However, towards the end of her piece, she deemed it necessary to give ‘the other side’ – those who attributes attacks on Jews to Israel’s behavior during their war against Hamas. On Tuesday, Israeli soldiers opened fire near crowds of Palestinians walking towards a food distribution site, leaving 27 people dead. The Times is promoting what was aptly referred to by the late Norman Geras, in a 2012 speech, as “alibi antisemitism”: the argument that Israel’s putatively oppressive policies render antisemitism understandable. Such incidents certainly wouldn’t have been defended as a result of the understandable radicalisation of Jews stemming from the barbaric antisemitic attack by Muslims on Oct. 7. It’s extremely dispiriting that the Times reporter, in anotherwise solid report about anti-Jewish racism post Oct. 7, felt the need to promote such a morally unserious and dangerous myth about the ‘root cause’ antisemitism, one which exculpates the perpetrators while effectively blaming the victim.
