The past election cycles have witnessed an explosion of radicals entering congress. They have almost all been coming from the left-wing.
According to the non-partisan group GovTrack, the number of extremists (scoring in the most extreme 0.10 ideology scoring) among Republicans was cut in half – from 22 to 11 – from 2018 to 2020. Many of the most extreme conservatives left the House of Representatives including Jeff Sessions who became U.S. Attorney General, Mark Meadows who became the president’s Chief of Staff, and Kevin Cramer who moved to the Senate.
Meanwhile, the number of liberal extremists jumped from 4 to 14. Seven of those radicals were newly elected to Congress.
While Republicans typically elect one to three radicals into its freshman class each election cycle, Democrats historically had only voted for new moderates. That changed dramatically in the 2018 elections.
The Democratic leadership warmly embraced the freshmen extremists and rewarded them with plum committee assignments, including in financial services and foreign affairs. Every left-wing extremists got two or three committees. In total, the freshmen radicals accounted for 18 committee seats, while the Republican radical freshmen had five.
Several of these freshmen radicals voted against providing Israel with funding to replenish the Iron Dome system it had used to defend itself against the barrage of missiles that the US-designated terrorist group Hamas launched into Israeli cities. The no votes included Representatives Garcia, Pressley, Tlaib and Omar. Ocasio-Cortez voted ‘present’.
The alt-left wing Democratic Socialists of America is continuing to back several of these extremists, include Rep. Tlaib and Ocasio-Cortez. They are also backing many candidates in statewide races. Many of the DSA’s endorsed candidates fortunately lost to more moderate voices in the primaries. Hopefully, that is a harbinger for the general vote on November 8.
You have not imagined it: far-left extremists have been winning a frightening number of seats in congress. Everyone must go out to vote and support their opponents, and urge party leaders to strip the radicals of committee positions.
The American calendar has a holiday that is sadly often overlooked. Every September, there is Constitution Day, which marks the signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787 by the founding fathers. It established three branches of government to protect the rights of every citizen.
The three branches are the executive, legislative and judicial which are run by the president, congress and the Supreme Court, respectively. The legislative branch writes laws, while the executive and judicial branches enforce and interpret the laws. The system of checks and balances were meant to prevent tyranny, from which the early Americans were fleeing in an English monarchy thousands of miles away.
Alas, the threat of tyranny has grown in the 21st century, and it is local.
The Supreme Court, which should be above politics, has become a weapon of politicians. Republicans wrongfully blocked the approval of Merrick Garland towards the end of Democratic President Obama’s final term. It allowed Republican President Trump to appoint another judge, and the highest court now sits at 6-to-3, in favor of Republican-appointments.
While the number of appointees by a Republican or Democratic president should not be the litmus test, we are seeing extreme biases to the right (Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito) and left (Sonia Sotomayor), each scoring above 2 on the Martin-Quinn score, with Stephen Breyer nosing up to the extremist liberal line. The court has become a war room of ideologies rather than a debate of the law.
The presidency, deeply political by design, has become infested by the power of the office. From Republican President Ronald Reagan until Democratic President Barack Obama, no executive issued more than an annual average of 48 Executive Orders. Republican Donald Trump issued 55 on average in his term, and Democrat Joe Biden has issued a horribly high 59. Modern presidents are seeking to end run congress.
Congress, in the Senate and most notably in the House of Representatives, has become a polarized pit of extremists. The govtracks report card for 2020 had eleven Republicans with an ideology score of 0.90 and above, and 14 Democrats scoring 0.10 and below. That compares to 2016 ideology scores when 17 Republicans scored 0.90 and above (change of -6) and Democrats had six people of 0.10 and below (change of +8). Republicans have become more ideologically moderate and Democrats more ideologically extreme. While Republican extremists exceeded Democrats by 183% in 2016, Democratic extremists now exceed Republicans by 27%.
Democratic extremists exceed the number of Republican extremists in 2020, a sharp reversal from 2016, when Republicans had more extremists.
The 2022 Vote
If one has a goal – as I do – of a more moderate and peaceful society, then the extremism and political partisanship should be alarming.
Fortunately, one can try to have an impact at the voting booth.
One cannot vote for Supreme Court judges; that is the responsibility of the president. As the court is currently right-leaning, one should vote for a Democratic president, if the party doesn’t put forward a proven incompetent (like VP Kamala Harris) or extremist (like Elizabeth Warren) in 2024. Hopefully that will balance the judicial and executive branches, which should have been separated anyway.
