In 2024, there were some disturbing actions in science fiction/fantasy fandom against people who are from Israel or support its existence. I’ve blogged about some of them before. Vancouver Comics Arts Festival banned an artist for being Israeli. A statement by the convention berated the earlier organizers for their “ignorance” in inviting someone who had served in Israel’s armed forces in the early 2000s. The CRIT awards put a blanket exclusion on nominating anyone who supports Zionism (i.e., supports the existence of a Jewish state). Both sets of bigots got slapped down and are now being less public, but they’ve shown that the problem exists in fandom.

I’m not Jewish, but I’m part of northeastern filk fandom, which has a heavy Jewish component. Till recently, I was the only non-Jewish officer of MASSFILC, and at one point I was the token goy on a con committee. I’m aware of the issues. There have been online discussions by Jewish fans about the hostility they’ve experienced.

Clear lines are important. It isn’t antisemitism to criticize Israel’s conduct in Gaza or even to think establishing the modern nation of Israel was a bad idea. But it is to ban people for being Israeli or supporting Israel’s existence, especially when that’s the only category that’s banned.

How much of this is happening? I haven’t found other documented incidents besides those two, but I’m inclined to think that where there are two that have gotten attention, more must be hiding out of view. The Vancouver event banned the artist because of “activists protesting the individual’s presence in a manner that caused concern for the safety of our volunteers, staff, and exhibitors.” Banning people “for their protection” is disgusting, but it tells us that other people were acting dangerously. Or maybe that the organizers invented a threat where there wasn’t one; that happens too. I’ve run into a claim that Tel Aviv is in “occupied Palestine,” in the context of a Worldcon bid, since withdrawn, for that city. (Hebrews or Judaeans or whatever they were called at different times have lived in that area continuously since a rather large number BC.)

The parts of fandom I’ve involved in skew toward older people who are well read, and the antisemitism seems to come more from younger fan groups. Antisemitism has lately been increasing in younger demographic groups. A lot of people in that demographic also like to call anyone they disagree with a “Nazi.” Make whatever sense you can of that.

I’m not advocating panic, but in fandom we need to recognize bigotry when we see it and call it out.