Judaism is not just a religion. Like the ancient civilizations among which it arose, it had a religious, cultural, ethnic and national expression.

The national identity (Zionism) has been, for the past three millennia, bound up with the land of Israel. No other people before the 19th century ever perceived the land we know as Israel to be its distinct nation, but for 3,000 years Jews have continuously lived there – and the many who were denied the right to live there daily dreamed, prayed and struggled for the day they might be enabled to return.

In many ways, this was one of the most magnificent national liberation campaigns in all of human history.

One central expression of racism is the assertion that one group is inherently inferior to others. Rights routinely accorded to others are denied solely because of identity. In the case of the Jews, it is their identity as a national group that is denied by some – and that is, simply, an instance of racism against Jews.

The term of art given to such anti-Jewish racism is “anti-Semitism” (hence the vacuousness of the assertion that Arabs in the region can’t be anti-Semitic because they are Semites.). So for example, efforts to declare Jewish nationalism (i.e. Zionism) racist and thereby inherently illegitimate (as the UN did for a number of years) are anti-Semitic.

This does not mean that the denial of national rights to any group that claims them is inherently racist. The decision to actually allow for the actualization of such rights often entails an array of political judgment and that is different than a denial of the right in principle.

Whatever the history, today there is a Palestinian people who believes as deeply as the Jewish people that they have a right to self-determination in Israel-Palestine. No resolution of this conflict is possible that does not embody the national dreams of (and the guarantee of security for) both peoples. As to what policies best do that, good people can disagree.

So, anti-Zionism/anti-Semitism are completely different issues from the question of criticism of Israeli policies.

There is a robust debate on Israeli policy among Israelis, American Jewry and Americans more broadly. Indeed, if helping those we love entails offering constructive criticism when we believe they are acting in a way that damages their own interests or compromises their own values, we have an obligation to speak out.

Often people at a distance can help others because they can see things from a different perspective from those who live within a crisis.

Ultimately, it is Israelis who will live or die by virtue of the decisions they make. Hence the final decisions must be theirs. But we can help by lending our wisdom to their debates of these urgent matters.