The legislative and executive branches are where Americans get to protect themselves from a new form of tyranny. It is critical now, when the president is a Democrat, to put Congress in Republican hands. This is especially true, as moderates from both parties are resigning and the Democrat Socialists are gaining significant strength in the Democratic Party.
Should the House and Senate stay in Democratic hands, the economy and crime will surely suffer.
A fully Democratic executive-legislative combination would advance a much larger government with more spending. Complete student loan forgiveness, free community college, free child care, billions of dollars for first time home owners and more giveaways would pass without a modifying voice. Inflation would rise as the money spigot would go on overdrive.
Putting more of a strain on the economy would be the open border policy and ‘abolishing ICE’, the agency managing immigration, as called for by Democratic extremists.
Adding to the crime wave would be the extremist push to ‘Defund the police’ and the catch-and-release program for violent criminals.
The United States would resemble New York City in the 1970’s: crime ridden and bankrupt.
But such is tyranny. An extremist belief coupled with unchecked power to enforce wild agendas upon a public that the elitists believe are too stupid to know what is good for them. In the end, the socialist extremists know they win either way in flattening of society, with everyone either rich or destitute.
Save America, stop tyrannical government and embrace a moderate agenda. Keep the separation of powers by voting Republican.
Brazil and Israel held elections this week to decide on the future leaders of the countries.
In Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a left-wing politician and former president of Brazil, defeated the incumbent by two million votes on October 30. US President Joe Biden called the president-elect of Brazil the following day. As featured on the US embassy in Brazil’s website, “President Biden commended the strength of Brazilian democratic institutions following free, fair, and credible elections. The two leaders discussed the strong relationship between the United States and Brazil, and committed to continue working as partners to address common challenges, including combatting climate change, safeguarding food security, promoting inclusion and democracy, and managing regional migration.“
On November 2, Israel held elections, its fifth in four years. Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party won the most votes and his right-wing block easily had a majority to lead the next Knesset. As in Brazil, a former leader came to defeat an incumbent, but the reaction of Biden was markedly different.
On the day following the vote, the US embassy in Israel did not say that Biden called Netanyahu. It did not say that the two countries would work together “to address common challenges.”
Instead, the press release posted a release from Ned Price, a spokesperson from the State Department. It read: “Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke today with Prime Minister Yair Lapid to commend Israel for its free and fair elections, and to thank the Prime Minister for his partnership. The Secretary reaffirmed the strength of the U.S.-Israel bilateral relationship. He also emphasized his deep concern over the situation in the West Bank, including heightened tensions, violence, and loss of both Israeli and Palestinian lives, and underscored the need for all parties to urgently de-escalate the situation.“
Rather than follow protocol with the president of the United States calling the incoming Prime Minister of Israel, the Secretary of State called the outgoing Prime Minister. Instead of discussing ways of working together, the US voiced “deep concern” and urged Israel to take action to “de-escalate the situation.”
This is highly inappropriate and a deeply insulting slap in the face of every Israeli.
When Britain elected Liz Truss, a member of the Conservative Party to be the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on September 5, Biden called her the next day. He offered the incoming leader congratulations and “reaffirmed the special relationship between our countries and expressed their readiness to further deepen those ties…. and discussed the importance of continued close cooperation on global challenges.”
But Biden uniquely snubbed the new leader of the Jewish State. He treated the country as a vassal to take orders, not as a partner to work with in “close cooperation on global challenges.”
