Antisemitism: From New York to LA, a new political scourge

Supporters of the “democratic socialists” who won three congressional primaries in New York on anti-Israel platforms have pushed back on claims that the campaigns were antisemitic. After all, they note, one of the victorious candidates, Brad Lander, is Jewish himself. So, why should Jews feel threatened — as many do? Lander is a critic of Israel, but, they say, it’s absurd to think he hates Jews.While there is nothing wrong with criticizing Israel, what makes the current wave of criticism unique is this: Israel is not the aggressor in the war with Iran and its terrorist proxies that started three years ago when Hamas guerrillas infiltrated Israel and murdered some 1,200 people. Israel has, by far, the strongest military, but it did not start the war.The current wave of criticism, in other words, inverts the victim and the aggressor.Worse, at least one of the candidates who won in New York openly backed Hamas. Her problem is not war, as such; her problem is that Hamas did not win, and that Israel is still there.

She shares the genocidal intent of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, which is to destroy the Jewish state and murder its inhabitants.Ironically, it is she, Lander and the other candidates endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani that accuse Israel of “genocide.” This is where truly irrational hatred enters the picture.The term “genocide” was invented to describe the attempted extermination of Jews by the Nazis in the Holocaust.

Israelis have no such intent toward Palestinians, even if Israeli tactics in the war, or the heated rhetoric of some Israeli politicians, are open for debate.Again: Israel did not start the war.It also allowed aid to flow in large quantities to Palestinians in the war zone — a fact totally at odds with claims of genocidal intent. Yes, much of Gaza was destroyed, but that was also due to the fact that Hamas chose to attack Israel from civilian areas (a war crime), rather than meeting the Israeli military in the...