Nothing new, but also nothing convincing: Bernard D. Goldstein, ‘Is There Anything New in Antisemitism? Settler Colonialism’, in Adebowale Akande (ed.), Handbook of Racism, Xenophobia, and Populism, Springer, 2022, pp. 805-829 | settler colonial studies blog

Nothing new, but also nothing convincing: Bernard D. Goldstein, ‘Is There Anything New in Antisemitism? Settler Colonialism’, in Adebowale Akande (ed.), Handbook of Racism, Xenophobia, and Populism, Springer, 2022, pp. 805-829

13Dec22

Abstract: The accusation of “settler colonialism” is increasingly used to attack Israel and justify its destruction. Settler colonialism was originally developed to describe and analyze a colonialist activity which includes settlers from the mother country subjugating and displacing Native occupants and their language and culture. I argue that settler colonialism is a useful formulation which is pertinent to Natives in America and elsewhere. But it requires too large a conceptual and factual stretch to provide accurate or valuable insight into the Israel-Palestine conflict. Surprisingly, considering its roots in left wing academic discourse, settler colonialism would be a better fit for the narrative espoused by right-wing White nativists to provide a theoretical explanation and justification, however inappropriate, for their anti-immigrant and antisemitic views, than it is to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. White nativists often believe that they are being pushed into the minority by immigrant “settlers”; that the force behind this immigration effort are Jews or the hidden state; and that White private property and culture are under attack. Settler colonialism may well join intersectionality, genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid on a list of otherwise valuable terms that deserve an asterisk warning about their misuse for antisemitic purposes.

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