Ignore It at Your Peril

[Mosby]

(THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP)

Earlier this week, my colleague, the wise and empathetic Carly Pildis, wrote a thoughtful and powerful piece about the political future of American Jews. In it, she argues that the Democratic Party, notwithstanding a handful of problematic and relatively inconsequential congresswomen, is still the most safe and welcoming space for Jews, while the president is guilty of rhetoric that is downright anti-Semitic.

It is in the spirit of Carly’s call for dialogue that does not shy away from unpleasant assertions that I would like to offer two observations about the political future of American Jews.

The first has to do with the unthinkable descent of the Democratic Party into being not just blind to anti-Jewish bigotry, but an engine of it. We can argue about when and exactly how this happened—I’ll leave the ultimate timelines to historians—but to keep things simple let’s connect only the most recent dots.

Shortly after Trump was elected, the left moved into resistance mode. The feelings here were entirely understandable—I myself found Trump’s election deeply worrisome. But, very quickly, the energy began to be channeled into causes and outfits with deep and clear anti-Semitic associations—including, most prominently, the Women’s March. Over the course of two years, the leaders of this organization sang hosannas to Louis Farrakahn, flagrantly used Nation of Islam as security, and used their influence to reframe Israel as the world’s biggest state criminal—quite a feat when you have such a calamity happening next door. Jews expressed their discomfort, but time and again were ignored—even told by some of their own leadership, by some of our own rabbis, that to want people in shared spaces simply not to foment vicious hatred of us was to selfishly “center ourselves.”

After Tablet published a 10,000-word expose, revealing that the Women’s March leadership was veritably soaked in hatred for Jews and Israel, some prominent people in the Democratic Party (though not all) finally felt compelled to distance themselves from these obvious bigots.

Then came the midterm elections.

During it, a young candidate named Ilhan Omar emerged—and immediately attracted the adoration of progressives, including Jewish voters in her hometown. At some point, someone surfaced a 2012 tweet in which she argued that Israel had “hypnotized the world.” A few polite Jews apologetically asked if she might, pretty please, explain to everyone that she didn’t actually mean to reference a longtime anti-Semitic canard. She ignored them—perhaps because she knew that no one in the Democratic Party establishment would care, or ever push her on it.

Things got worse. When meeting with Jewish constituents whose votes she wanted, Omar flatly told them what she knew they wanted to hear—that she supported a two-state solution and didn’t believe in BDS. After getting many of them to vote for her, she took it all back—even sponsoring a bill in support of BDS within months of joining Congress. None of Omar’s fellow Democratic congress members called her out for this sharp reversal, and neither The New York Times nor the Washington Post gave it much if any ink.

Then came Omar’s “all about the Benjamins” tweet, which outright accused Jews of using their money to buy influence and force America into supporting Israel, a potent mix of several anti-Semitic tropes, from the one accusing the Jews of dual loyalty to the one positing that Jewish money makes the world go round. Some on the left condemned Omar. But many others rushed to her defense, creating a hashtag, #IStandWithIlhan, that soon went viral.

Then, last week, came the storm following Israel’s decision to ban Rashida Tlaib and Omar from visiting. Soon after, it was revealed that their trip was to be sponsored by a Palestinian organization called Miftah. “Much of the chatter and gossip about historical Jewish blood rituals in Europe are real and not fake as they claim,” read an article posted on the organization’s website, as reported by the Washington Free Beacon. “The Jews used the blood of Christians in the Jewish Passover.” The article goes on to criticize then-President Barack Obama for hosting a Seder in the White House: “Does Obama in fact know the relationship, for example, between ‘Passover’ and ‘Christian blood,’” the article continues. “Or ‘Passover’ and ‘Jewish blood rituals?!’”

Did prominent voices in the Democratic Party rush to defend the Jews from these obvious and dangerous canards? I wish. The Washington Post described Miftah as a nonprofit headed by “longtime peace negotiator Hanan Ashrawi” and The New York Times contextualized as “a group dedicated to raising global awareness and knowledge of Palestinian realities.” Peter Beinart went on CNN to defend Ashrawi and her group as paragons of goodwill. Instead, the entity that came under fire was…you guessed it. A hailstorm of wails about the death of democratic norms ensued, all culminating in a #BoycottIsrael trend on Twitter—pushed by many of the same sort of polite people behind the last big boycott of the Jews.

Next, both congresswomen shared the same cartoon by Carlos Latuff, a notoriously anti-Semitic illustrator who, in 2006, had placed second in Iran’s infamous Holocaust-denying cartoon contest. No Democratic congressperson said a peep. Neither the Times nor the Washington Post nor CNN covered it.

Friends: We have to stop talking about preventing the Corbynization of the Democratic Party, because it is already here. And if you don’t believe me—if you want to draw a line under all of the above and hope that all the Democratic Party needs is some gentle nudging and organizing—I have bad news for you: The next thing coming down the pike is even worse.

-snip-

https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/289871/democratic-party-becoming-unsalvageable

[Behind the Aegis]

1. Sharpen the knives...and excuses.

Jerry Nadler condemns 'vile' cartoon shared by Rashida Tlaib along with Trump's 'disloyal' Jews jibe

Rep. Jerry Nadler slammed President Trump’s remark about Jews being “disloyal” to Israel. But he also condemned fellow Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib for sharing a cartoon he claims has a “vile underlying message."

“The growing anti-Semitism in our political dialogue is repugnant,” Nadler (D-Manhattan) said.

Link to tweet

The senior Democratic lawmaker framed his statement as a condemnation of anti-Semitism on both sides of the political spectrum during a time that support for Israel becomes an issue in the American partisan divide.

Jerry Nadler condemns ‘vile’ cartoon shared by Rashida Tlaib along with Trump’s ‘disloyal’ Jews jibe

Trump’s comments have been condemned as anti-Semitic by the Anti-Defamation League because they suggest Jews have or should have a loyalty to Israel along with the U.S.

more...

Nadler is usually quite respected and revered, but let's see what happens now that he has reminded everyone he is also a Jew!

[MosheFeingold]

2. In related news

Some editor on the NYT was outed as the person behind a series of foul anti Semitic posts.

He deleted them and still had his job.

They’re here.

[Behind the Aegis]

3. Not surprising.

Nor it is surprising we have people who knew Jews, once saw them on the street, and are telling Nadler to "STFU" because he is creating problems. Never ceases to amaze that the one minority so many feel comfortable using the "some of my best friends excuse" and telling them to "get over it" are the Jews.

[sellitman]

4. Oh so true

I feel it here daily.

[grossproffit]

5. I'm rarely here anymore because of this.

[Behind the Aegis]

6. Yup

When even a well respected MoC speaks out against anti-Semitism, people feel comfortable telling him to "STFU" and others applauded it, what chance to us lowly, disloyal, common Jews stand?! It is more common to hear people tell us what isn't anti-Semitism and do it by constant whining about it and all the times they are held back by false accusations, poor victims that they are, unlike the crafty Jews,

It is beyond frustrating, but reminds us, history is not repeating, it never stopped for us, it just slowed down at times.