The Right is successfully exploiting fears over rising antisemitism for its reactionary crusade while the Israel-Hamas war is tearing the democratic popular front to pieces
The MSM coverage of the Israel-Hamas war is incredibly biased against Israel and your comment reflects an uncritical acceptance of this shoddy "reporting."
Consider: in the Russia-Ukraine war, we see lots of quotes from Western sources, Ukrainian sources, Russian sources, Russian bloggers, military sources from both sides. While I may disagree somewhat with the dominant "stalemate" narrative, the press has generally given readers what they need to understand the reality.
Meanwhile the mainstream press depicts Israel as a bunch of madmen out for vengeance, with no inclination or ability to strike legitimate military targets. Only in the last week have CNN or NYT got round to reporting that the IDF has in fact located and captured substantial pieces of Hamas's deep network of tunnels. If Israeli sources are quoted at all, they are expected to confirm/ defend the taking of innocent life.
Nor is the professionalism of IDF acknowledged. For example, in Vietnam, the US Army was virtually powerless to root out the tunnels that the Viet Cong dug, particularly in Cu Chi province; what the IDF has done will be studied in military service academies around the world. And it goes without saying -- though it should not -- that IDF does not, at least on the ground, attack, rape, or torture civilians, while Hamas actually celebrates such conduct.
Furthermore, no one seems to be emphasizing how Hamas is treating Gazan civilians. Hamas does NOT allow civilians to take shelter in the tunnels, which are well supplied with food, fuel, and electricity that civilians can't obtain. Hamas deliberately provoked a massive Israeli response, and Hamas wants to maximize the effect of that response on Gaza's civilians so that it can continue to win the propaganda war. That ought to be a big part of the story, too.
I take issue with the pro-Israel liberals and conservatives smearing anyone that is critical of Israel as antisemitic. With 1.9million people displaced, 500 thousand starving, and over 20,000 dead Arabs, a rise in antisemitism seems inevitable. Not to mention, Joe Biden has essentially made us all here in the States complicit in the complete devastation. We need to be able to discuss things openly in the media and with our peers without disgustingly being smeared as an antisemite.
Look, George Soros really is the biggest left-wing and Democratic donor in the US. To say that all criticism of him is Antisemitic is as intellectually wrong as saying all criticism of Israel is Antisemitic.
Soros gave 2x as much to the Democrats as the 2022's #2 donor gave to the Republicans.
He funds numerous left-wing NGOs too, none of which care what is majoritarian.
He has been especially important in donating to left-wing "progressive prosecutors."
Not all Jewish Democratic megadonors get criticized either by the right either. For instance, Michael Bloomberg is a Democratic megadonor, but he's not criticized nearly as often or intensely because he doesn't support radicalism. Soros is criticized far more often because he funds groups and politicians who are much farther to the left.
The argument that DEI fuels Antisemitism is pretty compelling. DEI/Wokeness/CRT posits that all unequal outcomes in the US arise from structural racism, where a group with below-average outcomes is the victim of structural racism and a group with above-average outcomes has that because of "privilege." From there, it is just a short leap to explain away Jewish success as the result of "Jewish Privilege," and not from valuing education and entrepreneurship. (which can be said of Asians as well).
It isn't just the "reactionary right" that opposes DEI. Mainstream conservatives and even many liberals think it's toxic politically and an opponent of free speech. They object to blatant hiring discrimination when applicants have to sign DEI pledges. Some heterodox Black thinkers believe DEI infantilizes Blacks and fosters a detrimental victimhood mentality. Yeah, the fact that DEI bureaucrats have come down so hard against dumb jokes and "microaggressions," but they would seemingly be ok with vile insults against Jews, makes people think DEI is about "favored speech," not free speech.
The people who are going to the right now aren't juvenile or ignorant. They are educated adults who understand US politics. Often they are older than you. If they are Jewish, they surely worry about right-wing Antisemitism too, but see leftwing Antisemitism as more threatening because it has control over far more institutions than right-wing Antisemitism. Maybe you are the one who is in the wrong, not them?
Thank you for putting Elise Stefanik into context. Yes or No? The answer is correct: she is no, she is not leading a good-faith effort to fight antisemitism, "She is engaged in a cynical attempt to use Jews to suppress speech that reactionaries don’t like.. and punish those the Right sees as the enemy within. "
I really appreciate this article. As someone who has experienced the right wing hate machine and all it's power spin a narrative and have the mainstream media pick it up and repeat it personally your thoughtful unpacking of this incident and phenomenon is so welcome.
I've been feeling very uneasy about the hearing and subsequent widespread condemnation of the 3 university presidents. You have nailed it! I particularly appreciate your explanation of how it's not only anti-university (anti-intellectual), but also anti-democrary. Brilliant! Thank You!
