We Are Our Own Worst Enemy

Antisemitism is up in this country. No question about it. But what makes its current incarnation different from antisemitism of the past is that, in some ways, there are Jews contributing to it. Though not in the way one might think.

In the past, it didn’t help matters when a few of our people - some of whom were outwardly very devout - were caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Cases of government fraud by seemingly devout Orthodox Jews have surely contributed to antisemitism, making it easier for antisemites to generalize a supposed propensity for fraud to all Jews, especially the most devout among us. While incidents of that kind of fraud seem to have decreased, antisemitism has nevertheless increased.

Much of that increase is due to closet antisemites who have long lived among us but were relatively quiet about expressing their views. Since the war in Gaza and accusations of genocide, however, they seem to feel they have been given ‘permission’ to voice their true feelings. Often disguised as anti-Zionist or anti-Israel sentiment.

The problem is that a growing number of Jews are now saying many of the same things. Accusations of genocide are no longer uncommon. These are often framed as criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rather than of Israel as a whole. But that framing ignores the reality that, with few exceptions on Israel’s far left, Netanyahu’s conduct of the war has been broadly supported in the Israeli Knesset. That distinction is therefore invalid.

Making matters worse, prominent self-identifying Jews in high office have joined the chorus of Israel-bashing by proxy - using AIPAC as their primary target.

AIPAC is a lobbying group that advocates support for Israel regardless of which political party is in power, both in the United States and in Israel. Yet it has now become increasingly toxic within the Democratic Party…

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