Meanwhile, leaders from the around the world had no issue congratulating Netanyahu and discussing collaborating with the Jewish State.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted “Mazel Tov my friend Netanyahu for your electoral success. I look forward to continuing our joint efforts to deepen the India-Israel strategic partnership.“
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted “Congratulations to @netanyahu on winning the elections. It’s always important to see real democracy in action. Ukraine & Israel share common values & challenges that now require effective cooperation. We hope to open a new page in cooperation with the new Government for Ukraine & Israel benefit!“
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called Netanyahu. He tweeted “Just spoke with @netanyahu to congratulate him on his election victory. Looking forward to continuing the very strong relations between our two countries.“
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement which led “On behalf of the Government of Canada, I congratulate Benjamin Netanyahu on his electoral success and wish him well as he moves ahead with the process of forming a coalition government. Canada’s friendship with Israel is based on a long history of close cooperation, enduring ties between our peoples, and our shared commitment to upholding democratic values.“
President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola said “Congratulations @netanyahu, on your success in #Israel’s elections. The bond between the EU & Israel is one forged in shared history and based on common values of democracy, liberty & rule of law. We will keep working together for peace, security & prosperity in the region.“
Italy’s Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni sent her congratulations to Netanyahu on Twitter as well, saying “Congratulations-Mazel Tov to @netanyahu for the electoral success. Ready to strengthen our friendship and our bilateral relations, to better face our common challenges.“
Just days before mid-term elections in the US, President Biden completely disrespected Israel. How does he think tens of millions of American Zionists will react? How much worse will the increasingly anti-Israel Democratic Party treat the Jewish State when votes are not on the line?
Lonah Chemtai Salpeter has been winning marathons around the world, representing Israel. The Kenyan immigrant to Israel will be running the New York City Marathon on November 6, 2022, so The New York Times thought it an opportune time to write a story about this Black Israeli who has a very good chance of winning the race.
But the anti-Israel paper wanted to make sure its remaining readers did not get confused that Israel is a multi-racial and multi-ethnic society (as opposed to the rest of the Middle East), so it editorialized that the Jewish State is built on racism.
In the middle of the the article “The Fastest Woman in This Year’s New York City Marathon Is Israeli”, the Times relayed several of Salpeter’s races and how she inspires many Israelis. Because of the paper’s ingrained anti-Zionist culture, it inserted a libel as an appropriate transition.
Despite Salpeter never saying anything about being subject to racism in Israel, the Times inserted “While she declined to directly address facing racism in Israel, Salpeter has not always felt universal support as an East African immigrant.” How did this clause end up in here? Perhaps an article about President Joe Biden cancelling student debt should include a sentence “Even though Biden did not admit to being a pedophile, he thinks kids in school need help.“
Mizrahi Jews, mostly from African countries, make up one-third of the country. Mixed Jews and Black Jews account for 5.8% and 2.2%, respectively. Overall, “White” Ashkenazi Jews account for 32.7 percent of the country’s population. So while over two-thirds of Israel’s population is non-White Jewish, the Times wants to falsely paint the Jewish State as an outpost of White (Jewish) Supremacy.
At the same time, the paper has not published an article about the Palestinian Arabs beheading a gay Arab. It has not written about the Algiers Declaration, signed a few weeks ago that will allow terrorist groups including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to participate in elections.
For The NY Times, there is a single narrative: the Jewish State is irredeemable on multiple levels and that Arabs are forever innocent. And it will tell you that repeatedly, even when describing a Black Israeli woman competing in the New York City marathon, lest a reader jump to the wrong conclusion that Israel – alone in the Middle East – is a multi-ethnic liberal democracy.
Kanye / Ye has a large following, including 31.8 million on Twitter and millions more on other social media platforms. His espousal of Jewish hatred and incitement to antisemitism finally cost him in some manner, with Adidas and several other companies finally severing lucrative commercial deals with him.
Alas, not so with Palestinian Arabs.
Denying and Stealing Jewish Identity
Kanye said that Jews are imposters and not really descendants of the Children of Israel from the Bible. He claimed that those are actually Black people, with “When I say Jew, I mean the 12 lost tribes of Judah, the blood of Christ, who the people known as the race Black really are. This is who our people are.” He also offered “I can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew.” In an interview with Chris Cuomo he said “You’re saying it’s anti-Semitic, but I don’t believe in that term. One thing is, Black people are also Jew. I classify as Jew also, so I actually can’t be an anti-Semite. So the term is actually, it’s not factual.“
Palestinian Arabs say much the same.
The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas falsely stated “this land [Israel] belongs to the people who live on it. It belongs to the Canaanites, who lived here 5,000 years ago. We are the Canaanites!” His “mainstream” Palestinian party Fatah has posted frequently that Jesus was the first Palestinian martyr. Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American “activist” often promoted by leftists, tweeted that “Jesus was a Palestinian of Nazareth.” Nicolas Massard, a Palestinian-American professor at Columbia University calls the ancient Jews “Palestinian Hebrews.” Supermodel Bella Hadid with over 100 million Instagram followers tweeted that “Jesus was a Palestinian” with a hashtag to keep it an ongoing movement.
