Today’s America is a scary place for Jews. College campuses fester with hostility toward anything Jewish-related. Jewish students and faculty are often intimidated, denigrated, harassed, and assaulted by antisemites. Pro-Hamas students and faculty host rallies and take over buildings. Jewish elected officials have targets on their backs, and a growing number of their colleagues in the US House and Senate are camouflaging antisemitic behavior by misrepresenting it as “anti-Zionism,” a progressive code word used to put lipstick on the face of contemporary antisemitism.
Jews are not defenseless or powerless. But Jewish organizations that supposedly exist to advocate for our community’s interests and combat antisemitism are more concerned with keeping their power and protecting their Democrat handlers.
While there is no doubt that old-fashioned right-wing antisemitism exists – perpetrated by the likes of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tucker Carlson, and Candace Owens – the far greater problem emanates from leftists, progressives, and Democrats.
Organizations combat antisemitism selectively
Organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, and Jewish Council for Public Affairs should be exposing and combating antisemitism. Yet when the anti-Jewish bigotry comes from the political Left, they tend to be silent or use benign language calculated to avoid upsetting their progressive puppet masters.
Here is your reality check: You’ve already been disinvited to the progressive meetings, your seat given to Hamas sympathizers. The intersectionality of “marginalized” and “oppressed” groups has embraced “woke” ideals and the divisiveness of modern “progressive” thinking. The American Left regards Jews as white oppressors – colonizers who enjoy “white privilege.”
Fearful that American Jews will finally wake up and realize that the Democrats and the progressives that control the party have sold them out, these organizations obstruct genuine attempts to combat antisemitism because they come from the GOP. They have jumped on the progressive bandwagon, claiming that the administration is “weaponizing antisemitism.”
Of course, tolerating bigotry in the name of the US Constitution only applies if the targets are Jewish.
The double standard with Jews: Antisemitism is acceptable to "protect democracy"
What we all know is that if the students being threatened, harassed, an denied entrance to their classes were African American, gay, transgender, Muslim, or any other historically or newly created disenfranchised group other than Jews, then these organizations, progressive groups and Democrat politicians would not be hiding behind free speech for haters. These leftists would be demanding that the administration and college administrators prioritize the safety of the targeted students.
Yet when it comes to Jews, a different standard is applied. Jews can be sacrificed to “protect democracy” and uphold free speech.
“It is constitutional for governments to promote public policy goals by placing conditions on how the taxpayers’ funds are spent. In fact, this is one of the most important ways that governments go about advancing the public’s key interests,” explained Florida-based attorney Joseph Sabag. “As a result, anti-discrimination efforts that impose conditions on government subsidies and contracts have routinely withstood constitutional challenges, including First Amendment lines of attack.”
It is also constitutional to deport any holder of a green card or temporary visa if it is determined that they lied on their immigration application. Further, the secretary of state has the authority to revoke any temporary visa status if the individual is regarded as a threat to national security.
The Trump administration’s attempt, through legal means, to rid our campuses of foreign students and paid agitators who incite violence against our country, its allies and our Jewish students is beyond justified. Deporting Hamas supporters is the right thing to do. The government also has a responsibility to taxpayers to make sure their money is not handed out to institutions that discriminate against any population of the student body.
Jewish groups need to walk back their recent condemnations of the administration and embrace government efforts to protect our children. They also need to accept the fact that despite their best effort to excuse and rationalize anti-Jewish sentiment from the Left, they are no longer welcome in progressive circles and should be shouting “Thank you” to the administration and GOP.
More than ever, establishment Jewish organizations need to prioritize “Never Again” instead of playing partisan politics at the expense of our children.
The writer is a Chicago-based media and political consultant. His commentary has been published in USA Today, New York Daily News, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Newsweek and The Hill. Follow him on social media @pauliespoint.