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When I’m purchasing something in a market, a label not only directs me to the item that I am in need of, but also provides information to compare products. In this example labels are useful and necessary. Then there are the labels that are applied to our fellow human beings, whether they are supplied by others or self-applied. One’s political leaning, religion, sexual orientation, family’s origin and sports teams are just some of the labels that are utilized. With the variations out there, I could imagine that we could place every single human being in their own unique category unoccupied by anyone else. Labels can be unifying or disruptive. They can provide commonalities amongst people or barriers. They can cause us to pre-judge people based upon them. Yet there is a particular label that I believe needs to be applied that has been underutilized. And for that I need to focus on those who are self-proclaimed progressives.

I’m not exactly certain what that label connotes other than being in favor of progress. The words and deeds of progressives have made me wonder what exactly a progressive is.

• What has been your stance about those who settled these shores and eliminated Native Americans?
• Where have you been as Turkiye continues to deny the genocide of 1 million Armenians during WWI?
• What have you said or done to eliminate the racism of Jim Crow?
• What have you said or done to protest the deaths of 300,000 in Syria?
• What have you said or done to protest the deaths of the Uighur?
• What have you said or done to protest the deaths of the Rohingya?
• What have you said or done to protest Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine?
• What have you said or done to protest the massacre of 1,400 in Israel?
• What have you said or done to protest Hamas’ abuse of the Palestinian people?

We all know that the answer is nothing. What protesting has been done? Faced with the continued stated goal in the Hamas Charter preamble, "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.", the answer should be unambiguous. And just in case there is further confusion, Article 7 states: The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: 'O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him." 

The absence of moral voices for the above-mentioned short list, coupled with the rabid voices that once again attack Israel, make it very clear that there is a label missing that must be applied to these voices: Antisemites. When you are quiet about injustices throughout the world and only speak up about Israel, you have made your hatred of Jews abundantly clear. You have also sacrificed your right to be called a progressive, for your words and deeds do not bespeak progress. Rather, they are regressive, ultimately seeking the elimination of the homeland of the Jewish people. And that is unacceptable. So to those who call themselves progressives and have been silent except to condemn Israel, I affix the label “antisemite” until you can prove otherwise.