Daily Times

In the current era, anti-semitism is not as much about the personal, as it is about the political. Anti-semitism today is mainly owed to the actions of the Zionist Israeli state, and hatred is hence sometimes directed at the Jewish people in the US.

It is vital to understand that not every Jewish person is a Zionist or an Israel supporter. The population of Orthodox Jewish people as a collective, is against the creation of the state of Israel. This Jewish group’s ideology is based on their religious belief, which states that Israel can only be established after the coming of the messiah – who has not arrived yet. There are also other secular Jewish voices of peace, in Europe and the US. Two prominent Jewish American academics John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt wrote the explosive book, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, which internationally caused quite a stir and sent alarm bells ringing in Israel. This is a fine point to understand for Pakistanis who adversely view the Jewish people as a monolith.

Social media is now the primary medium for anti-semitism and anti-zionism. As Israeli bombardments and settlements against Palestinians take place in the age of social media, the biased reporting from the mainstream international media no longer holds water. The carefully constructed narrative of “both sides” attacking each other, presented by international news channels, has fallen apart. Brave Palestinian citizen Journalists using Facebook – a platform owned by the Jewish Mark Zuckerberg – were instrumental in showing the truth.

Incidents of anti-semitism in the US, are reported to the Jewish Anti-Defamation League (ADL), during each Israeli military operation. Israeli sea vessels faced global blockades and boycotts during the ongoing military operations against the Palestinians. Israel faced commercial and academic boycotts across the board, from common citizens to premier US universities. One example of a commercial boycott by the public was the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement started in 2005. It was very effective against Israel, and since 2015 Israel has lobbied very hard against the movement to be declared illegal. BDS became such a huge political movement that students of Ivy League universities such as Brown University in 2019 and Columbia University in 2020, passed resolutions for BDS. Israel has to stay hyper-vigilant, so as not to be declared an international pariah, as a twenty-first century apartheid state.

The ultimate aim of all these Jewish and Hindu American groups is to grant India an ally status, similar to Israel

India is on a similar path with the rise of Hindutva. The ongoing genocide of Muslims, and the ill-treatment of Sikhs, Christians and lower-caste Hindus are all issues that are now the cause of international concern and condemnation. Israel found a solution to its apartheid policy by lobbying to label any criticism of Israel as anti-semitism. Indian Hindu groups in the US are following suit by trying to institutionalize the newly coined phrase “Hinduphobia.” Hinduphobia is designed to present individual cases as a structural issue. Contemporary state atrocities against minority groups in India can be justified by creating a narrative of Hindu victimization. Hindutva advocates are also aiming to conflate any criticism of the political philosophy of Hindutva with religious persecution. This is the same as Jewish groups calling out all criticism of Zionism as antisemitism. These efforts are now being staged at the highest offices of the US Congress and the House of Representatives for it to become codified as law.

The United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has repeatedly asked the US State Department to recognize India as a “country of particular concern” due to its “egregious” human rights violations against religious and caste minorities and their supporters. The USCIRF has categorized these violations as surveillance; harassment; demolition of property; arbitrary travel bans; and detention.

As Modi and Biden mutually visited the US and India, amid fanfare, the US has not yet heeded the USCIRF recommendation. However, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in 2022 that he is monitoring the rise in human rights abuses. It must be understood that if the State Department were to act, India could face sanctions. The most important impact of these sanctions is the loss of India’s ability to buy weapons from the US. The currently weak and ill-equipped Indian military is primarily relying on US support, just as it relied on US patronage to grow its economy. During Modi’s recent visit, India was offered access to jet engine technology – which has made India grow a big head. The recent derogation of the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau at the G20 summit held in India is proof of this newfound arrogance. The insulting comments made about Trudeau – while the head of state was still a guest in India – show that Bilawal Zardari is not the only high-profile guest India has majorly disrespected in violation of the norms of hospitality and diplomacy.

To gain political power in Washington, in the mid-1990s, AIPAC lobbyist Ralph Nurnberger was recruited to head the new Indian American Center for Political Awareness (IACPA) modelled on the Jewish AIPAC. Using Jewish political clout for Hindus, Ralph Nuremberg placed Hindu interns in congressional offices. After 9/11 this Jewish and Hindu alliance grew, as both worked together to demand military action against Islamic terrorism. “Whether you call them Palestinians, Afghans, or Pakistanis, the root of the problem for Hindus and Jews is Islam,” Bajrang Dal affiliate Rohit Vyasmaan told The New York Times. This statement is the political manifestation of the Quranic verse: “You are sure to find that the most hostile to the believers are the Jews as well as those who are bent on ascribing partners to God (polytheists).” (Quran 5:82)

Indian Americans were taken to Israel to meet with the Israeli military and government officials. The Jewish American and Indian American groups worked together not just to advance their own respective interests but also to sabotage Pakistan. They worked together and tried to block US aid and weapons sales to Pakistan. Fortunately for us, they were unsuccessful in this attempt due to Pakistan’s geo-strategic importance. However, they did manage to gain other victories for India such as weapons sales and a nuclear arms deal – which essentially exempted India from global nuclear nonproliferation efforts and even granted it access to US nuclear technology.

The ultimate aim of all these Jewish and Hindu American groups is to grant India an allied status, similar to Israel – an important part of which is being above reproach. Just like Jewish American political lobbyists serve Israel, these Indian Hindu Americans remain loyal to a foreign homeland and serve Hindutva interests – while being US citizens.

Modi is not some charismatic leader who wooed the US and propelled India on the path of becoming a global power. Modi is simply in the right place at the right time. Firstly, it was PM Nehru’s initiatives in higher education way back in 1951, which created a strong base of educated professionals who could find jobs in the US. Secondly, the untiring efforts of Indian business tycoons such as Infosys’s Narayan Murthi, established the business houses for Indian software exports. Finally, RSS-led efforts by the diaspora Hindus, helped India. Even then, external factors such as the rise of China, help from Jewish groups and the fallout of the Russia-Ukraine war, played a major role in India’s rise. India has not progressed and risen organically like the US. It is being actively aided and nurtured by the US.

As opposed to Hindu-Indian American activism, there has been a complete lack of political mobilization of Pakistani Americans.

(Concluded)

The writer is an independent researcher, author and columnist. She can be reached at aliya1924@gmail.com