MOSHE HILL OPINION COLUMNS DECEMBER 06 2023
The most common answer to the accusation of being anti-Semitic these days is that the espouser of genocidal slogans towards Jews is merely anti-Zionist, not anti-Jewish. This defense is based on the false premise that Zionism and Judaism are two completely separate ideologies, and to be against one does not mean you are against the other. This has been brought to the floor of the House, which has the Left and the Democrats up in arms about being called out for what they truly are: anti-Semites.
To debunk the notion that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism, Zionism itself must be defined. Zionism is not agreeing with the Israeli government. If it were, then at some point or another, every single Israeli would be considered an anti-Zionist. Zionism is simply the word used to realize and actualize the 2,000-year-long desire to establish a sovereign Jewish state in the Jewish homeland. That desire is evident throughout Jewish texts, prayer, and even the direction in which Jews pray.
To be anti-Zionist is to say that Jews do not get to attain that dream. Of the two ends of that spectrum are the secular anti-Zionists and the ultra-religious anti-Zionists. The secular anti-Zionists claim that the Jews do not get to attain that dream because no country should have a religious identity. This is the double standard that applies only to the one Jewish state. If you look up countries that have a stated national religion, there are 26 Muslim nations, 17 Christian/Catholic nations, and 4 Buddhist nations. Yet there is only one “Anti-Zionist” movement, only one nation that draws the ire of the Leftists, and that is the one Jewish one.
On the ultra-religious side of this argument is a minor tweak to the definition of anti-Zionist. To be an anti-Zionist is to say that Jews do not get to attain that dream yet. A Jewish state is a part of the Jewish national identity and religion, but it cannot be achieved before the Messiah reveals himself. What is currently in Israel is a non-religious Jewish state that is not a real Jewish state. Ultra-Orthodox Jews fall into two camps of this thought process. The first, embodied by the Satmer Chasidim, is that they don’t like the idea of the state, but they will not protest against it. They are not “anti-Zionist” in the same way that these other groups are, they are an anti-secular Jewish government. The second is the Neturei Karta, which is an extremely small sect of Chasidim, who actively protest the state and side with the enemies of the Jews who live there. They actively want Jews in Israel to be killed.
To determine if anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism, the question must be asked: Will espousing and pushing this philosophy get Jews killed? The answer is an unequivocal yes. If there is no Jewish state in Israel, then every Jew who lives in Israel, over 7 million of them, is in danger. This is provable by history. That region of the world is dominated by heavily-armed Muslim Arabs who have been actively trying to destroy Israel since the day it was founded. No Jews live in Palestinian territory. Over 800,000 Jews were expelled from Middle Eastern countries in the 1950s. The Jews in Israel will not allow themselves to be expelled which means it will come down to a war.
House Resolution 894, introduced by Congressmen David Kustoff (R-TN) and Max Miller (R-OH), includes a line that drew ire from the Left because it said the truth. “Resolved, That the House of Representatives,” the Resolution says, “clearly and firmly states that anti-Zionism is antisemitism.”
This line sent the Left into a frenzy, calling on a Jewish Congressman to speak against it. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) spoke on the House floor against this resolution. He refers to the Resolution as “fundamentally unserious.” Why? Because it lists anti-Semitic attacks that have occurred in the past month but does not include attacks on Trump, like the “very fine people” hoax. Nadler also pushed the now debunked lie that anti-Zionism does not equal anti-Semitism. His reasoning is because then he would be considered an anti-Semite because he opposed judicial reform in Israel.
This is a joke. Nadler cannot stand the fact that the vast majority of anti-Semitism that has occurred since October 7 has come from the Democratic voting base. Nadler has a history of ignoring anti-Semitism when it originates from Democratic allies. Nadler voted against the censure of Rashida Tlaib for claiming that the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” was not a genocidal slogan. Nadler also voted against emergency military aid funding for Israel. Both of these were passed largely by House Republicans, who Nadler calls “unserious” about anti-Semitism.
Nadler also ignored the calls of Barry Borgen, the father of a victim of anti-Semitism. His son was beaten by six Muslims in May 2021, during the last battle against Hamas. Nadler stood outside of the hearing, called by Republicans, to tell the media that hearing from the families of victims in DA Alvin Bragg’s Manhattan was a “stunt.” Borgen certainly disagreed. “I must take issue with Mr. Nadler,” Borgen said during the hearing. “You’re a Jewish New Yorker. I called your office numerous times. I called Mr. Schumer’s office, another Jewish New Yorker, numerous times. No one called us back. Neither one of you came out with a statement about my son’s incident. You’re a Jewish New Yorker. You have Jewish roots here. Behavior like this enables DA Bragg to do whatever he wants to do.”
Nadler is projecting his own apathy regarding the issues that are facing the Jewish community onto his opposition. He uses debunked lies to push his agenda while simultaneously lamenting DC gridlock. He is as unserious as it is possible to be on these issues. Jewish leadership in Congress has for too long been limited to these feckless Democrats who are too afraid of their own base to take a strong stand for Jewish life. Nadler (and Schumer) will kneel in Kente Cloth for George Floyd, but they won’t say a word against Tlaib. They’ll never stop bashing the most pro-Israel president in American history, but they’ll stay silent on Jews getting attacked on the streets. They’ll claim that fighting Jew hatred while being republican is “unserious,” but anti-Zionism is merely criticism of Israeli government policy. It’s not, and it’s past time to expose that lie for what it is: an excuse to hate and kill Jews.
