish and pro-Israel positioning in U.S. progressive communities in the context of erasive anti-Semitism, i which refers to the way that contemporary progressive discourse can, often unwittingly, de-facto negate the right of Jews individually or collectively to define their own identify, experience, and vulnerability. Within this time period, Reut published my lead-authored paper characterizing this emerging strain of hostility, prejudice, or bias towards Jews emanating through the left. We believe that it is hard to identify,ii and call to engage in discourse to better identify it and organize accordingly.

This document highlights significant events that amplify a feedback loop that erasive anti-Semitism sets off, in which “being designated as a ‘white oppressor’ means you don’t get to define the terms of conversations, the pertinent features defining your identity, or the priority level your perceived vulnerability receives. It confers upon its bearer an implicit obligation to renounce the right to contest it.”