Understanding the Politics of Anti-Semitism
By Steve Sheffey
Nonpartisanship can be as self-blinding and intellectually dishonest as the worst partisanship. “Both sides are at fault” is the rallying cry of organizations trying to protect their tax-exempt status or avoid offending donors, speakers vying for speaking gigs at Federations, and others wanting to wear the mantle of evenhandedness.
These paragons of virtue want each side to criticize anti-Semitism from within rather than calling out the other side — while they criticize both sides because they are above it all, as if anyone should take seriously the views of people who can’t or refuse to tell the difference.
The theory behind asking each side to call out its own side is that someone on the left has little influence on the right, but by speaking out against anti-Semitism from the left, perhaps they could make a difference. The hidden assumption is that both sides have problems of the same magnitude. I’m not talking about the unelected left or the unelected right. I’m talking about the Democratic and Republican Parties, the two parties that will be on the ballot in November.
Nearly 80% of Jewish American vote Democratic not because it’s in our blood, but because on nearly all issues, the Democratic Party is closer to what we believe than the Republican Party. If you have questions about the Jewish vote, we have answers. But we are Americans above all else. If unity is the goal, shouldn’t we unite against the anti-Semitism that poses the greatest threat, no matter what its source, rather than ask half of America to focus on threats that are relatively insignificant?
Donald Trump has far more power and influence than two freshman Democratic members of Congress. We should focus on the greatest political threat: The leader of one of our major political parties regularly engages in anti-Semitic rhetoric and condones, if not emboldens, white nationalism. That doesn’t mean ignoring anti-Semitism anywhere. It means recognizing that the cancer eating away at our body politic spreading from the White House deserves more of our attention than the heartburn we feel when others in society or even in Congress cause us discomfort.
Instead of asking each side to clean up its own house, we should ask all Americans, regardless of what side they are on, to focus on the most significant sources of anti-Semitism within our shared political system. But that would mean focusing on the Republican Party, and tut-tut, that would be partisan — even though it is true.
The irony is that Democrats have focused on cleaning up “their side” while Republicans have ignored and excused anti-Semitism from their side. These facts are unsaid by speakers and organizations who would risk losing donors and speaking engagements by calling it as it is.
Nonpartisanship on anti-Semitism is the worst form of side-taking because it wittingly or unwittingly advances a partisan agenda. Republicans win when we pretend both sides have the same anti-Semitism problem because taking that issue off the partisan table removes a huge political liability for the GOP. They no longer have to defend Trump’s anti-Semitism, or their failure to condemn it, because hey, both sides do it, so why should it be an election issue. But both sides don’t do it.
This November, Linda Sarsour, who hold no position in the Democratic Party, will not be on the ballot. But Donald Trump will be on the ballot. Should we put the party whose leadership regularly traffics in anti-Semitism in charge, or the party that condemns anti-Semitism both from the other side and from within in charge?
Anti-Semitism on the left exists, but it is mainly outside the Democratic Party. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t fight it. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take it seriously. It does mean that in nearly every election, anti-Semitism from the left is not on the ballot. But as long as the Republican Party is led by Donald Trump, anti-Semitism from the right is on the ballot no matter how inconvenient that is for those who would like to draw a false equivalency between the parties to maintain their nonpartisan veneer.
Trump is not responsible for all anti-Semitism in America. But if words matter, how can we ignore anti-Semitic tropes coming from the President of the United States? No one has committed mass murder and left behind a manifesto echoing anti-Semitic rhetoric from anyone in the Democratic Party.
Trump’s rhetoric has inspired mass violence in New Zealand, El Paso, Pittsburgh, plus at least 36 other cases of violence. Trump, wrote Bret Stephens, is “a disgrace to his office, an insult to our dignity, a threat to our Union, and a danger to our safety.” He is.
Steve Sheffey is Strategy and Policy Adviser to the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA) and the publisher of the weekly Chicagoland Pro-Israel Political Update. Sign up for his newsletter here. The views expressed here are his own.
