Perspective Is Context
There are all sorts of ways Islamists and Jews define and see a situation or action differently. Words can frame the same conflict in opposing ways. That is one way to describe semantics. Here is an example:
When Islamists kill Jews and seek to destroy Israel, they call it “Jihad.” When Israel fights back and is winning, it is called “Genocide.”
Here is another example that is highly contested:
Jews call lying during negotiations to conceal one’s true intentions “bad faith.” An Islamist negotiator pursuing an extremist objective may see that same deception as a useful tactic. Some might try to justify it by invoking taqiyya, but that stretches a concept traditionally associated with concealing one’s religious beliefs under threat. Whatever name the negotiator gives it, deliberate deception is not good faith.
Here is another example: After Israel declared independence in 1948, armies from five Arab countries invaded. Many Arab leaders expected to defeat the new state swiftly, and some Palestinians who fled expected to return when the fighting ended. Instead, Israel survived and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remained displaced. Israel celebrates its independence on Yom HaAtzmaut; Palestinians remember their displacement and loss as the Nakba—“the catastrophe.” One war gave rise to two names, each carrying a profoundly different experience of its outcome.
Here is a very current example: in Gaza, Hamas has operated from civilian areas and used civilians as human shields, putting those civilians in danger. Israel has warned civilians before some strikes through leaflets, calls, and other means. Yet when civilians are killed, the warning and Hamas’s role can disappear from the account, and the strike alone is called a war crime. Civilian deaths are tragic and deserve scrutiny—but the words used to describe them should not erase the full circumstances.
Here is one more example: Some who chant “From the river to the sea” mean the end of Israel as a Jewish state. Yet when Jews use the historical names Judea and Samaria for the land where much of the Bible takes place, that language is often treated as unacceptable. In both cases, words about the land carry claims about its history and future—but they are not always judged by the same standard.
In the context of this article, I should note that applying a double standard to Israel is listed as an example of antisemitism in the widely used IHRA working definition. Perhaps that is why Anti-Zionists are claiming that Antisemitism is being weaponized to cause Islamophobia.
Now there is an interesting word, “Islamophobia.” Ordinarily, a phobia is an “irrational” fear. What do you think: with all the talk and attacks on Israel and the massive rise in hate crimes against Jews, would you call our fear irrational?
When Jews are roughly 2% of the country but the targets of nearly two-thirds of its reported religion-based hate crimes, calling our fear irrational ignores the evidence.
There is “semantics” and then there are the facts:
- Jews are about 2% of the U.S. population, yet were the target of 63% of reported religion-based hate crimes in 2025—1,528 of 2,408 incidents. ADL analysis of FBI data.
- The ADL recorded 6,274 antisemitic incidents in 2025, averaging 17 a day, compared with about 8 a day in 2020–2022. That is more than twice the earlier daily rate, even though the 2025 total fell from its 2024 peak. ADL audit
- The FBI recorded 162 anti-Jewish assaults in 2025. ADL analysis of FBI data.
I have expressed my perspective as a Jew, and I know others will see these events differently. These are my opinions, formed by what I have seen, studied, and experienced. I invite readers to consider both the words being used and the intentions behind them.
As I said at the start, perspective is context. Words can be contested. The hate-crime figures are not. Perspective matters. So do intentions. That is why the conflict goes beyond semantics.
