Thank you, Azadehruh. I really appreciate those words.
As far as the harassment you suffered, I'm very sorry to hear that. I have a few words of advice or consideration if it helps in terms of your concerns about justifying antisemitism, in case this is helpful:
1) Personally, I'm an advocate for speaking your truth and accountability--that is, when it's not done to intentionally harm others (especially groups of people). If there is one or a small number of identifiable individuals who harassed you in academia and they still wield positions of power, I don't think it's wrong at all to convey your experiences. Especially if those experiences were downright abusive, you may find it cathartic after experiencing that trauma to be able to discuss what you experienced, and it may be beneficial for others who have experienced abuse or harassment from the same individuals who might have been to afraid or ashamed to come forward and publicly express what they experience. Usually there can't be accountability for individuals unless people come forward when they have been wronged, but I also strongly believe that people who have been victimized by any form of trauma have no obligation to handle the situations of trauma they incurred in any specific way--that is, if it's less stressful for you or less triggering to not say anything, then that is entirely justifiable and it would never be your "fault" in any way for choosing not to say anything. I think it's always best to defer to your intuition and what level of involvement or divulgence you feel most comfortable with. That being said,
2) Since I'm not aware of the scope of events that happened outside of the fears you expressed in reinforcing antisemitic hatred, I'll give a few tips and food for thought here. First of all, it's imperative to NEVER blame an individual or even a small group of individuals (even a large group of individuals!) for an entire identity. If someone or a number of Jewish colleagues harassed you 18 years ago, I would be very careful about wording and to some degree if you can, even examining your own sentiment for how you perceive the situation itself in order to expunge any unnecessary hatred and bias from your retelling. Jews are an extremely variable group of people with countless different educational, racial, financial, political, religious, philosophical and every other kind of expression and experience. We are not a monolith, nor is any other categorical identity that exists across the spectrum of human existence.
One of the best pieces of advice I can give you (something I wrote an article about in April) is to be VERY cautious about invoking the term "the Jews" or otherwise saying a statement prefaced with "Jews." If you're following those words with generalizations of any kind about Jewish people, you are at high risk of slipping into the territory of antisemitism. I'd say this is a good rule of thumb for statements made about any identity that serve to homogenize them or make them into a perceived monolith that erases their vast differences (if I started a statement, especially one with pejorative under- or overtones with "Black people ...." there is a good chance that what follows may border on racist). It's not always hateful, that is true (one could say "Jews are nice people" which also doesn't happen to be universally accurate), but it's generally best to avoid sweeping generalizations because the slippery slope is such that when we aren't sure what constitutes hate/bias/discrimination, some of the ambiguous space can foster unintentional hatred and harm. It's not worth the risk.
3) I think it's powerful to ask yourself in any anecdote whether or not identity descriptors (i.e. religion, race, etc) is germane to the story you are telling, or if it's in there in an attempt to belittle or undermine the categorization at hand. So, if you're telling a story about harassment you incurred by Jewish colleagues, I would ask yourself why, if you do intend to retell the story, it's significant and relevant that they were Jewish--is it because they verbally and specifically invoked their Jewishness in order to stifle or otherwise harm you? In that case, it might very well be worth mentioning--though I think, through the lens of mindful/respectful/peace-oriented storytelling, in that event it would be helpful to place an additional note specifying that this does not reflect the beliefs or actions of all or even most Jewish people. If you do feel compelled to include people's Jewish identities, just as you would with any other minority that is marginalized and hated, it is effective harm reduction to remind your audience (especially if many of them do possess hateful biases) that this doesn't justify retribution against a whole group of people and that a whole group of people or a single aspect of one's identity does not universally beget a specific set of behaviors.
3) As mentioned earlier, I really recommend looking within yourself to evaluate if there is any lingering antisemitism in your own heart that was fostered by this interaction(s) that you had some time ago. If possible, if you can be really vulnerable with yourself and ask, have I projected onto all of their people certain negative traits or impressions due to my interactions with this person/number of people? Do I have lingering pain or resentment that has fostered these presumptions and biases in my own head and heart after all that time? If so, what would it take for me to practice forgiveness and compassion? How would I feel if someone generalized about me or my family due to someone's experience with a small number of people from my religion/race/etc? You can practice understanding and earnest listening within yourself to gain better awareness of your intuition and what you think would be appropriate next steps after this event that happened to you. If it's coming predominantly from a place of hatred and anger in a way that is motivated by antisemitism, it's probably unproductive to take action. But if it's coming from an honest place of seeking justice and respect and forward movement for all involved, then if you can proceed without the overt or more subtle antisemitism that I referenced above, I think that is a great reason to publicly address it.
I hope this helps!