Palestinians and Kanye are not simply trying to claim a piece of history for themselves and embracing cultural appropriation of Jews. They are simultaneously trying to rob Jews of their history, and libel them as cheaters, imposters and thieves.
Assertion of Jewish Control
During Ye’s interview with Cuomo on October 17 he alleged that the “Jewish underground media mafia” run the entertainment industry and that “every celebrity has Jewish people in their contract.” He tweeted that “You guys [Jews] have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.” He added “Ima use you [Diddy] as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me.“
Palestinian Arabs have long complained that Jews seek to control them, denying their own ongoing violent rejection of coexistence. The very term “occupation” Arabs throw about carries with it the claim that Israel is unfairly controlling “Arab land,” as if the land isn’t the heartland of the Jewish people and that Jews have no right to live there. The Palestinian Arabs assert that Israel has an illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip, as if Hamas, the terrorist group sworn to the destruction of Israel, doesn’t rule the area. The ADL conducted a poll in Gaza and the West Bank in 2014 which showed that almost every single Arab believed that Jews control the global media, financial institutions and the US government.
Ye and Palestinian tropes about Jewish control are lifted from the notorious forgery Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which in turn fed Henry Ford’s The International Jew and Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf. It led to millions of Jews being slaughtered.
Claiming Jews Just Want To Make Money Off Of People
Ye offered that “I prefer my kids knew Hannukah from Kwanzaa. At least it will come with some financial engineering.” He said that Jared Kushner put together the Abraham Accords in order “to make money” for himself, and “I think that’s what they’re about. I don’t think that they have the ability to make anything on their own. I think they were born into money.”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), a Palestinian-American said that Jews, “from Gaza to Detroit… control people… exploit the rest of us for their own profit… look behind the curtain, it’s the same people who make money – yes they do – off of racism.” Mahmoud Abbas said that hatred of Jews “was widespread throughout Europe was not against their religion but against their social function which relates to usury [unscrupulous money-lending] and banking and such.“
Combined with the notion of “Jewish control /power,” Ye and Palestinians foment an us-versus-them mentality. Jews are not part of the broad fabric of society but “others” who cheat, lie and seek to steal from everyone else.
Decrying Holocausts Of Their People
While the Holocaust is a term which is used by almost the entire world to describe the horrible slaughter of European Jewry at the hands of the Nazis and other antisemites, Kanye and the Palestinians use the term about the death of Blacks and Arabs.
“I want you to visit Planned Parenthood. That’s our Holocaust museum,” Kanye said about the millions of unborn Black babies killed in abortions. He blamed Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood and the Ku Klux Klan (all non-Jews) for promoting abortion to slow the birth rate of the Black population.
Mahmoud Abbas was much more disgusting. Standing in Berlin, Germany, at the epicenter of the brutal destruction of European Jewry, the leader of Palestinian Arabs said that the Jewish State had committed “50 massacres, 50 Holocausts, and until today, and every day there are casualties killed by the Israeli military.” The outrageous “monstrous lie” was met with global outrage. For a moment. The world continued to coddle him after a few days.
A Call To Kill Jews
Ye ultimately pressed further and threatened violence against Jews around the world, tweeting “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 [sic] on JEWISH PEOPLE.“
The foundational charter of Hamas not only falsely states that Jews control of the world and destroy decency wherever they go, but specifically calls for every Muslim in the world to kill Jews and destroy Israel. Palestinian Arabs voted Hamas to a majority of parliament with such charter and continue to support the political-terrorist group. The Palestinian Authority incites violence daily with its “pay-to-slay” in which in pays terrorist families salaries.
Ye’s rampant antisemitism was ignored by many, until his call to kill Jews made him impossible to ignore. Not so for Palestinian Arabs, who are being funded by the global community despite their rampant antisemitism and calls to kill Jews and destroy the Jewish State.
