WhatsappPoliticians and podcasters play with semantics when the overwhelming evidence shows the many benefits Israel provides to America.
Suddenly, everybody is claiming that they aren’t antisemitic and that they oppose antisemitism. Far-right nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes claims that he is not, and is furious at former Fox News host and current podcaster Tucker Carlson for calling him such. Other notable politicians—namely, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.); and New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani—insist that they are not antisemitic.
The Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial, a body within the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), gathered in Budapest in 2015 and adopted the working definition of antisemitism. That definition was adopted before any of these people, except Carlson, were well known. A famous video years ago shows Carlson describing politician and political commentator Pat Buchanan as antisemitic, with Carlson using as his understanding of Jew-hatred a similar definition consistent with the IHRA one.
The IHRA definition includes some of the following pertinent examples of what is considered antisemitism: “Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations. Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor. Applying double standards by requiring of it behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”
The definition has been adopted by 46 countries and 35 states in the United States. It is the consensus definition.
In a letter on May 26, 2021, to then-U.S. President Joe Biden, Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Elaine Luria (D-Va.), Kathy Manning (D-N.C.) and Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) presciently wrote, in part: “We … reject comments from members of Congress accusing Israel of being an ‘apartheid state’ and committing act[s] of terrorism. These statements are antisemitic at their core and contribute to a climate that is hostile towards many Jews … . Israel has long provided the Jewish people with a homeland in which they can be safe after facing centuries of persecution. Sadly, we have learned from our history that when this type of violence and inflammatory rhetoric goes unaddressed, it can fuel increasing hatred and violence, and lead to unspeakable acts against Jews, even in the most civilized, modern societies.”
If they were to update this letter to Israel’s war agaisnt Hamas in Gaza after the terrorist invasoion on Oct. 7, 2023, it would be obvious that those claiming that Israel was committing genocide against Hamas when the casualty rate shows that by far less civilians were killed per enemy combatant in Israel’s war against the Hamas invaders then in any urban war in history (around 1-1 civilian to combatant as compared to 9-1 in many other urban conflicts) were also engaged in antisemitism.
Accordingly, the 20 members of Congress, including Tlaib and Omar, who signed onto legislation describing Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide, are antisemitic. Mamdani’s calling Israel’s actions in Gaza during the two-year war started by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, as genocide is antisemitic. Furthermore, his opposition to the existence of a Jewish state is not only antisemitic but contrary to international law, as adopted through San Remo, the League of Nations, the Anglo-American Treaty, Article 80 of the U.N. Charter and repeated U.N. resolutions thereafter.
Greene’s calling Israel’s actions in Gaza genocide is antisemitic as well. Fuentes’s attempt to deny that 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust is antisemitic. Carlson’s claim that Zionism, which is the belief that the Jewish people should have a state of their own in their ancestral homeland, is antisemitic, let alone downright evil.
Fortunately, Trump has attacked two antisemitic Republican members of Congress: Thomas Massie of West Virginia and Greene. And he is also supporting a primary opponent of Massie and indicated that he would do the same for Greene, which led to her deciding to resign from her position in the U.S. House of Representatives in January. Unfortunately, the mainstreaming of antisemitism is on the rise in the Democratic Party, with the election of Mamdani, and as the genocide resolution signatories attest.
Former Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer spoke at the recent Republican Jewish Coalition event in Las Vegas and pointed out that there is no better ally for the United States than Israel. He said as it relates to military allies, which includes a standing army, advanced military equipment and intelligence, that only England has a comparable army to any U.S. ally in the world, to Israel. He said that when including the economic benefits of new companies and products coming out of Israel that are assisting America and are changing the world, there is no comparison to what it is producing, looking at the current situation and future projection, as compared to England.
During the recent war with Iran, Israel gained air superiority in three days—something Russia has failed to do in three years in its ongoing war against Ukraine and efforts to gain more of its land.
Carlson predicted that a U.S. strike on Iran would lead to a major conflagration and potentially World War III, complaining about American Jews, like radio personality Mark Levin, supporting a U.S. airstrike on Iran. Trump decided in June that it was America’s interest to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities since it was obvious that Tehran was pursuing a nuclear weapon. It was the only country in the world without nuclear weapons that did not import nuclear fuel for nuclear energy, but was making its own. Burying their nuclear-energy program below a mountain in Fordow was another indicator.
Trump credits his decision to attack Iran’s nuclear-weapons program to making the world safer and to help gain the release of the 20 remaining living hostages being held by terrorists in Gaza. He understood that peace comes from strength, not appeasement and isolationism.
Support for Israel is in America’s interest, militarily and economically. Those who make outrageously false allegations against the Jewish state, like calling its actions against Hamas genocide, engage in antisemitism. Those who claim they care about what is best for the United States but are against the alliance with Israel also engage in antisemitism, as the overwhelming evidence shows the benefits Israel provides to America.
