Since October 7th, I have recognized with renewed scrutiny the overwhelming bias coursing through the veins of the media. Simultaneously, antisemitism has soared to new heights with the ADL reporting over 10,000 antisemitic incidents since October 7th, 2023.
With both media bias and rising antisemitism in mind, I began to question the motives behind certain fights against antisemitism. In an era of rampant misinformation and escalating social divisions, the selective application of moral outrage, often driven by personal agendas and political biases rather than a genuine commitment to justice, undermines the fight against all forms of discrimination and necessitates a renewed focus on principled action based on universal human rights.
It is ironic how the loudest critics and adversaries of Israel were the first to accuse Elon Musk of being antisemitic. Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP), a left-wing anti-Israel group that has been hell-bent on exposing Israel for its crimes against humanity, is an exemplary illustration of this hypocrisy. JVP openly glorifies terrorism, peddles blood libels about Israel and Jews, and attempts to delegitimize Israel.
While this group purports to be a peaceful voice representing Jewish Americans, JVP has proven to be anything but peaceful supporting the “Support the Great Return March” which seeks to demand the end of the Israeli blockade between Gaza and Israel along with the return of Palestinians to the land that is Israel, and encouraging young Jews to boycott Birthright in an attempt to falsify Judaism and show ‘real’ Jews support BDS and not Israel, along with blatant opposition to a Jewish State anywhere considered to be a part of “Palestine”.
JVP actively perpetuates antisemitic rhetoric while ignoring legitimate antisemitism targeting Jews around the world.
One example of this was seen when JVP was a signatory on a letter urging the UN Secretary-General to reject the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism. This is significant because this definition outlines a clear distinction between legitimate criticism of Israel and antisemitism. By working to reject this widely accepted definition, JVP seeks to minimize and excuse blatant antisemitism disguised as criticism of Israel and open the flood gates for overt antisemitic rhetoric to slander Israel and Jews around the world.
More damaging yet, JVP aims to undermine the gravity of antisemitism by arguing that antisemitism is being exploited to target pro-Palestinian advocates. In their plight of peace advocacy, JVP launched the ‘Deadly Exchange’ campaign that aims to end police exchange programs between Israel and America.
JVP reasons that American Jewish organizations are to blame for the police violence against American minority groups, claiming that exchange trips with Israel ‘advance racist policies and target social justice movements as security threats’ and alleging that Jewish American organizations seek to villainize non-Jewish Americans. JVP is again perpetuating a blood libel and wrongfully smearing Jewish American organizations all under the guise of advocating for peace, exploiting a false Jewish identity to justify their rampant antisemitism.
JVP notoriously ignores and inverts antisemitism as islamophobia. In 2021, JVP stated that the widely accepted working definition of antisemitism does not protect Jews but only exempts accountability for decades of international law violations and ‘trampling on Palestinian human rights’. This is a timeless tactic from JVP that aims to conflate the fight against antisemitism as a perpetuation and extension of Islamophobia, oppression, and human rights violations. To purport combating antisemitism is a violation of human rights is an outlandish and obvious inversion.
JVP also has refused to condemn the catastrophic terror attack of October 7th and instead claims that the root of Palestinian violence exists solely as a result of the oppressive state of Israel. JVP did not comment on Elon Musk’s tweet in response to his hand gesture during President Trump’s inauguration in 2025. JVP did not condemn Kanye West and his recent outburst of antisemitic comments on X or his website that is selling only one item, a t-shirt with a swastika on the front of it.
The fight against antisemitism is just and paramount. However, JVP appears to participate in this fight when it is convenient or beneficial for personal agendas. For a group that claims to represent Jewish Americans and to advocate for peace, the product of their hypocrisy-saturated bigotry has resulted in anything but peace for Jews. JVP has simultaneously opened space for anti-Israel, antisemitic, and anti-Zionist rhetoric to become normalized in mainstream media while giving unbefitting attention to the glorification of terrorism.
The issue at hand is selective morality. Antisemitism is unacceptable anytime, anywhere, no matter what, and necessitates public condemnation at every turn. However, JVP has exploited society’s uncertainty around antisemitism while playing into the savior complex of Americans to curate a perfect storm of antisemitic activism protected under the guise of being for the Jewish people, despite their work being directly against the Jewish people. As such, JVP is not a Jewish voice advocating for peace but rather an antisemitic hate group determined to oust Israel and sever the connection between the diaspora and Israel.
It is not only just, but necessary to expose and condemn hatred of all forms, at all times, regardless of the convenience. As such, it is cardinal that the media consistently condemns all forms of hate speech and discrimination, regardless of the source or the target. In an era ripe with falsehoods and propaganda, it is more important than ever to uphold moral consistency and intellectual honesty in public discourse. True moral leadership requires condemning wrongdoing wherever it occurs, even from those we agree with. Fight not for yourself, but for our world, because it is the right thing to do. The hypocrisy of the media’s outrage at selective antisemitic incidents highlights the necessity for a more principled and consistent approach to addressing hate speech and discrimination.
This article was originally published in The Times of Israel.
