Even before its establishment, Israel’s founding fathers, in the words of the late statesman Abba Eban, were determined “to prove that the distinction between antisemitism and anti-Zionism is not a distinction at all. Anti-Zionism is merely the new antisemitism.”

On that basis, Israel’s spokespersons define Judaism as both religion and nationality and disparage as antisemitic anyone who criticizes its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, theft of their land and the impunity it grants settlers to terrorize Palestinian villages.

At a recent Boulder City Council meeting, Councilwoman Tara Winer, in accord with Israeli spokespersons, accused BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) supporters of antisemitic bigotry. That accusation is moral blackmail meant to silence Israel’s critics.

Motivated not by bigotry but by justice, and horrified by the inhumanity of its occupation, Israel’s critics, including more than a million Jews, support BDS because its plea for peace is founded upon equal rights for all people, not some people. They understand that allowing Israel to shirk its responsibilities under international law causes harm to both peoples, and they know that equal rights lead to peace. Their intention is not to harm Israel but to prevent Israel from harming Palestinians. Most of these critics, certainly a vast majority of Jewish critics, are true friends of Israel. A true friend will admonish his friend when he sees him acting irrationally toward his neighbor. If the roles of Israelis and Palestinians were reversed, most critics I know would fight for Israeli equality.

Israel’s supporters must understand that caring about another people is not bigotry, that encouraging Israel to end its humiliating treatment of Palestinians is not antisemitism, that calling on Israel to live up to a standard of behavior more humane than the behavior of countries that once persecuted and dehumanized Jews is not a threat to the Jewish people, and that honoring the humanistic values many Jews were taught in synagogue does not betray their tradition.

So, where is the bigotry? It’s in the minds of those who are afraid to ask why someone criticizes Israel. Indifferent to the suffering of an entire people, accusers shirk responsibility for their feelings of fear, confusion and anger, all of which are animated by unexamined beliefs and images within their minds. Then they scapegoat anyone who challenges the false narratives they refuse to question that Israel has disseminated since its inception. Impervious to compassion, they judge Palestinian resistance as a pathological expression of hatred, not the response of an oppressed people, a small minority of whom resort to violence as the only way they know to retain a measure of self-respect in the face of generations of violence inflicted upon them.

Are we to presume the proof that someone is not an anti-Semite is that they rationalize Israel’s human rights abuses and contempt for international law and ignore its documented history? If so, doesn’t this characterize the Jewish people as untrustworthy and inhumane? But such a characterization would itself be considered anti-Semitic. This reveals an absurdity. The proof you are not an anti-Semite proves you are an anti-Semite.

The real enemy is not someone or something outside of us. The real enemy is the unexamined mind that unconsciously projects its suffering onto the “other,” then scapegoats the “other” for its suffering.

Because it would rather be right than make peace, the unexamined mind is self and other-destructive and a grave threat to humankind.

The real conflict is not Israel versus the Palestinian people or Israel versus a hostile world. The real conflict is the fear of integrating the hard-to-believe but unmistakable reality of Israel’s policies with unquestioned loyalty to the Jewish state. One consideration recognizes Israel’s dark side. The other denies the dark side exists.

If those standing up for the Israeli government believe in peace they must inquire within and unearth their inborn humanity. Otherwise, they’ll have no one to blame but themselves when their “ideology” produces suffering on a scale never before seen in humankind’s history.

Real antisemites incite anti-Semitism. Nobody does that more effectively and more frequently than the Israeli government and its supporters. Then, after inciting antisemitism, they complain that they are the victims of antisemitism.

Richard Forer lives in Lafayette.