Expecting Jews to Denounce Israel
This phenomenon involves pressuring Jewish individuals to publicly condemn Israeli actions, unjustly linking them to the state and perpetuating harmful stereotypes.
What is being claimed or implied
No member of an ethnic minority should be expected, as a precondition to any non-hostile conversation, to dissociate themselves from acts perpetrated by a government which has a majority of members of the same ethnic group. For example, it would rightly be regarded as racist if someone of Black African ethnicity were forced to denounce the past atrocities of Uganda’s Idi Amin. It is similarly unacceptable for Jews to be forced to denounce acts perpetrated by Israel. Conflating the Israeli government with Jewish people as a whole is a racist act.
A particularly concerning example of this was on a tram in Manchester in 2019; a man of obviously Jewish appearance - he was dressed in clothing associated with Haredim - was harassed very loudly and told to give his opinion on what Israel was doing in the occupied territories, when the man was quietly minding his own business. This was seen as completely unacceptable by other passengers, however, and some made sure that the harasser was kept apart from the victim so that the latter could have his tram journey in piece. The video can be seen on the Socialists Against Antisemitism Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=407043843283565
The following tweet describes how Mr Kasimov, an elderly Jewish Holocaust survivor was forced by his audience to state his position on the Middle East (this is also an example of inappropriate Holocaust comparison, see Holocaust section): open the link for the video.