Kanye West performing in Israel in 2015 (photo: Yaron Brener)
Police and rescue workers at the scene of a terror attack on Dizengoff street, central Tel Aviv. At least six people were wounded in the shooting, 3 severly. April 07, 2022. Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/FLASH9015 Jews killed and 130 injured when Palestinian Arab blows up Sbarro pizza store in central Jerusalem, August 9, 2001Arab mob pelts Jewish man’s car with stones outside Jerusalem’s Old City, May 10, 2021. Photo by Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90 *** Local Caption *** בירושלים שוטרים שומר שומרים שער האריות נסיון לינץ נהג פצוע22 civilians killed and 50 injured when Palestinian terrorist blew up bus in central Tel Aviv in 1994Two Palestinians with axes and knives kill six people in Jerusalem synagogue, November 18, 2014Five members of the Fogel family stabbed to death in their sleep by two Arab cousins, March 11, 2011
Jewish children will freely live their lives
to ride a school bus,
play in a playground,
attend school,
take a nature hike,
relax in their bedrooms,
ride in a car with their fathers
Hamas fired an anti-tank missile at a school bus killing a 16-year old boy, April 7, 201114 rockets launched from Gaza pound Sderot, two landing in a children’s playground, February 24, 2020Hamas blew up the cafeteria of Hebrew University, killing nine and injuring 100, July 31, 200217-year old Rina Shnerb, killed while on a nature hike, from a bomb planted by the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine, August 23, 201913-year old, Hallel Yaffa Ariel, stabbed to death while siting in her bedroom, June 30, 20161-year old Yonatan Palmer and his father Asher, 25, killed by Palestinian Arabs stoning their car, September 23, 2011
All Jews will be free to live anywhere and everywhere
not barred entry to their homeland,
not ethically cleansed from their land,
not denied citizenship,
not have their holy places destroyed,
allowed to pray openly at their holy sites,
Not to told that their basic physical presence is illegal
Arab riots of 1936-9 and lobbying made the British pass the White Paper which capped Jewish immigration during the Holocaust yearsTransjordan ethnically cleansed all Jews from Judea and Samaria during the 1948-9 Arab-Israeli WarJordan illegally annexed Judea and Samaria and refused to grant any Jew who lived there citizenship in 1954Joseph’s Tomb vandalized by Palestinian Arabs, April 2022The Jewish Temple Mount, the holiest site for Jews, forbids Jewish prayerUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 declared Jews living east of the 1949 Armistice Lines to be doing so illegally
Throughout 2022, Palestinian Arabs committed more attacks against Israelis than the reverse. A fact obfuscated constantly by the United Nations.
Tor Wennesland, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, gave his monthly update to the UN Security Council on October 28, 2022. Despite Palestinian Arabs attacking Israeli Jews with increasing frequency – by Wennesland’s own accounting – he chose to minimize Arab violence and focus on the attacks by Israeli Jews.
The nature of whitewashing Palestinian attacks takes many forms.
Portraying the Palestinian Authority as peaceful and Israeli politicians as violent. The PA incites violence with both words and actions, paying rewards to terrorists and calling the entirety of Israel an illegal settlement. Despite the PA being an integral part of the problem, Wennesland called for “Efforts are also urgently needed to empower and strengthen the Palestinian Authority and build towards a return to a political process.” Rather than call out widespread systematic PA incitement, Wennesland pointed to a single Israeli politician, a “right-wing Israeli Member of the Knesset led a group through Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, at one point brandishing a weapon and making violent threats.“
Stating Palestinians are mostly peaceful. The Palestinians launched a new terrorist group called the Lion’s Den in August 2022, causing Jews in the West Bank to seek to protect themselves from ongoing shootings and bomb threats. Settler attacks jumped immediately after the new terrorist group’s arrival and actions.
But the UN led its reporting of the monthly death toll by leading with Arab “demonstrations” instead of Arab violence: “In total, 32 Palestinians, including six children, were killed by Israeli security forces during demonstrations, clashes, search-and-arrest operations, attacks and alleged attacks against Israelis, and other incidents.” It was absolution via inversion, led by omitting a key part of the narrative.
Relaying that Palestinian demonstrations are reactive and Israeli protests are provocative. The report’s bias can be seen clearly also in the way protests are described. Wennesland said that Palestinian “Demonstrations and protests spread from Shu’fat to East Jerusalem and led to clashes between Palestinians and ISF,” after Israel’s military imposed movement restrictions as it searched for Arab militants. It continued that Israel’s military “shot and killed five Palestinians” (never using the word terrorists), which then led to “Thousands of Palestinians subsequently demonstrated in Nablus, with protests spreading across the occupied West Bank. Amid the heightened tensions, Palestinians conducted general strikes and five days of civil disobedience campaigns across the West Bank, with further clashes between Palestinians and ISF.” All Arab actions are described as reactionary.
