About that Sieg Heil
“He did not just do that.”
“Did he just do that?”
“He’s neurodivergent, so….”
“He probably didn’t mean it.”
“He definitely meant it.”
“Well, the ADL gave him a pass…”
“But AOC called the ADL out!”
Fuck the debate. It’s noise.
Yes, I’m miffed today. Here why:
Anti-Semitism exists on the right and the left: On the far right it is what we know as Nazism and on the far left it is what masquerades as anti-Zionism. (Reminder: criticism of Israel and/or its government is not anti-Semitic. Calling for the destruction of Israel, blaming Israel for everything, or holding Israel to a different standard than any of the other 195 countries on Earth is.)
If you saw what happened on October 7, 2023, and did not utter a single peep of condemnation or express support for Jews, but are upset about Elon’s lil’ wink at Hitler, are you really standing in solidarity with us? Or are you more concerned about calling out the ugly when it’s on the ‘other side’?
You should be upset about Nazi signals. Because lord knows how many neo-Nazis popped automatic Sieg Heil’ing boners in response to that.
But let me tell you what else has been terrifying Jews for the last 15 months. The call is coming from inside the house, people, and the Left has a problem. It looks like:
People protesting in cities across the U.S. waving Hamas, Houthi, and Hezbollah flags while calling for a globalized intifada
College kids building encampments on campuses, policing where students can go depending on their ideologies, and even barring “Zios” from entering certain buildings
The term Zionist being completely brutalized and redefined by [well, technically it was Soviet Russia who started it] progressives who either don’t know the reasons why Zionism was created in the first place or don’t care (not sure which is worse)
The comments section on basically any Instagram post
The cherry on top (do people actually like cherries?) is the hoi polloi—who think they’re smarter than everyone, not realizing that they’re recycling the same tired shit that anti-Semites have done for thousands of years—blaming Jews (or “Israel” or “Izra-Hell”) for:
The LA fires
Climate change
October 7
The Holocaust
The TikTok ban (so relieved Americans survived that one!)
The US healthcare system
Controlling the media
Controlling the banks
Controlling Hollywood
Controlling Washington
Controlling your mom
[Insert your verb + compound noun of choice here]
Multiple uncomfortable things can be true at once: Nazism is abhorrent and so is Hamas, their actions on October 7, and the very loud support they’ve received from [I believe] some well-intentioned people in the West.
You can believe the above without it meaning that you let Israel’s government off the hook for the death and destruction of Gaza or the occupation of the West Bank. (You can also think that Gazans probably deserve better leadership than a group that won an election in 2006 and said “mmm…no we’re good” to the idea of future elections.) (And yes, you can also believe that Israelis deserve better leadership than Bibi.)
I’m not going to apologize to any non-Jews whom I made uncomfortable, but I am going to say that any discomfort is OK. Because if you didn’t care at all, you’d probably be feeling nothing.
I know my subscribers aren’t a bunch of Ted Bundys: but hell, if Ted could escape from prison (twice!), then I know you’re capable of great things, too. Like being a real, authentic ally for Jews.
Hear hear!!!