This year, back to school clothing may include a new form of hate attire — but without the baggage of public condemnation.

T-shirts and casual wear with graphics that erase the State of Israel from the map — and replace it with a single Palestinian-drawn state — are the new fashion statements of implicit Jewish genocide. A variety of merchandisers sell such fashions on numerous commercial platforms, including Amazon.

Thankfully, our society today considers KKK robes and Nazi uniforms as clearly evocative of evil, and not affirmations of any acceptable identity or ideology. Persons wearing such odious garbs are rightfully castigated for their glaring hate speech. Yet apparel that overtly promotes the eradication of the Jewish state is worn in public and sold with what seems to be societal impunity.

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism includes: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.”

T-shirts that deem the Jewish state as non-existent fit that definition. These clothes are designed to make a statement — and it’s not about a two-state solution. This apparel is an attempt to promote the elimination of the Jewish state and the Jews in it.

Some shirts are emblazoned with the caption “from river to the sea,” a phrase that literally removes Israel from the map and calls for Israel’s destruction. In America, there should be little doubt that these fashion statements, especially among the young and impressionable, are designed to mainstream antisemitism and the elimination of Israel.

In the UK this year, the education secretary declared such offensive sloganeering in public as reportable to the police for prosecution. Why? Because a “river to the sea” geopolitical reality for Jews under a Hezbollah, Hamas, and Fatah fascist dictatorship would likely be replete with persecution, torture, and murder.

Leftists can fantasize about a peaceful coexistence between Israel and Palestine under a single nation state, but a one-state solution would mean the end of Israel and its democratic institutions and foundation. And given the frequency of terror launched against Israel by Palestinian terrorists and official governments, it’s impossible to believe that Jews would be treated with any amount of respect or civil rights, especially not by a Palestinian government that still considers incarcerated and deceased terrorists who murder Americans and Israelis as martyrs worthy of lifetime payments.

“From the river to the sea” apparel calls for Israel’s destruction — and nothing else.

Erasing Israel on a t-shirt may seem trivial, but the calculated intention is to politically and socially normalize the notion that the Jewish nation state is not legitimate, and should not exist. Clothing lines that erase Israel signal genocidal intentions, with a defiant in your face couture. In March 2020, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) proudly wore a shirt that pictured the destruction of Israel.

If there is any doubt regarding such imagery, Hamas co-founder Mahmoud Al-Zahar said on Al-Jazeera TV that, “this land is not suitable for a two-state solution … Palestine is an Arab and Islamic land.” Behind him was a “Palestine” map with Israel deleted.

Responsible leaders should shed any free expression naiveté, and condemn these fashions as palpable assaults on Jews. It is the responsibility of commercial websites that sell these fashions to remove them, as they would for any Nazi or Confederate paraphernalia; it is incumbent upon corporate, educational, and institutional leaders to sanction, prohibit, and remove these fashions from the private spaces they control. Wearing these shirts in an educational or employment setting should be grounds for dismissal.

Nefarious intentions sometimes hide in plain sight, in order to desensitize those on the sidelines who can be swayed. It is up to elected officials to denounce these fashions for what they unequivocally represent: hate and violence against Jews, deceptively clothed in the cotton of mass marketing.

Barry Ziman is a novelist and government relations professional living in Virginia.

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