However, for Jews, the report states the opposite. “Settler-related violence and provocations has also increased during the reporting period, contributing to the dynamic of escalating violence in the occupied West Bank. Throughout the reporting period, settlers held numerous demonstrations across the West Bank, with protesters on multiple occasions blocking main roads, throwing stones and impeding movement for Palestinian residents. Tensions were particularly high around Nablus, where settlers impeded main routes for Palestinian residents and, on several occasions, groups of Israeli settlers entered the Palestinian town of Huwwara, south of Nablus, damaging Palestinian property and prompting clashes with residents, in some cases in the presence of Israeli Security Forces.”
Detailing Israeli Jews’ attacks but not those of Palestinian Arabs. Wennesland then relayed two specific incidents about “Israeli settlers”. It included no specific incidents about Arab violence. In his opening summary remarks, Wennesland had details on the number of injuries incurred by Palestinians (63) but had no such figure for Jews. Instead, he belittled the Palestinian attacks by noting that 100 of the 115 incidents “were stone-throwing incidents.” This is not surprising as “OCHA [United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs] began systematically tracking Palestinian fatalities in 2005,” but no organization tracks Palestinian attacks nor Jewish fatalities.
In September’s report, while Wennesland gave the figure of “128 attacks against Palestinians,” it gave no total for Palestinian Arab attacks. Presumably it was much higher, as it was in every month.
Normalizing and legitimizing the political-terrorist group Hamas. Capping off the report, Wennesland mentioned that Fatah and Hamas signed the Algiers Declaration, which amounted to reconciliation between the parties and an agreement to hold elections in which all parties could participate. He said “I echo the Secretary-General in welcoming the agreement and underscore the importance of Palestinian reconciliation for a viable, independent Palestinian State.” For the UN, a terrorist Palestinian state alongside Israel is still better than no Palestinian State.
Supporting a single party in the conflict – Palestinian Arabs. Wennesland summed up his report with empathy for the Arabs but not the Jews. He called for the world to join him in his rallying cry for Palestinian Arabs: “I see clearly the mounting frustration and anger of Palestinians in the face of decades of Israeli occupation. The Palestinian Authority urgently needs the economic support and political space to fully exercise its authority, including security, in areas under its control.“
The United Nations is a rabidly anti-Zionist organization which minimizes and excuses Palestinian Arab violence and embraces the political-terrorist group Hamas. Meanwhile, Israeli Jews living in Judea and Samaria are cast as terrorists for simply seeking to live freely. Doing so consistently and repeatedly, the UN invalidates itself as a potential force for good to resolve the long-running dispute in the holy land.
What’s Bigger News, The Killing of 80 Civilians Or 5 Terrorists? Wrong Question.
The media is obsessed with Israel. Don’t believe me? Look at The New York Times newspaper published on October 26, 2022.
Leading off the International section on page A4, was an article written by three reporters – Isabel Kershner, Gabby Sobelman and Hiba Yazbek. It was one of only two articles on the page, and featured a medium-sized picture of Palestinians at the funeral of “militants” killed by Israel.
The article spoke about Israel’s military raid on the most active Palestinian terrorists who have been shooting Israelis and planting bombs. The army successfully eliminated five of the group’s members, including its leader.
In another part of the world, 80 civilians in Myanmar were killed when several military jets deliberately bombed an outdoor music concert. That story was on the last page of the International section, page A10. It was one of three stories on the page and was written by a single journalist. It contained no pictures and competed for readers attention against two large color photos on the page, including one with cute penguins.
The population of Myanmar is 54.8 million, 5.8 times the size of Israel’s 9.4 million people. The 80 Myanmar civilians killed is 16 times as large as five Arab terrorists. Despite this, three journalists were deployed on the “smaller” story which dwarves the minimum number required to write about the large massacre at an outdoor concert.
Why does a larger story by every measure get less emphasis and coverage?
It’s not just the media. The United Nations has special agencies just to deal with Israel. Its Human Rights Council has a standing item every session for one country- Israel – to “produce a database” of Jewish businesses. It has censured Israel more than the rest of the world combined.
Reporting. Investigating. Censuring.
Watching the Jews.
Society may have acknowledged that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an antisemitic forgery, but has none-the-less internalized its lie that Jews are conspiring to control the world. The smear emanates constantly from the mouths of antisemites like Marc Lamont Hill’s “from Ferguson to Palestine” and Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s “from Gaza to Detroit“.
