José Ramos and Sohail Inayatullah
This symposium brings together rigorous analyses of state power, including the state of Israel’s creation of the humanitarian crises in Gaza and the trajectory of United States domestic and foreign policy. We recognize that in the current political climate, such critiques are often met with labels of “antisemitism” or “anti-Americanism”. However, we state unequivocally that these contributions are rooted in a commitment to human rights and the accountability of nations, not in prejudice or a lack of patriotism.
The Distinction Between State Critique and Bigotry
Regarding the critique of the State of Israel, we affirm that challenging military actions and policies is an essential function of international law and human ethics, distinct from antisemitism. The equation of these two concepts is largely facilitated by the widespread adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition, which has been used to sideline dissent by shifting the focus from humanitarian consequences—such as the bombardment of Gaza, the expansion of settlements, apartheid, and systematic ethnic cleansing—to the moral character of the critic.
However, we align with a growing coalition of human rights organizations and Jewish groups, such as B’Tselem, Jewish Voice for Peace, Jewish Council of Australia, and the authors of the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism, who argue that holding Israel accountable is a necessity for justice. Just as we believe in the rights of Palestinians, we also believe that protecting the rights and safety of Jewish people, both in Israel and globally, is a universal necessity. By holding state institutions to account, we seek to decouple Jewish identity from the specific actions of a political state, political actors or the particular ideological and vested interests that may hijack that state. This is to say that the genocide in Gaza, which prominent international organizations agree is happening, is a consequence of the current Israeli political leadership and their actions.[1] [2]
Dissent as Democratic Stewardship
Similarly, our critique of United States policy is rooted in both service and the highest ideals of citizenship. The American project, in its most idealistic self definition, is fundamentally about the pursuit of a “more perfect Union” – a perpetual work-in-progress that acknowledges the flaws of its founding while providing the constitutional tools to outgrow them. This necessitates constant self-correction and honest appraisal. Rather than an anti-American act, the freedom to debate, critique and dissent is the primary mechanism that allows a healthy society to grow and prevents the calcification of injustice.
There is nothing more authentically patriotic than the refusal to remain silent in the face of moral or legal failure. This critical engagement is required to protect the very “goods” of any society or nation, American or otherwise: its democratic institutions, the rule of law, its treatment of people and its moral standing in the global community. To critique a state’s use or abuse of power is to invest in its future, asserting that a nation is capable of becoming more aligned with universal principles of human rights and planetary responsibility.
A Shared Commitment to Justice
Ultimately, this symposium is grounded in the vital distinction between the critique of state institutions and any essentialization of people. We recognize that antisemitism, Islamaphobia, and many other forms of direct, structural, worldview and narrative racism are persistent, malignant realities; we condemn all forms of bigotry as a fundamental perversion of human sentiment and behavior.
By focusing our analysis on state, structural and narrative power, we reject the conflation of identity with government policy. We affirm the role of critique in the pursuit of justice as a shared duty that honors the dignity, safety, and potential of all our fellow human beings across the planet. We affirm the spiritual and evolutionary principle that all people on our planet are brothers and sisters, entitled to live with equal dignity.
- Which includes The International Court of Justice (ICJ), The International Criminal Court (ICC), Amnesty International & Human Rights Watch, International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), and United Nations Expert Bodies (UN Special Rapporteur and UN Commission of Inquiry). ↑
- It is important to note here the wide spectrum of political opinion in Israel and the drum beat of protests against Netanyahu over many years, who like Trump has avoided criminal indictments of corruption through clever political maneuvering. ↑
