Republicans aren't the only ones with an anti-Semitism problem: analysis

A Democratic congressman recently accused members of his own party of applying a double-standard to the issue of anti-Semitism — that is, condemning it when it comes from Republicans but turning a blind eye when it comes from Democrats.

“Consider the response to — really, the embrace of — Hasan Piker, a prominent left-wing commentator with millions of online followers,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) wrote in a New York Times editorial published on Sunday. Gottheimer had previously criticized the neo-Nazis who rioted in Charlottesville in 2017 and the popular alt right influencer Nick Fuentes.

“He referred to Orthodox Jews as ‘inbred’ and said ‘America deserved 9/11,’ both statements he halfheartedly walked back,” Gottheimer wrote. “He said that Hamas — a designated terrorist organization that has killed Americans and taken Americans hostage — is ‘a thousand times better’ than Israel, America’s ally, which he called a ‘fascist settler colonial apartheid state’ — a statement he stands by.”

Gottheimer continued, “None of this should be waved away as mere edgy commentary. Mr. Piker traffics in antisemitic and anti-American extremism that has been met by silence from many on the Democratic left.” He then pointed out that a number of prominent Democrats have appeared on Piker’s show and even campaigned with him, even though other Democrats admit to privately being “disgusted” by Piker’s statements (which they then, Gottheimer added, do not speak up to oppose out of fear of Piker’s fans).

Yet Gottheimer did not limit his criticism of supposed left-wing anti-Semitism to Piker.

“At their recent party convention, Michigan Democrats nominated a candidate to run for a seat on the University of Michigan’s Board of Regents who had shared a social media post praising the former leader of Hezbollah as a martyr and another post that invoked age-old antisemitic tropes by referring to Israelis as ‘demons’ who ‘lie, steal, cheat, murder and blackmail,’” Gottheimer said. The lawmaker then connected those statements to Senate Democrats voting to block sales to Israel based on its human rights record.

“If this is now the standard for supporting military aid and arms sales, then Democratic members of Congress should at least be consistent,” Gottheimer argued. “Do they also believe we should block weapon sales to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey, given the history of human rights abuses in those countries?” He accused congressional Democrats of a similar double-standard in denouncing Israel’s allegedly “apartheid” policies against Palestinians but not denouncing Muslim Middle Eastern countries that discriminate against women and LGBTQ people in ways Israel does not.

“When Mr. Trump lashes out at Pope Leo XIV in ways that millions of Catholics rightly find deeply offensive, none of us should look the other way,” Gottheimer added. “When a Republican congressman tries to dehumanize Muslims, we should all speak up. When Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson use hateful rhetoric, they should be rebuked. The same should go for Hasan Piker. Everyone has a right to express his or her views, however repugnant those views may be. But Democratic leaders have the same right — and a duty — to challenge them.”

He concluded, “There should be one response to those who express hatred toward any American: condemnation. Hate is hate. It doesn’t get a pass because it comes from your side of the aisle.”

Speaking with AlterNet in March about the issue of American anti-Semitism, Brandeis University historian Jonathan Sarna stated that one can criticize Israeli government policy without being anti-Semitic. Valid concerns morph into bigotry, he argued, when those criticisms evolve into arguments about supposed Jewish world control or when they vilify all Israelis instead of solely the policymakers.

“If you go back to ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion’ — the great antisemitic forgery of the turn of the last century — that really began this sense that Jews are all-powerful, that they operate behind the scenes, and that whatever happens is ultimately their fault,” Sarna explained to AlterNet. “Before then, for centuries, the prevailing view was that Jews were persecuted and lowly because they had killed Christ, and that was what they deserved — they were powerless. That was their punishment. But ‘The Protocols’ flipped that.”

Sarna added that “especially as Jews in modernity have begun to succeed economically, it doesn't much matter what the issue is — whether it is 9/11, which some blame on the Jews, or the crash of 2008, or now the war with Iran. You can predict before it happens that people will blame Jews, because as The Protocols taught people, it's always the Jews. It's the great conspiracy theory. And even many people who have never read The Protocols believe many of the things in it — just as many people have never read Darwin, but they know the word ‘evolution.’ This is simply the latest iteration.”

Overall, Sarna told AlterNet that he reminds audiences “I can be critical of President Trump without being un-American. Most people who criticize President Trump or the Republicans would assure you how much they love America and hold a fundamentally positive view of it. It seems to me that it's deeply important for us to do the same with Israel — that is, to make clear that there is a huge difference between disliking the policies of the Prime Minister of Israel and hating Israel itself.”

He concluded, “If you wouldn't equate criticism of the President with hating America, there is no reason — and indeed it is wrong and wicked — to do so with regard to Israel.”

Speaking to this journalist for Salon in 2017, former Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) recalled experiencing no anti-Semitism when he ran for vice president on the Democratic ticket in the 2000 election. Even though the presidential nominee, Vice President Al Gore, had initially been concerned about anti-Semitism, he told Lieberman “I talked to a group of friends who are Jewish, among them there was high anxiety and uncertainty about whether the country was ready. Then I talked to my Christian friends, really trusted advisers, and every one of them said, ‘No problem.' ‘So obviously,” Al joked — he had a better sense of humor than some people gave him credit for — ‘since I know that there are so many millions more Christians than Jews in America, I was free to make the choice that I wanted to make!’”

Lieberman added that this anecdote demonstrated how, at the time, “the Christian reaction reveals a totally different reality than Jews have experienced in any place that they’ve been in the world except when Israel was a Jewish state.”