Right Versus Left: Who Supports Us the Most?

Progressive Congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (JTA)

The more to to the left one goes, the more likely one is to be antisemitic. I don’t know how one can draw any other conclusion based on how the left characterizes Israel’s war with Hamas - compared to how the right does. 

One might challenge that notion. After all, it has always bene the left that has been more sympathetic to our plight. It was the left that was in the forefront of raising consciousness about the slaughter of Jews during the Holocaust. On the other hand the right was more inclined to be isolationist, ignore the slaughter of Jews, and lobby congress to keep the US out of the war. Which they were successful at - until Pearl Harbor. 

It was also the left that championed the cause of Israel at the time of its founding. As opposed to the right who opposed the creation of Israel..

And even today one need look no further than the right wing White Supremacist or Neo Nazi supporters of former President Donald Trump who chanted ‘Jews will not replace us’ at a rally in Charleston a few years ago. 

Hard to argue with those facts. But I would argue that it is not a continuum. White Supremacists and Neo Nazis are in a class all by themselves. Right along with other racists and antisemites. They have a lot more in common hating Jews than they do with conservatism. By no definition, for example, can neo Naizs be classified as conservative Republicans.

CCU President, Eric Hogue (The Villager)

To further illustrate this point, Evangelical Christians can easily be defined as a politically conservative segment of the Republican Party.  And they are by far more supportive of Israel than any other  single group. Including some Jewish groups.  

There have been so many incidences of that kind of support since October 7^th that describing all of them would fill a book. But let me cite one big example reported in the Jewish Press by Rabbi Chaim Goldberg. It was about his experiences at a fundraiser at Colorado Christian University (CCU)

Nothing was asked of me except to feel and accept their heartfelt support. It was a night amongst a community unaffected directly by October 7 or the ensuing tidal wave of hate on college campuses, a community not in pain and not in need of empathy, yet a community that stood tall and said, “Here is our collective shoulder. Lean on us.” 

At nobody’s request, CCU took the initiative to make the dinner kosher at a universal standard, hiring the local Scroll K Vaad to supervise the local caterer. As well, the prayer vigil was a recital of Psalms, a vocabulary of prayer that Jews and Christians share. 

Speaker after speaker reiterated the University’s commitment to Israel and to the Jewish nation. Each one was overflowing with love and support, not simply of a political nature, but as a deep, heartfelt expression of their humanity.

And then declaring the following during the course of the evening: 

“In planning this dinner, we wanted to have a night of fellowship, inspiration, mourning, and resolve…. but now we will pivot to action. We are going to save lives in Israel because of tonight.” At the suggestion of Rabbi Hillel Goldberg, (full disclosure: Rabbi Goldberg is my father), CCU chose to raise money for United Hatzalah,  

Incredibly, a $500,000 matching gift from a generous member of the CCU community was announced. To date, that has nearly been matched with almost $1 million raised for medical supplies.

This article should be read in its entirety. 

For all those who believe this is all about trying to covert us or that their real motive is the hastening of end-times, spare me. That they did all this because of their end-times theology is beyond ridiculous. Even though they do believe in it, that was clearly not their motive in supporting Israel and the Jewish people.

This is not the case with the left. At some point across the left wing continuum, they will cross the line into antisemiism - unlike right wing neo Nazis which are really a entity all to themselves. Of course not all Democrats are antisemties. Some are center-left and as pro Israel as any conservative Republican. Like Ritchie Torres for example. And there are many more like him. But unlike tthe neo Nazis of the right the antisemitism of the left is part of their continuum -  which at some point is crossed into. 

It is therefore the left that tends to be more sympathetic to the plight of Palestinians. The more to the left one goes, the more their sympathy for Palestinians will be increased. At some point (which might be where the left morphs into  progressivism)  they end up seeing only the plight of Palestinian. while seeing Israel as colonialist oppressors with an over 75 year history of oppressing the indigenous  Palestinian population population. of an  people now committing genocide. And example of this is Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive who said the following in an Instagram post recently: 

Jesus was born in “modern-day Palestine” under a government carrying out “a massacre of innocents.” According to the New Testament, Jesus was a Jew who lived within the modern borders of Israel and was killed by the Roman forces ruling the territory at the time.

“He was part of a targeted population being indiscriminately killed to protect an unjust leader’s power,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “Thousands of years later, right-wing forces are violently occupying Bethlehem as similar stories unfold for today’s Palestinians.” 

I don't think she got too much flak from her fellow progressives for saying that. 

Unfortunately there are some Jews that are so completely ignorant of their own heritage that they do not even understand what being a Jew means,. It is that kind of ignorant stupidity that one will find groups like B’Tzelem; Not in My Name, or Jews for Palestine joining the chorus of progressives and Palestinians that so vehemently attack the Jewish state as being genocidal. 

Israel is seen only as a powerful and cruel occupying force that has been oppressing the indigenous Palestinians for over 75years.

The insidiousness of these young Jews having traveled down this road is appalling. But it is there for all to see, hard  to tolerate tough it is. But all too understandable for a people lost to their roots, tradition, and history. It should not be surprising that when a good hearted Jew ignorant of their heritage is exposed to a war by the ‘strong’ against the ‘weak’ that they will sympathize almost exclusively with the weak and characterize the ‘strong’ as genocidal.   

Bearing all this in mind,(barring the extremist right - which as noted is really a category unto itself) I don’t think it is arguable that the right is by far more sympathetic to Israel and the Jewish people than the right.  

I do, however, want to make one thing perfectly clear. Following a particular political philosophy - whether right or left - is not what defines the Jewish people. That definition belongs to our founding document, the Torah. The point here is not about that. It is about which political philosophy is currently more favorable to the Israel and the Jewish people. And which one is not