It’s true that some on the Left have allowed their anti-Israel rhetoric to cross a line into antisemitism. It’s important to recognize, though, that the Israeli government has promoted the conflation of all Jews with the Israeli state for decades. The only way anti-Israel sentiment could possibly be construed as antisemitic or genocidal is if you accept this premise. Netanyahu clearly does, and has said that all criticism of Israel is antisemitic. Stefanik proved that she does by equating the call for intifada with genocide, a claim that is patently false but that most media outlets have also accepted at face value. Biden has said many times that Jewish people are not safe unless Israel is there to protect them. All of this comes back to the bigoted assumption that Jews must belong to a foreign state, that they are not welcome in ours.
Agree with a lot in this piece but we’re not going to solve these big issues anytime soon. All we can do is get active and engage as many voters as possible in the six swing states and everywhere else. Get involved. It’s not too late.
Thank you for this. I was appalled by the show hearing because it was so obviously in bad faith. Also I think the universities should have resisted the House trying to assert jurisdiction over private schools’ internal rules. These situations are so obviously dependent on the specific facts. You can’t make blanket statements.
It’s interesting how they had to use anti-black racism to revive antisemitism. Of course antisemitism was not dying out, but it had lessened and then it was revived using antiblack racism. Yet it is very surprising that so far the fear STILL doesn’t flow to the type of individuals--the white supremacists--who were the source of the European threat to Nazis. Nobody seems TRULY afraid of the exact people who did all the damage the last time. You see very wealthy people who say they concerned with antisemitism support Trump, support the people on the Supreme Court who are tied to Harlan Crow. You see people floating excuses for white dudes who collect Nazi memorabilia. We truly have a ‘the Nazis are coming’ situation in America and yet there are very few stories in the main newspapers about the huge white supremacism problem we face, very few outcries about Trump eating with Nazis. This should be a story every day. This is the looming threat. But practically everyone is muddying the waters, refusing to connect the dots. They were the ones who did it LAST TIME but somehow the fact they are continually doing things NOW has not become a major theme across the media, has not seemed to be significant to law enforcement, the media, etc. Is this because the GOP needs to be presented in a both sides tableau and being too vocal about their ties to the far right--the exact same type of people who were the threat LAST TIME--will tar the GOP. Then they can’t do both sides? I don’t get it.
As someone struggling to understand what is going on in a world that appears to be collapsing, shattering or shifting. I am very thankful for your writings.
The MSM coverage of the Israel-Hamas war is incredibly biased against Israel and your comment reflects an uncritical acceptance of this shoddy "reporting."
Consider: in the Russia-Ukraine war, we see lots of quotes from Western sources, Ukrainian sources, Russian sources, Russian bloggers, military sources from both sides. While I may disagree somewhat with the dominant "stalemate" narrative, the press has generally given readers what they need to understand the reality.
Meanwhile the mainstream press depicts Israel as a bunch of madmen out for vengeance, with no inclination or ability to strike legitimate military targets. Only in the last week have CNN or NYT got round to reporting that the IDF has in fact located and captured substantial pieces of Hamas's deep network of tunnels. If Israeli sources are quoted at all, they are expected to confirm/ defend the taking of innocent life.
Nor is the professionalism of IDF acknowledged. For example, in Vietnam, the US Army was virtually powerless to root out the tunnels that the Viet Cong dug, particularly in Cu Chi province; what the IDF has done will be studied in military service academies around the world. And it goes without saying -- though it should not -- that IDF does not, at least on the ground, attack, rape, or torture civilians, while Hamas actually celebrates such conduct.
Furthermore, no one seems to be emphasizing how Hamas is treating Gazan civilians. Hamas does NOT allow civilians to take shelter in the tunnels, which are well supplied with food, fuel, and electricity that civilians can't obtain. Hamas deliberately provoked a massive Israeli response, and Hamas wants to maximize the effect of that response on Gaza's civilians so that it can continue to win the propaganda war. That ought to be a big part of the story, too.
lol. lmao, even.
I take issue with the pro-Israel liberals and conservatives smearing anyone that is critical of Israel as antisemitic. With 1.9million people displaced, 500 thousand starving, and over 20,000 dead Arabs, a rise in antisemitism seems inevitable. Not to mention, Joe Biden has essentially made us all here in the States complicit in the complete devastation. We need to be able to discuss things openly in the media and with our peers without disgustingly being smeared as an antisemite.
There are A LOT of reasons to think that DEI exacerbates the extremism of academia.
https://twitter.com/JohnDSailer/status/1738188608467571196
Look, George Soros really is the biggest left-wing and Democratic donor in the US. To say that all criticism of him is Antisemitic is as intellectually wrong as saying all criticism of Israel is Antisemitic.
Soros gave 2x as much to the Democrats as the 2022's #2 donor gave to the Republicans.
He funds numerous left-wing NGOs too, none of which care what is majoritarian.
He has been especially important in donating to left-wing "progressive prosecutors."