As such, the media deploys teams of journalists and spills much ink on the Jewish State just as the UN overspends time and money, as each believes that Israel will ultimately impact everyone much more than billions of people around the world. Martin Niemoller’s famous saying may have warned about “Then they came for the Jews…” portraying them as persecuted victims, but in fact, the antisemitic conspiracy theorists focus on Jews as the globalists, perpetrating vile crimes wherever they are found.
Israel is not simply held to a double standard; it is constantly under a microscope by antisemitic voyeurs who are waiting to “Catch the Jew” to validate their noxious Jew hatred.
The Arab gang violence in Israel shows little sign of letting up.
In 2021, over 100 Israeli Arabs were killed in gang-related violence (reports range from 111 to 126 people killed). The violence in 2022 continues, with the latest Arab-Arab killing in the city of Lod on October 7.
First, Wafa which spends almost all of its efforts lambasting Israel, printed a headline which made it appear that Israel targeted a Palestinian child for execution. That couldn’t be further from the truth. This person was a victim of Arab-on-Arab violence.
Further, this person was an Israeli Arab, not a Palestinian from Area A in the West Bank. He died in the central Israeli city of Lod, which Wafa called Lydda.
Even more, the PA does not recognize the basic legitimacy of Israel as it wrote: “Palestinians in today’s Israel are those who stayed on their land following the creation of the occupying state in 1948 and their descendants. They make up about 20 percent of the country’s nine million people.“
The Palestinian Authority calls the State of Israel in its 1948-9 lines an “occupying state.” This is consistent with PA President Mahmoud Abbas calling Israel within “1967 borders” a “painful settlement.”
Palestinians do not differentiate between Haifa and Hebron, or Jaffa, Jerusalem and Jericho. In their narrative, the entirety of the land is Palestinian, and all Jews are settlers. Not only are the Jews falsely cast as illegal invaders, but criticized for callously letting Arabs kill each other.
If only local Arabs could manage their own affairs, they could have the paradise of the failed states of Lebanon or Syria.
Israeli Arabs protested in Umm al-Fahm, Israel against Israeli Police inaction to tackle Arab-on-Arab crime on February 5, 2021. One of the protestors carried a Palestinian flag.
There is a lot of commentary floating in mainstream and social media about Kanye West’s repeated anti-Semitic comments, and whether he represents much of Black America, right-wing America or the Black entertainment industry. Authors pull an example here and there to make generalizations but no one has done a deeper dive into the matter.
Many of the statements being made are true but are far too narrow. Yes, there are many Black entertainers, athletes and politicians who espouse Jew hatred. Blacks are not immune from the scourge, any more than any racial or ethnic group.
The Kanye comments are vile and should be condemned, as are many others like Washington, D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8) who said that the Jews control the weather so they can get rich. However, a more detailed analysis is important to consider if there is an overall trend of Blacks attacking Jews, and to evaluate the underlying reason.
I have analyzed two decades of FBI Hate Crime statistics. To summarize:
Black people account for 24% of annual hate crimes on average from 2015 to 2020, for situations where the offender’s race or ethnicity is known. That is up from a 20% annual average from 2004 to 2014. These percentages should be considered against the fact that Blacks account for roughly 13.4% of the population, meaning that they are committing a disproportionately high number of hate crimes.
Black anti-religion hate crimes did jump significantly in the 2010-2019 decade compared to the 2000-2009 decade. Black hate crimes against Jews jumped by 60% and against Muslims by 50%. That compared to White anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim crimes declining by 24% and growing by 39%, respectively.
Much of the shift away from White hate crimes began in 2015. From 2004 to 2014, Whites committed an annual average of 78% and 85% of total hate crimes and anti-Semitic crimes, respectively. Since 2015, that has dropped to about 67% and 77% on average, respectively. The difference comes from the growth in attacks being made by the Black community (first bullet above) and the Hispanic community, growing from about no hate crimes to roughly 6% and 5% of the total and anti-Jewish crimes, respectively. An undisclosed non-Hispanic ethnic group is accounting for an increasingly very large percentage of hate crimes as well – it is likely that many of these are Muslims, Arabs and people from southeast Asia (Pakistan and Asia) which are normally categorized as Asian in the United Kingdom but not in the U.S..
