Antisemitism Disguised as Humanitarianism

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators in the lobby of Chicago’s City Hall (Forward)

The one thing I did not expect coming out of the war in Gaza is the massive increase in antisemitism we are now experiencing. Not that I didn’t know it was there. Antisemitism has always been here among some of our citizens. It was usually found in the extremists groups of the right. 

White Nationalists, White Supremacists, Neo Nazis, the KKK, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and numerous other fringe groups are either openly antisemitic or keep it it in the closet just below the surface. The vast majority of violent antisemitic incidents are perpetrated by people from these fringe groups. Or people that sympathized with them.

Today that paradigm has switched from the right to the left. The further to the left one goes the more likely you find an antisemite. Progressivism has become the home of left wing hatred of the Jewish people. Only now they can disguise their Jew hatred as criticism of Zionism. The war in Gaza and the images coming out of there on a daily basis has given them all the excuse they need to come out of the closet and spew their full throated Jew hatred in public demonstrations and  protests.

Agudah of Illinois director of government affairs Rabbi Shlomo Soroka has done an excellent job  demonstrating this by way of the cease fire resolution passed by the Chicago city council a few weeks ago. The following are the more pertinent excerpts:  

One of the goals of the resolution’s proponents was to move the Democratic Party away from reflexive pro-Israel sentiments, and they arguably accomplished that. The passage of a measure perceived as anti-Israel normalizes the demonization of the Jewish State...

 …while some of those calling for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire are motivated by compassion for loss of life in Gaza and have more insight than I do, others are motivated by good old-fashioned anti-Semitism...

This time, however, the mask came off entirely. Nearly all pro-Palestinian protests calling for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire have had participants demanding the eradication of the Jewish People from “the river to the sea.” The same hordes who celebrated Hamas’s October 7 attack as an act of justifiable resistance, ripped down posters of innocent Jewish hostages, and ludicrously accused Israel of genocide, were helping fuel the charge to pass the recent cease-fire resolution... 

Some of the political and grassroots leaders acting as driving forces behind the resolution were unwilling to clearly and unequivocally condemn (or even acknowledge) the unfathomable atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7...

The resolution did not include any condemnation of or reference to Hamas’s heinous attacks that started the war in the first place. Nor did it stipulate that the kidnapped hostages must be released before the cessation of military operations. It did not acknowledge Israel’s right to defend itself.

And it was accompanied by a walkout at Chicago Public Schools, where Jewish students were bullied, harassed, and threatened.

As I sat in the chamber at City Hall while the resolution was being debated, I could hear the anti-Semitic rhetoric and hate-filled chants as they sucked up the gallery’s oxygen. The poisonous atmosphere was palpable.

For many resolution supporters, it wasn’t about compassion for Palestinian civilian casualties or a burning desire for peace. It was about using the opportunity to express hatred for Jews. That is something that we must always combat. We might not eradicate anti-Semitism, but silence allows the scourge to flourish in all its forms. 

So, does it matter in any substantive way that the third-largest American city passed a non-binding resolution calling for a cease-fire? Not really, in my opinion.

Does it matter that the sewage of Jew-hatred has flooded the city of Chicago, pouring into City Hall, Chicago Public Schools, the streets of our neighborhoods and other public places? You betcha. That is the most troubling message coming from this resolution. 

(This) should serve as a warning to us all as to how thoroughly anti-Semitism has pervaded American society and penetrated the halls of our government.

It sure does matter. The reason for which is that it is now possible to be an antisemite under the guise of compassion for human life. This gives them ‘plausible deniability’ about actually hating Jews. 

For me that is the most troubling thing of all. Their ability to spew Jew hatred and deny it at the same time makes their protests seem like they are simply expressing concern for the oppressed. Compassion is a very mainstream American thing to express. 

Which means there very little we can do about it. How can we complain about people protesting a war they feel is unjust bolstered by the daily images of carnage taking place in Gaza Unless you listen carefully to what they are saying, you might even sympathize with them. 

So yes, we do need to worry about the rise in antisemitism. That being said, I still believe in the basic goodness of the American mainstream. I do not believe that the mainstream majority hates us at all. In many cases they respect us for what we have accomplished and  contributed to the world. specifically in the areas of medicine, science, literature, and the arts. 

And with respect to observant Judaism I still believe that what was true in 2000 is still true today. When Al Gore chose the openly observant Joe Lieberman as his running mate, he got a 10% bump in the polls. 

I agree that antisemitism ‘is something that we must always combat’. And now that antisemitism is disguised as humanitarianism makes that more difficult. But not impossible. And as I said in a recent post, there is a way to do that and a way to do the opposite. We need to do everything we can to assure the former and eradicate the latter. In this way we can continue to enjoy the respect we have earned from mainstream America and not let it be eroded by the antisemitic progressive left.