The left loves #visibility — except when Jews were visible in Amsterdam
Nothing better reveals the violent absurdity of the post-Oct. 7 era than the phrase “visibly Jewish.”
“Visible” Jews were hunted Thursday evening in Amsterdam following a soccer match between Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv and its Dutch rival Ajax. Media briefs urgently reported about mobs of likely Arab and Muslim immigrants chasing Maccabi supporters who appeared “visibly Jewish” in the most outrageous example of mass anti-Semitism since the Hamas massacre in southern Israel 13 months ago.
Visibility is a loaded term for minorities —be they racial or ethnic or religious or sexual. In the eyes of the far left, the culturally discounted and dispossessed are encouraged to boost their visibility in acts of public resistance and empowerment. Visibility is a vehicle of social statement-making — we’re here, we’re queer, we will not disappear.
Visibility is good. Visibility means refusing to hide, refusing to feel shame, refusing to concede to the “fascism” and “extremism” we’re warned will inevitably accompany Donald Trump’s return to the White House come January.
But in the case of Jews and Israel, being visible now means something else entirely. Visibility is a vehicle for guilt and blame — for the incitement and impunity Jews have been subjected to since the first anti-Israel protests broke out while blood literally still flowed through small-town Israeli streets last Oct. 7.
Designating Jews as visible is nothing less than a license to injure — if not cause death. Because killing is what the Muslim Amsterdam mobs would have done had the Dutch police not so feebly intervened this week. Kill is what their Gaza brethren did so wantonly when freed from the rules of law – or logic – 400 days ago. And kill they would easily do so again if Europe ever became the Caliphate so many Islamists are clearing pining for.
Adding “visible” to Jewish is an act of violence used to justify violence. It sets up a scenario where Jews who are attacked like in Amsterdam have no one to blame but themselves – guilty of demonstrating their Jewishness through their looks or language or the color of their soccer jerseys.
“Visibly Jewish” suggests that being Jewish is performative and impermanent – something that you do rather than who you are. That Jews possess an ability to opt out of being Jewish simply by removing a coat or skullcap or soccer jersey. Those who refuse, well, what can you expect when you’re visibly Jewish – the violence is ultimately on you and you alone.
What’s most obscene here is that while Jews literally risk death today when demonstrating their identity, any effort to impose upon the “visibility” of other minorities is met with near fanatical outrage. Take African Americans: Nearly 25 states have passed the “Crown Act,” which prohibits workplace discrimination based on traditional (e.g. “visibly”) Black hairstyles. In Britain, celebrities such as former Spice Girl Mel B are urging the British parliament to establish the UK as the first Western nation to ban hair discrimination. The goal is to make “Afro hair” a protected characteristic; good stuff, but who’s protecting Jews who choose to wear their hair in the traditional side curls known as peyot?
Meanwhile, NBC bemoans a lack of Latino visibility in film and television, demand for increased Asian-American visibility is coursing through public schools and an online community called the Disability Visibility Project seeks to nobly elevate the voices of the disabled. Oh, and there are both a Transgender Day of Visibility and Bisexuality Visibility Day each year.
Across the left, every minority imaginable is being encouraged to show themselves off, highlight their diversity – lean into visibility. Every minority, that is, except for Jews. And when Jews do, they’re rounded up and hounded through the streets like in Amsterdam – failed by the police and advised to deny their Judaism and hide visibly Jewish symbols in a literal act of survival.
Imagine African Americans told to tone down their visibility, cut their dreadlocks or reduce their afros. Or LGBTs admonished to dress less masculine or feminine – or both. Women told to appear more ladylike or men more macho. Our culture today has zero tolerance for weighing in on issues of visibility – except when the visibility is Jewish visibility.