The year 2015 did not suddenly see a growth of Jewish businessmen, media ownership, landlords or any other perceived anti-Semitic tropes to drive the change in patterns. However, that year witnessed the launch of the Black Lives Matter movement after the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO in August 2014, just as Israel’s Gaza war was concluding.
Beyond the protests against White people generally, Blacks sought allies to their cause and turned to the Hispanic and Muslim communities. Black media personalities like CNN’s Marc Lamont Hill produced a “revolutionary” video in January 2015 in Nazareth, which he falsely said was in “Palestine”, and smeared the Jews in “a land stolen by greed and destroyed by hate… we stand by the people who courageously struggle and resist the occupation… From Ferguson to Palestine, the struggle for freedom continues.” A few years later, Rep. Rashida Tlaib would pick up this theme “From Gaza to Detroit“, that Jews in the U.S. and Israel are racist profiteers hiding “behind the curtain” and making a profit off of Black and Brown bodies.
In March of 2015, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke before a joint session of the U.S. Congress asking them to not proceed with the Iranian nuclear deal which created an existential threat for the Jewish State. Leaders of the Black community considered it a racist affront disrespecting the Black president, Barack Obama, as opposed to a desperate plea. The Black Democratic members of congress boycotted the speech.
With this backdrop, the Black Lives Matter movement drafted a manifesto with the assistance of Nadia Ben-Youssef of Adalah, a group dedicated to fighting Israel. The BLM platform singled out Israel and America’s relationship with the Jewish State as “complicit in the genocide taking place against the Palestinian people…. Israel is an apartheid state…. Palestinians are forced to walk through military checkpoints along the US-funded apartheid wall.”
Progressive politicians argued that the militarization of U.S. police forces occurred because of training exercises with Israel, although the nature of the training and whether it led to the deaths of any Black people had been discounted for any who bothered to read past the headlines. Regardless, the perception that the Jewish State may have been connected to the deaths of Black Americans was often repeated by Blacks, Muslims and anti-Zionist progressives.
The Southern Poverty Law Center assimilated the narrative. Even though Jews suffered more hate crimes per capita than any other group, SPLC highlighted attacks against Blacks and Muslims, and those committed by Whites. Jewish victims were a small footnote.
The BLM narrative continued to churn whereby it was determined that Black people could not even be considered racist as they lacked power, and any actions taken against White people was simply “punching up.” Hate speech and actions by minorities was thereby given a clean bill of health, a double-“O” license for racism. The power afforded by that twisted reasoning became so ingrained, that SPLC openly stated that it objected to FBI’s Hate Crime numbers for Black people, since “Black separatism was born out of valid anger against very real historical and systemic oppression…. Black separatism is a response to white supremacy and white nationalism,” and therefore could not be counted as a hate crime. SPLC contended that the FBI’s calling out Black racism was “used to justify the over-policing and surveillance of communities of color,” and they would therefore not highlight it.
When Jews were killed in Jersey City, NJ, a Black member of the school board said that the Black killers had a point in killing Jews since they were “brutes” aggressively moving into the neighborhood. Black community leaders rushed to her defense when she was lambasted for her anti-Semitism about murdered Jews. SPLC also tried to come to the defense of the Black killers. And then, with the gas-lighting complete, the city’s un-murdered Jews appallingly handed out gifts to the Black residents of the city on Christmas, apologizing if their blood dirtied the local streets.
Amidst the attacks on Jews, the Democratic Socialists of America called for demonizing Israel and singling it out as a litmus test for endorsement. Not Iran, China, Saudi Arabia or North Korea – but the one liberal and Jewish state in the middle east and north Africa region. The DSA principally endorses non-White and non-Jewish candidates, with the exception of their champion Bernie Sanders, who is completely secular and an anti-Zionist.
So Blacks gather even more allies to the BLM movement. Muslims, progressives and anti-Zionists who all feel victimized by “pushy” White Jews. Validating their victimized status, they can no longer be accused of anti-Semitism or racism, and demand reparations.
This is the storm of Jew hatred that weighs on the Black-Jewish relationship today. The BLM movement and intersectional approach have taken aim at people they perceive as privileged and racist. For them, no group encapsulates having more than their fair share, stealing the fruits of others, than White Jews – both in the U.S. and Israel – in a warped worldview that has infected way too much of the Black community.