No, Sunny Hostin Was Not Being Antisemitic (But I Understand Why Some Jumped To This Conclusion)
David Lange
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On yesterday’s The View, co-host Sunny Hostin said the following – and was roundly criticized for antisemitism by many:
Watching this, it was clear to me that she was attempting to explain the Great Replacement Theory espoused by the gunman, and was not endorsing it. But she got tangled with her words and misrepresented it, painting the Jews as part of the “elites” being replaced by Black and Brown people (the theory is that the elites and the Jews are replacing White people with Black and Brown people).
Following the backlash, Hostin clarified her remarks:
My first reaction to those who accused her of being antisemitic was to shake my head and say “Guys, use your common sense and stick to the real antisemites.” But upon further reflection, I understand why people jumped to assume the worst of her. The View was, after all the venue of Whoopi Goldberg’s very deliberate offensive comments suggesting the Holocaust was about White people fighting other White people. And it’s not just The View – we have become veritable punching bags for all and sundry – especially, sorry to say, People of Color.
So these reactions are perhaps slightly knee jerk but certainly not jerk reactions.
But if my fellow Jews want to really accuse others of antisemitism with regards to those espousing the Great Replacement Theory, there are actual non Far Right Jew haters to go after:
Israel’s rejection of the Palestinian “right of return” is the same as the “great replacement theory,” US Senator Bernie Sanders’s foreign policy adviser, Matt Duss, and several American commentators claimed on Monday. The racist conspiracy theory helped motivate Payton Gendron to murder 10 black residents of Buffalo, New York, at a grocery store on Saturday night.
“In the Israeli-Palestinian context, the great replacement theory is expressed as opposition to the Palestinian right of return, which treats Palestinians as a ‘demographic threat,’” said Duss. “US leaders condemn the former while constantly declaring support for the latter. It’s fine and appropriate to discuss the historical context for Israel’s restrictive immigration policies, which is different from the US.”
Duss added that proponents of Israel’s position “should understand, though, that treating a disfavored minority as a ‘demographic threat’ is an approach shared by ethno-nationalist movements.”
Jewish Currents editor-at-large Peter Beinart and Al Jazeera journalist Ali Harb also claimed that Israel’s rejection of the Palestinian right of return was comparable to the narrative expressed by Gendron.
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David Lange
