Peter Beinart: Trump and ADL are defining who is a Jew

This is the Jewish version of takfir, a doctrine used by al Qaeda and ISIS

In a recently posted video, Peter Beinart said that Trump, the ADL, and other defenders of Zionism and the State of Israel are gravely endangering Jews by claiming that they have the right to decide who is a Jew on purely political grounds — anyone protesting the actions of the State of Israel is an antisemite, and if Jewish, is no longer Jewish.

I would like to put this in comparative perspective. By arrogating to themselves the right to determine who is a Jew on political grounds, Trump, ADL et al. are introducing the Salafi jihadist concept of « takfir » into Judaism.

According to mainstream Islam, anyone born a Muslim or who recites the kalima – “There is no God but God, and Muhammad is the prophet of God” -- is a Muslim. No human being has the authority to declare someone a « kafir,» an unbeliever or denier. Only an Islamic tribunal authorized by an Islamic ruler can do that, and only under very stringent conditions. The mainstream ‘ulama take the position that under current conditions no human being has the authority to declare that someone meeting the above criteria is not a Muslim. The act of proclaiming a Muslim to be a nonbeliever or “kafir” – literally “denier” -- is called “takfir,” and those who engage in it for political reasons are called “takfiris.” (The word kafir in Arabic comes from the same Semitic root, KFR, as the Hebrew “kofer,” as in “kofer ba-‘Ikar,” one who denies basic principles, like the Wicked Son of the four mentioned in the Passover Seder.)

Sayd Qotb, the radical Muslim Brotherhood theorist, introduced the use of takfir in modern politics. During his long imprisonment before his execution by Nasser’s regime in Egypt in 1966, Qotb developed the doctrine that by imposing non-Muslim concepts of statehood and law, the current rulers of the Muslim world had become apostates, Muslims who have abandoned their faith. He developed the doctrine of «takfir,» declaring an avowed Muslim to have become kafir, and thereby an apostate, on the basis of political behavior. Under Islamic law apostates deserve the death penalty.

The first to apply this doctrine were the assassins of Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat. It is the doctrine of Al Qaida and ISIS, for which reason they are considered Khawarij, or deviants.

In Judaism the act of declaring that a Jew is outside the community is called “Herem.” In halacha as in shari’a (words with the same literal meaning of “the way”) only a qualified beit din (court of justice) can take such a serious decision, as did the beit din of Amsterdam when it excommunicated Baruch Spinoza in 1656. That excommunication, however, was for religious heresy, not political views.

The Jewish equivalent of takfir, excommunication for political reasons by freelancing extremists, is the so-called Hoq ha-Rodef (Law of the Pursuer), which legitimized the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. Even in that case, however, the assassin relied on a written opinion by three extremist rabbis, rather than a random statement by a political figure during a press availability. Trump and the ADL have now become takfiris, and if the experience of Islam is any guide, that will inevitably be followed by internecine bloodshed.