If there is going to be a self-consciously “Jewish” contribution to the Palestinian cause, it’s better to invoke concrete Jewish values than to rely on the unearned authority of Jewish identity.

An alleged Jewish dread of Jeremy Corbyn been at the top of the news for years, while Boris Johnson—the actually racist, actual prime minister—appears as an afterthought.

Joseph Grim Feinberg reflects on Jewishness in contemporary political discourse: “Yes, I am troubled by persistent anti-Semitism in the world. But I am also troubled by the damage done to Jewishness when Jewish identity is collapsed into support for Israeli policy, and when accusations of anti-Semitism are wielded as a tool for silencing debate. What I found so compelling about Jewish history is the wealth of ideas that have emerged surrounding what Jewishness can be. That wealth is lost when name-calling replaces debate, and when a single, tendentious version of Jewishness renders itself impervious to criticism.”