Stereotyping is fuelling Jew hatred

It’s enough of people tarring all Jews with the same brush. It’s lazy, ignorant, and offensive. It’s like saying all women are the same, or all Portuguese or black people are the same. We all know that’s absurd and prejudiced. It reduces human beings to labels and then punishes them for it. 

And yet, when it comes to Jews, there are people who believe stereotyping is permissible, even virtuous. If you are Jewish and support the existence of the State of Israel, then, in their minds, you must support every decision made by the current Israeli government. You must be an apologist for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. You must agree with every minister, every policy, every word, every action. There is no room for nuance, nor acknowledgement of complexity, and certainly no interest in the truth. 

Anyone who knows Jewish people, knows how ridiculous this is. We are a people of argument. We question everything. We debate at the Shabbos table, in shul, in WhatsApp groups, in the supermarket queue, and long after everyone else has gone home. Put three Jews in a room and you are likely to get at least six strongly held opinions. 

So to assume that every Jewish person who calls themselves a Zionist supports Netanyahu’s government is not only wrong, it’s closed-minded. Worse, it rests on the ugliest assumptions. It sits uncomfortably close to the antisemitic tropes that have followed us for centuries: that Jews are greedy, manipulative, powerful, disloyal, or somehow part of one sinister collective. Those caricatures are racist. Dressing them up in the language of political activism doesn’t make them less so. 

This week, we carry an article on someone I respected as a journalist, but who seems to have become lost in her hatred, Redi Tlhabi. She isn’t alone. Too many intelligent people, people who should know better, now treat every Israeli and every Jew who supports Israel as if they are the same person, with the same politics, the same views, and the same moral failings. 

What is most distressing is watching smart people share ugly AI-generated videos and images that are obviously fake, or at least highly suspect, without making any attempt to check them. They pass them on because the material fits a narrative they believe, that the Jewish State is uniquely evil, that those connected to it are uniquely culpable, and that Jews who object are somehow trying to silence criticism. 

Let me be clear. Criticism of any government, including Israel’s, is legitimate. Israelis do it every day, often loudly, passionately, and publicly. Many Jews in South Africa and around the world do it, too. What isn’t legitimate is taking that criticism and using it to flatten an entire people into a single, hateful caricature. 

This matters because words and images don’t float in the air and vanish. They land somewhere. They shape how people think. They make it easier for someone to look at a Jewish child in a school uniform, a Jewish student on campus, a Jewish shop owner, a Jewish journalist, or a Jew walking to shul, and see not a person but a political symbol to be blamed, shamed, threatened, or hated. 

That is dangerous. You don’t have to look far to see how antisemitism is rising across the world. It is so clearly pointed out in Adam Charnas’s piece on this page about the Anti-Defamation League’s 2026 J7 report. 

For Jews, this isn’t theoretical. It means security guards outside schools. It means parents telling children to tuck in a Magen David. It means perhaps wearing a cap instead of a kippah. It means Jewish students deciding whether to speak up, stay quiet, or avoid certain spaces altogether. It means people looking over their shoulders because someone, somewhere, has decided that “Zionist” is a word that strips them of individuality and humanity. 

So when public figures, journalists, academics, activists, or social media influencers lazily lump “the Jews” or “Zionists” together and paint them all as cruel, bloodthirsty, dishonest, or morally diseased, they aren’t merely expressing an opinion. They are adding fuel to a fire that is already burning. They may not light the match that causes the next attack, but they help create the atmosphere in which hatred feels justified. 

And that carries responsibility. As does sharing a fake video because it confirms your bias, or repeating a slur because it wins applause from your ideological tribe. Wise up. Don’t do it. 

On page 7, we carry an OpEd by Menachem Rosensaft about just how strong the anti-Netanyahu forces are in Israel. That should tell anyone willing to listen that Israelis aren’t marching in lockstep behind their government. Like citizens of any democracy, some support the government, some oppose it, and some take to the streets in protest. In Israel, perhaps because Jews are so opinionated, the disagreements may be even louder and more relentless than elsewhere. 

That is the point. Supporting the State of Israel doesn’t mean supporting every Israeli government, or government ministers like Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir. Calling oneself a Zionist doesn’t mean abandoning moral judgement. Having a connection to Israel doesn’t mean surrendering one’s individuality, conscience, or political views. Jews are no more a monolith than any other people, family, community, or nation. 

This isn’t complicated. We know not all Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, or atheists think alike. We know families disagree and people within communities may contradict each other. Why, then, is this basic understanding so often abandoned when the people in question are Jews? 

See people as people. Look at everyone in their individuality. Listen to what someone actually says. Judge their actions, words, and values, not the ugliest version constructed for political convenience. Don’t paint millions of people in ugliness simply because it makes your argument easier. 

The good news, if there is good news in all this, is that many people are beginning to see through the haters. Their methods are becoming transparent. Their narrative is less believable than it once was. When intelligent people spread material that is obviously questionable, ignore nuance, and reduce Jews to a single ugly stereotype, they reveal more about themselves than about us. 

So here is my plea: don’t tar us all with the same brush. Don’t assume that because we are Jews, because we care about Israel, because we believe the Jewish people have a right to self-determination in our ancestral homeland, we all think, vote, feel, or speak as one. 

Like members of any family, we argue, disagree, question, criticise, worry, love, and sometimes drive one another mad. But we are individuals. We have our own views. And we deserve to be treated as such. 

Shabbat Shalom! 

Peta Krost 

Editor