Is There Anything New in Antisemitism? Settler Colonialism

Abstract

The accusation of “settler colonialism” is increasingly used to attack Israel and justify its destruction. Settler colonialism was originally developed to describe and analyze a colonialist activity which includes settlers from the mother country subjugating and displacing Native occupants and their language and culture. I argue that settler colonialism is a useful formulation which is pertinent to Natives in America and elsewhere. But it requires too large a conceptual and factual stretch to provide accurate or valuable insight into the Israel-Palestine conflict. Surprisingly, considering its roots in left wing academic discourse, settler colonialism would be a better fit for the narrative espoused by right-wing White nativists to provide a theoretical explanation and justification, however inappropriate, for their anti-immigrant and antisemitic views, than it is to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. White nativists often believe that they are being pushed into the minority by immigrant “settlers”; that the force behind this immigration effort are Jews or the hidden state; and that White private property and culture are under attack. Settler colonialism may well join intersectionality, genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid on a list of otherwise valuable terms that deserve an asterisk warning about their misuse for antisemitic purposes.

Keywords