The tenor of “identity politics and polemics” has lost listeners even as the tone of debates has intensified: there is a dialectic of tuning in and out of conversations about whether Jews who look white are, in fact, White? The argument, which gained media traction over the last twenty years – a relatively short period of time for some, but a lifetime for millennials – latched on to the phrase “white Jews” set in juxtaposition to “Jews of color” and “Black Jews.” These expressions may have insinuated themselves into the Jewish forum, but they foolishly ignore Jewish and general history. Too many Jews overlook the significance of scientific racism in Nazi ideology and among white supremacists as well as the simple fact that in all racist societies, ancestry always trumps appearance.

We need to fight for the restitution of Jewish property as if there is no antisemitism and combat antisemitism as if there is no fight for Jewish restitution. Some say that fighting for the restitution of Jewish property, estimated at tens of billions of dollars, will contribute to the rise of antisemitism. However, according to research conducted at Hebrew University, it is not clear why or when antisemitism increases.