Anti-semitic hate is growing, especially on the left

Since the cowardly attacks by Hamas on innocent Israeli citizens took place on Oct. 7, an alarming explosion of anti-Jewish hatred has taken place all over the world, including in the United States.

Although you will find anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish sentiment on both sides of the political spectrum, it is more mainstream in the left, represented by Democrats, while right-wing antisemitic hatred seems to be limited primarily to the conspiracy theory libertarian fringe. Recent polling supports this.

It is also important to state here that data shows most Palestinians support Hamas and have for awhile, according to a 2021 Associated Press article.

It is fair to say that, overall, a large percentage of Americans support Israel by at least a three to one margin, according to a Harvard Harris poll released on Oct. 22, but as the old saying goes, “the devil is in the details.”

A closer look at the poll reveals that a majority of 18-24 year olds, along with 48% of those aged 25-34 believe that the Hamas attacks on Israeli settlers were justified as pointed out in a Revolver article which cites the above poll.

Remember, it was a majority of those in both of these age groups who voted to give us Democrat Joe Biden as president, according to a Roper Survey of how groups voted in 2020. It is also instructive in what these “young skulls full of mush,” as Rush Limbaugh used to say, are being taught by their teachers and college professors, and it clearly isn’t history. You can bet that many of these kiddies can’t find Israel on a map, but they are certain that Israel is bad, because that’s what their teachers are telling them.

The same Roper survey lists “racism” as the number one issue among those Biden voters, which dovetails nicely in with their anti-Israeli sentiments. The whole myth of “systemic racism” fits in with the Marxist-rooted “critical race theory” that has been a mainstay of leftwing Democratic politics since America elected its first mixed-race President in 2008 (anyone else see the irony here?).

Critical theory and critical race theory is based on the false premise of oppressors versus the oppressed, so the young radicals our schools are graduating naturally buy into the myth of those “mean” Israelis oppressing the “poor” Palestinians by occupying their land. Of course, that is all false, but that doesn’t matter to the left, because it is a convenient ruse to gain power among certain groups.

That’s why Hamas-supporting Democratic politicians such as Rashida Tlaib continue to tell the lie that it was Israel who bombed a hospital in Gaza long after video and electronic intelligence showed that it was a faulty Hamas-launched rocket that blew the place up.

Democratic and Republican support for Israel has been positive until the last decade. Republican support has remained positive, but Democrats' support for Palestinians over Israel has increased dramatically, with their sympathies lying more with the Palestinians than the Israelis, 49% versus 38%, reflecting an 11 percentage-point increase over the past year. The percentages sympathizing more with the Israelis (38%) and those not favoring a side (13%) have dipped to new lows. This drop in support for Israel is led by millennials and younger, which has fallen off the charts. All of this is contained in an excellent Gallup survey.

Now, for the right-wing antisemitism. Yes, there is some, but as I wrote before, it seems to lie mostly within the libertarian fringe of the party and that small percentage of voters who like to latch on to loony conspiracy theories.

Libertarians are a particularly selfish and amoral group, who don’t think America should go to anyone’s aid, so those pesky Israeli victims of Hamas are just a nuisance to them. The loon faction came out like a rash on social media right after the Hamas attacks, appearing in pro-Israel Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) threads stating that the creation of Israel was a “Rothschild plot” or that American Jews were descended from the Khazhars and not Ashkenazi (Israeli) Jews, all of which has been disproven historically and genetically. Others promoted neo-Nazi garbage and were promptly dispatched, but unfortunately not by Facebook.

Hatred of Jews and of Israel, regardless of the source, has no place in decent society and should be condemned. Let us pray that Joe Biden’s words of support for Israel are more than just words, and he stands aside to allow Israel to eradicate the curse of Hamas from the earth.

Dwight Weidman is a resident of Greene Township and is a graduate of Shepherd University. He is retired from the United States Department of Defense, where his career included assignments In Europe, Asia, and Central America. He has been in leadership roles for the Republican Party in two states, most recently serving two terms as Chairman of the Franklin County Republican Party. He has been an Amateur Radio Operator since 1988, getting his first license in Germany, and is a past volunteer with both Navy and Army MARS, Military Auxiliary Radio Service, and is also an NRA-certified firearms instructor. In his spare time, he dabbles in genealogy and learning new languages.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Anti-semitic hate explodes since Hamas attack