Rejecting Judeo-Christian Privilege: The First Step Towards Semitic Solidarity

As a first step towards Semitic solidarity, I (cautiously) engage with a privilege that is complex, in that it is partially attributed and partially assumed: Judeo-Christian privilege, which has yet to be studied by scholars. I begin by conceptualizing and analyzing Judeo-Christian privilege, which, like all privileges, is both material and ideational. Next, I consider the argument for and against the uniqueness of the Shoah that helped establish Judeo-Christian privilege. I then turn to arguments about anti-Semitism, and specifically its relation to other forms of racism and how these argument support Judeo-Christian privilege. Lastly, I argue against using a rhetoric of uniqueness, because it potentially prevents the identification and challenging of a violent pattern of exclusion that remains present today. Without denying the importance of differences between genocides and forms of racism, I aim to demonstrate how these arguments can be an impediment to solidarity and justice.