May 29, 2026 · 1 hr 3 min · 12 segments
In this show Warren's guest is Sheryl Nestel (PhD), a founding member of Independent Jewish Voices (IJV). She is the author of numerous refereed journal articles, book chapters and reports on race and…
Sheryl NestelGuest
Warren BellHost
[upbeat music] One of the most divisive issues in the world today centers around the behavior of the government of the State of Israel.
Now, is criticism of the conduct of that government considered anti-Semitic, or is it actually legitimate criticism of government policy and action, just like criticism of the governments of Canada or the United States? No one would consider challenging the actions of these governments as anti-Canadian or anti-American.
So why is criticizing the, the actions of the government of Israel so easily tied into an irrational and illegitimate prejudice that goes back nearly 2,000 years? Anti-Jewish sentiment, called antisemitism, including the sometimes cruel and violent and murderous treatment of Jews, has a centuries-long history, especially in European countries and Russia.
It culminated in the Nazi Holocaust, the deliberate and cold-blooded murder of six million Jews, along, it should be noted, with six million others: gays, Poles, physically and mentally disabled persons, Romani people, uh, disparagingly called Gypsies, and nearly four and a half million non-combatant citizens of the Soviet Union.
Because Jews can still be targeted arbitrarily and without cause, there is understandable sensitivity in the Jewish culture to the threats of outside violence.
But since the State of Israel came into existence in 1948, there has been increasingly violent repression by the government of Israel itself and its armed forces, known as the Israeli Defense Forces, or IDF, against the preexistent Arab population of the geographic area called Palestine.
Tying together prejudice-based antisemitism with criticism of the government of Israel is increasingly recognized as a political tactic whose purpose is to shield Israeli government leaders against criticism for their past and current actions towards Palestinian Arabs, especially in Gaza and the West Bank.
Many of these actions clearly violate fundamental human rights, including political discrimination, arbitrary displacement, destruction of civilian infrastructure, violent assaults, preventing access to life-giving services, like food and water, and even state-sanctioned murder.
This conflation of antisemitism with legitimate political criticism has been challenged head-on by a large and deeply informed group of leading Jewish scholars, academics, and religious leaders.
Sheryl Nestel is an affiliated scholar at the University of Toronto's New College and a longtime leader in the advocacy group called Independent Jewish Voices.
She's going to help us understand what's called the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism.
[upbeat music] One of the most divisive issues in the world today centers around the behavior of the government of the State of Israel.
Now, is criticism of the conduct of that government considered anti-Semitic, or is it actually legitimate criticism of government policy and action, just like criticism of the governments of Canada or the United States? No one would consider challenging the actions of these governments as anti-Canadian or anti-American.
So why is criticizing the, the actions of the government of Israel so easily tied into an irrational and illegitimate prejudice that goes back nearly 2,000 years? Anti-Jewish sentiment, called antisemitism, including the sometimes cruel and violent and murderous treatment of Jews, has a centuries-long history, especially in European countries and Russia.
It culminated in the Nazi Holocaust, the deliberate and cold-blooded murder of six million Jews, along, it should be noted, with six million others: gays, Poles, physically and mentally disabled persons, Romani people, uh, disparagingly called Gypsies, and nearly four and a half million non-combatant citizens of the Soviet Union.
Because Jews can still be targeted arbitrarily and without cause, there is understandable sensitivity in the Jewish culture to the threats of outside violence.
But since the State of Israel came into existence in 1948, there has been increasingly violent repression by the government of Israel itself and its armed forces, known as the Israeli Defense Forces, or IDF, against the preexistent Arab population of the geographic area called Palestine.
Tying together prejudice-based antisemitism with criticism of the government of Israel is increasingly recognized as a political tactic whose purpose is to shield Israeli government leaders against criticism for their past and current actions towards Palestinian Arabs, especially in Gaza and the West Bank.
Many of these actions clearly violate fundamental human rights, including political discrimination, arbitrary displacement, destruction of civilian infrastructure, violent assaults, preventing access to life-giving services, like food and water, and even state-sanctioned murder.
This conflation of antisemitism with legitimate political criticism has been challenged head-on by a large and deeply informed group of leading Jewish scholars, academics, and religious leaders.
Sheryl Nestel is an affiliated scholar at the University of Toronto's New College and a longtime leader in the advocacy group called Independent Jewish Voices.
She's going to help us understand what's called the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism.
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