The American Jewish Committee (AJC)’s recently released survey, conducted in March and April of 2024, provides a disheartening insight into the lack of awareness on the part of Jewish Americans as to the dire straits in which we presently find ourselves.
Amongst the 1,001 Jewish online participants, it was found that “a significant majority of American Jews harbor deep concerns about antisemitism in the United States (87%) and remain strongly supportive of Israel (85%)”.
“Unaware” would not appear to be our problem. Yet buried in the survey is a footnote reflecting that despite our “awareness,” the proportion of Jews ready to connect the dots and turn in their Democratic Party credentials has, since 2020, increased only slightly.
The electoral immobility of Jewish Americans represents a perilous failure to see the elephant in the room. Between the hemorrhaging expressions of Jew-hatred originating exclusively from the progressive left and the inability of centrist Democrats to muffle or tame those rabid expressions, the cancer has now been structurally infused into the Democratic Party.
The failure to condemn and censure members of Congress who have adamantly refused to denounce the barbaric rape, mutilation, torture and murder of Israelis or rocket attacks on Israeli population centers is perhaps the most disturbing evidence of complete partywide impotence.
What role might an organ of government that is so radically split between pro-Western and anti-Western values play? While the majority of Democrats continue to uphold pro-Western ideals and have stood against this racist antisemitic onslaught, they have tragically been outflanked and neutered by the progressive left.
It is clear to the world, especially to Israel’s mortal enemies, that President Joe Biden, very much to the benefit of Hamas, has yielded to the progressive fringe. He is now attempting to shoehorn Israel into a premature ceasefire agreement. A ceasefire without the complete elimination of Hamas will effectively allow Hamas to claim victory and subsequently return heroically (perhaps in Judea and Samaria) in a reconstituted form.
Moreover, by withholding vital precision-guided munitions and failing for the first time to run interference at the U.N. for Israel, Biden has bowed visibly and obsequiously to the demands of the progressive left.
In so bowing, Biden has abruptly abandoned the longstanding foreign policy of the United States. Biden’s shift has effectively validated and energized those Democrats who overtly support the Iranian chants of “Death to America.”
Given the impotence of the Democrats and the refusal of university administrators to intervene to protect Jewish students, it is fair to say that we are, under the Biden presidency, witnessing the “institutionalization” of antisemitism.
The fundamental question going into the 2024 elections is from where and from whom within the Democratic Party will the energy be found to stand up to and roll back this now-institutionalized cancer? Logic and political history would dictate that if the arrest of this voracious momentum is not possible before the 2024 election, then it would be highly unlikely during a second Biden term (or a Kamala Harris term).
At this late point, purging antisemitism from American politics and education will be a massive task. For the future of Jewish Americans, however, it is essential.
The first and most vital step in our recovery will be for Jews to open our eyes to the elephant in the room. Recognizing the core problem, it will next be incumbent upon us to demonstrate that the status quo is wholly unacceptable.
