Peter Beinart’s video, “The incoherence of blaming Mamdani for anti-Jewish violence”, impresses as earnest but not serious. It is far from a carefully formulated statement. However, he does make two broad, somewhat contradictory points about events in New York that warrant a response, both because of their weaknesses and because they illustrate commonly presented arguments.  Beinart seems to reject the possibility that repeated vilifying rhetoric regarding Israel (or Israel’s supporters) may contribute to anti-Jewish sentiment or even violence. At the same time, if it does contribute, it is due to the link created by Jewish leaders who “conflate” Israel and Jews.

The immediate background to Beinart’s video was Zohran Mamdani’s labelling of a Jewish lobby group as “monsters” and then his use of his office to vilify Netanyahu and Israel in a dramatic but otherwise redundant public statement. (His use of demonising language  is not new- he previously implied Israel’s responsibility for New York police violence with his “boot on the neck” comment). This was followed by the stabbing of two New Yorkers – a man of Asian background and a Jew leaving a synagogue – accompanied by shouts of “Allahu Akhbar”.

The motive for the attack is yet to be established, but it occurred during a period of unprecedented levels of anti-Jewish hate and violence, whether assessed by the ADL, New York Police or the FBI. The incident gave renewed focus and urgency to ongoing concerns about inflammatory rhetoric exacerbating existing hatreds and increasing the risk of harm to Jews. Consequently, several US Jewish leaders responded with calls for restraint in public rhetoric.

Such calls are often dismissed as being intended to silence criticism of Israel rather than as an expression of genuine concern for safety.

But are these expressed concerns “incoherent” as Peter Beinart suggests?

Caricaturing the argument

Beinart starts with a reasonable characterisation of the claim being made- that Mamdani’s speech might contribute to a hostile  environment- that is, an additional factor in an existing hostile environment. As he puts it, “Because Mamdani has said all of these really, really harshly critical things about Israel that therefore people are more likely (emphasis added) to be hostile towards Jews and in........

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