Heritage Florida Jewish News - Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

Domestic antisemitism has a new tactic.

The present wave of antisemitic drivel comes not from the Right (“Jews will not replace us”) but from the Left. Now, in clearing up who and what is the Right and the Left, we have to shift our ideas from just a few short years ago. We knew that the Far Right was antisemitic, yet seemed to favor Israel. Confusing? Of course. The Left for the most part in its early configuration was Liberal, in favor of most minorities, fought for voting rights, etc.

Today however, in the Democratic party, there is a “Far Left.” This group borders on Socialism (not your granddaddies’ brand) and generates support from some strange bedfellows.

BLM turns out to be “Far Left” and has even supported antisemitic tropes spread by some pro-Palestinian interest groups who want the Jewish nation to disappear.

If we are to pick out a particularly dangerous voice for this new form of hatred we have only to look to Washington and the group called the “Squad.” There, a Democratic Congress person about whom we have written before is touting old antisemitic tropes and updating them enough to make them relevant in today’s shaky truth environment. Her name is Rashida Tlaib. Together with other members of the “Squad,” her strategy is to try to equate the BLM and the Black struggle in the U.S. with Israel’s treatment of Arabs on the West Bank in Israel. She and other members of the “Squad” take direct aim at Israel’s attempt to defend itself against violent attacks launched from the West Bank.

To begin with, Israel has no issue with Arabs per se, in Israel. No. Their issue is with Hamas, the militant Arab organization dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish State. Is Tlaib anti-Israel? She is way beyond that in her clear antisemitic statements. She does not like Jews. She and fellow Representative Omar want to stop shipments of the Iron Dome rocket system to Israel. As the name suggests, Iron Dome is a defensive weapon used to deflect rockets fired by Hamas from the Palestinian territory into Israel designed to kill Israeli civilians in their homes.

We are well aware of far-right groups promoting violence in their hatred of Jews. Attacks from the Left are rather new. You know, if you look at history, it becomes even less believable. The base of the Labor Movement in the 1920s and 1930s were left-leaning Democrats and Socialists.

Here we are 100 years later and the movement has been usurped by antisemitic activists with a deep hatred of Jews. Many sprang from Bernie Sanders and his backers (he is a Jew, right?). Others, like Tlaib and Omar are of Arab descent and use their political power to spread lies and antisemitic tropes from their seats of privilege.

They created the myth that Israel is starving the citizens of Israel’s West Bank by preventing food and critical medical supplies to be shipped in. It’s a lie. Let’s get it straight. Israel has no animosity toward the Arab population, nor with Fatah, the leading Arab political party. The problem is Hamas wants to destroy Israel (and every Jew for that matter).

Jews for generations, back to Franklin Roosevelt supported Democrats almost as a Block. Now, it seems the Left-leaning portion of the Democratic Party are now becoming clearly antisemitic by allowing people like Tlaib and Nina Turner to have power. Turner, a former Bernie Sander’s surrogate who lost a Democratic Primary in Ohio, then blamed it on evil money, which had “manipulated and maligned this election.” It was a clear reference to ads funded by the “Democratic Majority for Israel.”

Jews do NOT have a choice. We, as a people have had to fight for our very existence since biblical times. The enemy has been both direct and subtle. Direct is easy to detect, to call out and fight. This is a more subtle approach, cloaking itself in the fight for equality, masking itself with the BLM movement and taking advantage of the oldest of antisemitic tropes, Jews are facing an old threat in a new cloak.

What do we do about it? We are a minority under attack. With no pro-Israel organization outside of the Anti-Defamation League we are without loud, powerful voices to counter the lies and the Tropes. We have however, our individual voices. We need to bring them to bear with a bright focus on antisemitism in the fields of journalism, politics and daily life.

If there is a weakness in our national organizations, we have to counter that with personal action. Letters to the editor, calls and texts to TV stations, protest groups where it is proper — anything to call attention to the problem and offering a solution.

It is not the first time Jews have had to stand up for ourselves. The battlefield may look different but the battle is the same.