Tell me what cause you chose, and I will tell you who you are. If, among all the causes, you choose the anti-Zionist cause, it is most likely because, even if you don't know it, you are antisemitic. If the atrocities that Hamas commits against its people don't move you, if the theocratic regime in Iran doesn't revolt you from within, if Hezbollah and its record of death and slaughter don't move you, if the denial and repression of individuality of women and the persecution of homosexuals do not affect you in the slightest, and whether it is the State of Israel, the Jewish State, that you attribute the entire cause and origin of the problems in that region of the world and that takes you to the streets to demand a Palestine that is “free until overboard," then it’s because—I'm sorry to tell you, now you know—you are undoubtedly antisemitic.
It is because you chose the side, as Hamas, Iran, and Hezbollah chose, on which there is no Israel. And a world without Israel is a world without Jews. There are no flaws in this logic. There is nothing wrong with defending the creation of the State of Palestine. Many Israelites and many Jews look kindly on this idea and defend it. But there is nothing wrong with defending the creation of the State of Palestine simultaneously with the extinction of the State of Israel.
This form of anti-Zionism is antisemitic because hatred of Israel is compounded by hatred of Jews. Tiago Filipe Vivo Bento Lila and 14,030 other people signed a petition for “the interruption of diplomatic relations between Portugal and the State of Israel,” which will be discussed today in Parliament. The text of this petition is not a word for the still captive hostages to be returned by Hamas, not a word of condemnation for the terrorist acts of October 7, not a word of solidarity with the families of these victims, not a word for the cutting of diplomatic relations with Palestine.
Only and only one side, only and only hatred against Israel. The freedom of expression, opinion and petition that Tiago Lila and 14,030 other people had to move forward with this initiative in Portugal, they would not have in Gaza, Palestine, Lebanon and several other geographies that surround Israel.
Put your hand on your conscience and think, with rigor and objectivity, how many other causes you support today or have supported in the past with so much enthusiasm and desire… think about this, from the trench where you find yourself: if you ignore the Russian aggression against Ukraine; the conflict in Burkina-Faso that pits that country's government against radical Islamic groups, such as Ansarul Islam, linked to Al Qaeda, and the Islamic State in the Sahel (ISS); the humanitarian nightmare in Sudan; if you forget the hateful persecution of the Rohingya in Myanmar; the terror of Bohko-Haram abductions and mass slaughter in Nigeria; the killing and mutilation of children by the Houthis in Yemen; the scourge and atrocities of the long civil war in Syria; if you ignore, and forget all this and if you look solely and only against Israel, if Israel is the target of all your militancy and all your activism, if you think that in Israel there should be disinvestment, sanctions and boycott, if you scream about lungs open for a Palestine “free from the river to the sea” then it is because you are truly anti-Semitic.
And no, here, I don't believe you are antisemitic because you criticize and mobilize against Israel. I contend that because you are antisemitic, that is why you have the position you have on Israel. Think twice about this, and if you believe it, admit it. Assume that, in the forest of indifference to all the evils and horrors of the world, your eyes are only focused on Israel. Look at yourself in the mirror. He's an anti-Semite, you see. Continue your fight for Palestine “from the river to the sea.” Thus, as you see yourself, everyone will also be able to see the anti-Semite that you are.
This editorial was originally published in Portuguese in SAPO World.
