The Left’s Jewish Problem

If the Bible foretold hardships of the Israelites, I think it’s fair to say the Bible was certainly not joking. From the servitude under the pharaoh to the modern BDS movement, Jews have long been under attack. The Jewish culture has been the eternal underdog.

With the new and young(ish) crop of leftist representatives entering congress, there’s a growing awareness that these new politicians are not the best friend of the Jewish people. Specifically, to that of Israel.

Before exploring the sins of the left, it should be noted that though the left does have a growing Semitic issue, the right is still not connecting to the Jewish community. This has long been the case. Over the course of the last three-quarters century, the Jewish community has voted three-quarters Democrat.

Why?

According to Dennis Prager, among those reasons, “Memory also explains American Jews’ irrational fears of the right. Because the Nazis are widely deemed far rightists (yes, Nazism stood for National Socialism, but no leftists or socialists considered it an ideological ally), Jews continuing to only look rightward for anti-Semitic threats is both silly and dangerous.”

Dennis has also differentiated the Jewish community between that if a religious Jew and a cultural Jew. Specifically, the cultural Jew is simply not practicing the religion but identifies as Jewish in the same way anyone would identify their family’s non-American origin. According to Leon Morris via Israel’s Haaretz, “…American Jews who are, well, Jew-ish – an identity that is not only absent of faith, Torah and mitzvot, but also largely absent of anything that matters much at all.” Further noting, “Only 12 percent consider being Jewish “very important” in their lives.”

Despite the left’s seeming indifference, if not hostility, to the Jewish people, it appears that few in this community are affected.

Recently, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) activist group, Democratic Socialists for America, voted to adopt the Boycott, Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement principles. Those not familiar with BDS, this is a movement that states, “Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality. BDS upholds the simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity.”

The assumption of BDS states that Israel is the occupying force in that region of the middle east. Further asserting that in 1948, the Jews overtook the lands of the Palestinians. If history started in 1948, that would appear to be true. However, the Jews founded Israel 3000-odd years ago. Islam didn’t even exist at the time. Though the history is more complicated than this simple bifurcation of Israel versus Palestinians, the goal of the Palestinian issue is the elimination of the Jewish state.

The BDS movement is popular on college campuses. This has manifested in the nettlesome AOC’s often confusing position on Israel. Ocasio-Cortez did not come to this BDS support from the sky. She likely caught the bug from her days at Boston College.

With BDS affiliated groups like Student Justice for Palestine (SJP), naive young students like AOC get sucked in to what they feel is a social justice cause of the righteous. According to the AMCHA Initiative, “BDS campaigns are coordinated internationally by groups committed to the elimination of the Jewish state, including terrorist organizations such as Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, that engage in and promote the murder of Jews worldwide.”

This is what gets disseminated to students in the form of social justice. First, in AMCHA’s 2017 report, 94% of Israel related incidents on college campuses were done with the intent to do harm (i.e. – assault, harassment or property destruction). These organizations parrot a narrative of what they term as Israel’s Apartheid policies. Yet they trade in a form of terrorism. Selective Social Justice.

The previously mentioned crop of new Washington politicians themselves trade in BDS.

During the campaign season, Minnesota Representative Ihan Omar hedged her support for the BDS movement stating that it was counterproductive. However, post election, Omar has stated her clear support for the organization.

Far from a recent revelation, in 2012, Omar tweeted, “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.” Charming.

The same stands for Michigan’s new Representative, Rashida Tlaib. Tlaib, herself a Palestinian, believes the BDS mechanism is the answer.

Though a logical assumption that as a Palestinian, Tlaib would support Palestine favorable policies, it’s her unwillingness to distance herself from one of her key fundraiser’s Maher Abdel-qader who’s Facebook group is rife with anti-semitism and himself sharing videos claiming, “… Jews aren’t actually Jewish and invented their historical claim to Israel and secretly control the media.”

None of this should be a reflection on Islamic beliefs. These are the beliefs of these individuals.

Thus far, all of this only proves the left’s duplicity of social justice. That, while virtue signaling social justice bona fides in support of Palestine, they’ve also denigrated Jews in the process, whether knowingly or unknowingly.

If American Jews generally don’t seem to care and a small electorate in the U.S. and likely vote Democrat in 2020, why does this matter to the left? The answer is Christians.

Confused?

Jews in America are ambivalent about these issues at best. Christians are not.

During the 2018 midterm elections, the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) may have been the make or break for many races. In Florida, both Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis benefitted from CUFI’s 270,000 strong Florida membership. Further, it was not until CUFI started running ads regarding then Senator Heidi Heitkamp’s support of the ill-fated Iran Deal, that her poll numbers bottomed out.

Though evangelicals make up merely 15% of the U.S. population, as voters, they represent 26% of the electorate. Of that 26%, upwards of 80% vote Republican. That is a swing block of voters. A strong one at that.

Still, why are Christians so clearly pro-Israel and otherwise pro-Jewish?

Though the main stream media would have you believe that it was due to ‘end times prophecy‘, and I’m sure that many Christians do take to heart the Bible’s directive of treating well all Jews, it’s also likely something much more tangible. Per Dennis Prager, “They believe in supporting American allies and supporting countries that share their moral values.”

I’d assert that the left is somewhat lazy with regard to its social justice warrior ideologies. Wherein it appears that the left supports the underdog, it only matters when it is their underdog of choice. That is to say, the left are fair weather warriors. Moreover, the laziness comes from the left’s blindness to their disdain of Israel simply because the evangelical right supports the Jewish nation.

Though no ideology can claim perfection, many of the causes supported by the left such as LGBTQ issues, women’s equality or even freedom of speech (though it’s question that the left really supports this freedom), there seems to be blindness Islam’s more pervasive issues with these groups.

It should be understood that in the matrix of social justice intersectionality, hate of evangelical’s trumps, if you will, those other causes the left purports to champion. This blindness allows the left to dismiss their rather spotted history with Jews and Israel.

The dismissal of the middle of America, who more closely identifies as evangelical and blue collar, will in part undo the left’s hold in many swing districts.

That, and it might behoove the left to do what is morally right and consistent. Not exactly the left’s strong suit.