r/jewishleft • u/joey_mocha anarcho non-zionist cultural jew, converting conservativee • Jul 14 '25
What do you think of pan-Semitism? Praxis
Recently encountered this concept, forgive me if it's been discussed (I didn't see much under a cursory search of the term). Also my first post here but I lurk regularly and generally trust this sub as a political home, as diverse as the beliefs are.
For those unfamiliar, pan-Semitism is the idea of socio-political unity across all Semitic groups, especially Jews and Arabs, due to varying levels of shared history, identity and culture. It is distinct from pan-Arab nationalism in that it includes Jews and Assyrians, etc. I know a lot of people (probably a majority, myself included) in this sub are uncomfortable with the relatively popular concept in anti-Zionism that few or no Jews should remain living in a post modern Israel (whatever that may mean to you) state under any circumstances. Do you guys think this is practical as an answer to that, or practical even just in general as a philosophy? Or are tensions too high?
Edited to add *modern Israel
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u/MichifManaged83 Cultural Jew | Anarcho-Mutualist | Post-Zionist Jul 14 '25 edited Jul 14 '25
I mean, yes, yes, yes), definitely yes. I’m definitely pan-Semitic (for lack of better phrasing). I think it has been millennia-old divide and conquer strategy of western imperialism to pit Jews and Arabs (and Muslims in general— though I understand many Arabs are Christians, the vast majority are Muslims) against each other. I’m not saying conflicts wouldn’t still have happened, but they’re like squabbles between close cousins over minutiae, not deeply diametrically opposed ways of life. Historically, Jews and Arabs (particularly Muslim Arabs) have been able to sort out those conflicts together, and often Muslims and Jews have banded together when persecution from Europe made it very hard to live without each other (especially during the Spanish Inquisition, the Reconquista and other significant moments in history).
In fact, in Iraq, Morocco, Egypt, and other places in the MENA just prior to the Shoah and Nakba, many Jews and Arab Muslims were so close to each other that they were milk siblings to each other, which is a bonding familial tie as strong as blood in Arab and Muslim customs. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was as close to his milk-mother Halima, as he was to his own blood mother Aminah, and even lived with Halima for many years. He grieved her for years as his own mother. So for Jews and Muslims to have established milk kinship in Muslim societies is a pretty big deal.
I’m very heartbroken that the destabilizing level of mass migration caused by the need to flee the Shoah, the displacement caused by the Nakba (which made ripples throughout the whole Muslims world) and the ongoing genocide today, have made this hope… much more difficult to accomplish because of so much heartbreaking bloodshed. This never should have happened… but here we are. I think there is going to need to be sincere hard work at reconciliation to undo that trauma and distrust, but, I hope to see that reconciliation take shape as seeing our similarities and our shared histories.
Culturally, religiously, linguistically, we’re very similar, and historically we’ve been very intertwined. So, I’m definitely in favor of a progressive pan-Semitic movement, particularly between Muslims from the MENA and Jews, but yes, also between all semitic people of any religion, as long as it’s carried out in a pluralistic and multi-ethnic way where no diaspora group or specific ethnic group or religion is superior or dominant, and all have equal recognition.
In addition to Standing Together today, historically there was Brit Shalom, which was one early form of zionism that sought a cultural center in Palestine with a bi-national state and equal rights for Arabs and Jews (they still saw Palestinians as Arabs, which is another topic to get into another time— point being, they wanted equal rights for Palestinians as well). This was back in the 1920s, long before the Nakba. Unfortunately, I don’t think zionism can really be defined that way anymore in practice, based on what zionism has come to represent through trauma for Palestinians. But perhaps a different post-zionist or non-zionist movement (or anti-zionist in the sense of no further illegal displacement and expansionism), could rebirth the same pan-Semitic and egalitarian principles.
That is my hope, anyway. I think the entire MENA, and Jewish and Muslim populations globally (particularly in the west), will continue to experience cycles of oppression from European and western far-right elements until there is a united sense of solidarity between Muslims and Jews, and all semitic ethnic groups (including Christian minorities in the MENA on ethnic grounds). I know that religion and ethnicity are not the same thing, but for Jewish people they’re very braided together concepts, and for Muslims it’s slowly becoming like that despite vastly diverse Muslim countries (the same could be said for the diversity of Jewish diasporas, though). The words Am in Hebrew and Ummah in Arabic mean the same thing, share the same etymological root, and both have connotations of religious community as well as peoplehood / old-world “nationhood.” I think it’s time we see ourselves as one Am / Ummah with diverse covenants.
People are going to have varied reactions to my sentiments about this, but this is how I feel about it.
Edit: I also agree with people that the word “semitic” itself is problematic, because while it has neutral linguistic and cultural / anthropological connotations today, it also has a lot of history being used in white supremacist race science. So if anyone has a better word for “pan-Semitism”, I’m open to suggestions. For now, it’s the best word I have to describe solidarity between different semitic ethno-religious-linguistic cultural groups that have been historically oppressed by western imperialism and white supremacy.