Not all Jewish Democratic megadonors get criticized either by the right either. For instance, Michael Bloomberg is a Democratic megadonor, but he's not criticized nearly as often or intensely because he doesn't support radicalism. Soros is criticized far more often because he funds groups and politicians who are much farther to the left.
https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/biggest-donors?cycle=2022&view=om
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/george-soros-criminal-justice-reform-227519
The argument that DEI fuels Antisemitism is pretty compelling. DEI/Wokeness/CRT posits that all unequal outcomes in the US arise from structural racism, where a group with below-average outcomes is the victim of structural racism and a group with above-average outcomes has that because of "privilege." From there, it is just a short leap to explain away Jewish success as the result of "Jewish Privilege," and not from valuing education and entrepreneurship. (which can be said of Asians as well).
It isn't just the "reactionary right" that opposes DEI. Mainstream conservatives and even many liberals think it's toxic politically and an opponent of free speech. They object to blatant hiring discrimination when applicants have to sign DEI pledges. Some heterodox Black thinkers believe DEI infantilizes Blacks and fosters a detrimental victimhood mentality. Yeah, the fact that DEI bureaucrats have come down so hard against dumb jokes and "microaggressions," but they would seemingly be ok with vile insults against Jews, makes people think DEI is about "favored speech," not free speech.
The people who are going to the right now aren't juvenile or ignorant. They are educated adults who understand US politics. Often they are older than you. If they are Jewish, they surely worry about right-wing Antisemitism too, but see leftwing Antisemitism as more threatening because it has control over far more institutions than right-wing Antisemitism. Maybe you are the one who is in the wrong, not them?
What’s this “we” shit, paleface? It’s the GOP that is melting down. And here you are carrying their water for them. SHAME
Thank you for putting Elise Stefanik into context. Yes or No? The answer is correct: she is no, she is not leading a good-faith effort to fight antisemitism, "She is engaged in a cynical attempt to use Jews to suppress speech that reactionaries don’t like.. and punish those the Right sees as the enemy within. "
I really appreciate this article. As someone who has experienced the right wing hate machine and all it's power spin a narrative and have the mainstream media pick it up and repeat it personally your thoughtful unpacking of this incident and phenomenon is so welcome.
I've been feeling very uneasy about the hearing and subsequent widespread condemnation of the 3 university presidents. You have nailed it! I particularly appreciate your explanation of how it's not only anti-university (anti-intellectual), but also anti-democrary. Brilliant! Thank You!
It’s true that some on the Left have allowed their anti-Israel rhetoric to cross a line into antisemitism. It’s important to recognize, though, that the Israeli government has promoted the conflation of all Jews with the Israeli state for decades. The only way anti-Israel sentiment could possibly be construed as antisemitic or genocidal is if you accept this premise. Netanyahu clearly does, and has said that all criticism of Israel is antisemitic. Stefanik proved that she does by equating the call for intifada with genocide, a claim that is patently false but that most media outlets have also accepted at face value. Biden has said many times that Jewish people are not safe unless Israel is there to protect them. All of this comes back to the bigoted assumption that Jews must belong to a foreign state, that they are not welcome in ours.
This was extremely well written & thought provoking indeed,!!! Thank you 🙏
Agree with a lot in this piece but we’re not going to solve these big issues anytime soon. All we can do is get active and engage as many voters as possible in the six swing states and everywhere else. Get involved. It’s not too late.
Thank you for this. I was appalled by the show hearing because it was so obviously in bad faith. Also I think the universities should have resisted the House trying to assert jurisdiction over private schools’ internal rules. These situations are so obviously dependent on the specific facts. You can’t make blanket statements.
Very thoughtful and quite thorough.
It’s interesting how they had to use anti-black racism to revive antisemitism. Of course antisemitism was not dying out, but it had lessened and then it was revived using antiblack racism. Yet it is very surprising that so far the fear STILL doesn’t flow to the type of individuals--the white supremacists--who were the source of the European threat to Nazis. Nobody seems TRULY afraid of the exact people who did all the damage the last time. You see very wealthy people who say they concerned with antisemitism support Trump, support the people on the Supreme Court who are tied to Harlan Crow. You see people floating excuses for white dudes who collect Nazi memorabilia. We truly have a ‘the Nazis are coming’ situation in America and yet there are very few stories in the main newspapers about the huge white supremacism problem we face, very few outcries about Trump eating with Nazis. This should be a story every day. This is the looming threat. But practically everyone is muddying the waters, refusing to connect the dots. They were the ones who did it LAST TIME but somehow the fact they are continually doing things NOW has not become a major theme across the media, has not seemed to be significant to law enforcement, the media, etc. Is this because the GOP needs to be presented in a both sides tableau and being too vocal about their ties to the far right--the exact same type of people who were the threat LAST TIME--will tar the GOP. Then they can’t do both sides? I don’t get it.
As someone struggling to understand what is going on in a world that appears to be collapsing, shattering or shifting. I am very thankful for your writings.