When left-wing American Jews comment on a rise in antisemitism in the US - without ever mentioning Israel or attempting to scapegoat Palestinian solidarity activism - here are some trends over the course of the decade since Trump first ran for President that they are likely referring to: - the MAGA internet during his first campaign sending Holocaust pictures to Jewish journalists who criticized him - the weird Clinton Star of David corruption meme Trump posted - the Soros conspiracies amplified by Trump, Fox News & multiple members of Congress - Richard Spencer - Charlottesville & “Jews will not replace us” - the Great Replacement conspiracy being parroted by GOP politicians, Fox News & Trump - multiple mass shootings - including two mass synagogue shootings - explicitly inspired by Great Replacement/Soros conspiracies - the mainstreaming of Nazis & groypers on Twitter, especially after Elon bought it - widespread antisemitic rhetoric in online right-wing spaces during Trump’s first Impeachment hearings, focused on the fact that Zelensky & the whistleblower & various lawyers & Democratic Congresspeople were Jewish - the revival of Leo Frank trutherism, both on social media & at protests outside the Broadway revival or Parade - the appointment of one of those Leo Frank truthers to be the Pentagon Press Secretary - Everything about Nick Fuentes & his connections to members of Congress - Nick Fuentes & Kanye’s dinner with Trump in 2022 - (long before October 2023 & Israel’s current genocidal campaign) - Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, etc. having Holocaust revisionists on their podcasts - Elon Musk’s inauguration Nazi salute The point being: - Yes, Israel & many who advocate for Israel have made bad faith accusations of antisemitism at those protesting or criticizing Israeli war crimes & acts of genocide in Gaza. - Yes, the Trump admin has weaponized feigned concerns about antisemitism to attack students & immigrants. - However, Pritzker has loudly and eloquently given speeches denouncing the attempts by the Trump administration to use Jews as a justification for advancing fascist right-wing policies - which are opposed by an OVERWHELMING majority of American Jews - Although I don’t know every single Jewish leftist, I’m pretty confident that most Jewish comrades who you personally interacting with in left-wing & most liberal spaces have denounced/opposed this as well, given all the liberal Jews who have been advocating for the activists snatched by ICE etc. - Given this, when an American Jew expresses concerns about antisemitism *and does not suggest that they are talking about Israel or claiming that protesting the genocide is antisemitic*, perhaps you should consider that they are likely talking about ALL OF THAT RIGHT-WING FASCIST ANTISEMITISM - Perhaps that might be a reasonable conclusion, instead of deciding their expressed concerns about a rise in antisemitism (which has happened under Trump! just like the rise in racism & Islamophobia & transphobia & homophobia etc.) is actually a secret surreptitious implicit defence of genocide - If you are a leftist who thinks it’s bad that Trump, Elon & his admin is full of fascists who fraternize with open white supremacists & do Nazi salutes at government events (pretty antisemitic!) then you shouldn’t have a problem with left-wing Jews noting that antisemitism has increased. If a Jewish person has given you no reason to think that they are speaking in bad faith, you shouldn’t presume that they *must* be speaking disingenuously or that *all* claims that antisemitism exists in America are automatically suspect due to discourse about Israel. If your default stance is that any Jewish person who raises any general concern about antisemitism in Trump’s America (especially in contexts that make no mention at all of Israel) can’t be trusted & should be skeptically viewed as a potential Zionist 5th column…maybe you should reflect on that. - Oh, one example that I forgot to put in my initial list, but which is particularly relevant to Pritzker! - There is a specific wild antisemitic AND transphobic conspiracy theory that Jewish socialist billionaires are using their money and state power to indoctrinate children to become transgender. - This is specifically relevant to JD Pritzker because one of the main targets of this conspiracy theory is his cousin Jennifer Pritzker, a Jewish trans woman & philanthropist who is a central figure in this antisemitic TERFy conspiracy theory. - The conspiratorial far-right has taken over the corpse of the Republican Party and conspiracy land is FULL of unhinged antisemitism. This stuff has been increasingly mainstreamed over the last decade & we’re allowed to talk about it. - If you agree it’s self-evident that racism, Islamophobia, misogyny, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. increased over the last decade due to mainstreaming of fascism by the white supremacist neo-Nazi MAGA vanguard, but think it’s false to say that antisemitism increased also, reflect on that. (and if you need more examples, trust me, I have plenty. I was tracking a bunch of troubling shifts in right wing Christian discourse during the first Trump term that specifically targeting left-wing Jews as “disloyal” & “not really Jewish” and it gets very ugly and very weird) (but hopefully I’ve set out enough data points to convince you that it’s possible for Jews to be opposed to genocide, opposed to the suppression of civil liberties & opposed to Trump & still have legitimate concerns about the existence of antisemitism. if not, I’m not sure what will convince you) One final important data point for those who insist that Pritzker’s generic comment about the existence of antisemitism somehow must be a dog whistle in support of fascism and suppressing activists. This is from the speech he gave a few weeks ago:
“Let me say this to Donald Trump: Stop tearing down the Constitution in the name of my ancestors. Do not claim that your authoritarian power grabs are about combating antisemitism. When you destroy social justice, you are disparaging the very foundation of Judaism.” THAT is what Pritzker said about Trump using false concerns about antisemitism to target universities & Palestinian solidarity activists. Please explain exactly what basis that provides for claims tonight that Pritzker’s post secretly supported what he already denounced as contrary to Jewish values.