The Left and Antisemitism

I used to automatically assume that antisemitism exists only on the part of the extreme right. Indeed, many like me tend to focus historically on Nazi Germany in the twenties and thirties as prime examples of this disease of its desire to rid the world of the Jewish people. It also appears to be related to extreme right-wing Skinheads and others who parade yelling antisemitic death threats and carry Nazi flags and paraphernalia.

But the anti-Semitism and persecution of the Jews goes far beyond the extreme right.

The world’s leftists are no better. 

Antisemitism was a constant theme of the Soviet Union and its former satellites. But this was not at its origin. In fact, antisemitism predated communism and fascism by two millennia.

Keep reading: Llegada de avión procedente de Israel provoca disturbios antisemitas en aeropuerto de Rusia

According to the Institute for National Security Studies of Tel Aviv University, anti-Semitism on the Left can be traced back to the nineteenth century, when Karl Marx depicted Jews as unscrupulous moneylenders and petty traders in his essay “On the Jewish Question”.

The USSR branded Zionism “counterrevolutionary” in the 1920’s and exiled thousands of Jews to forced labor camps in Siberia.

The American Communist Party often expressed it loathing of Zionism, conflating it with fascism. It often justified Muslim pogroms against Jews in Palestine and North Africa and saw Zionism as a global menace.

Thus, while extremely disappointing, it should come as no surprise that many who consider themselves “progressive” and in favor of social justice should flood the streets around the world in support of Hamas and its terrorist attack on Israeli men, women, and children on October 7th. 

Despite this being the biggest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust, protests erupted everywhere defending Hamas! 

African Americans normally associated with the left participated in pro-Hamas protests across the United States even though American Jews supported the U.S. civil rights movement in the fifties and sixties. Indeed, Black Lives Matter marchers lauded Hamas for its actions and called for a Palestine “from the river to the sea” – free of Jews and the State of Israel. 

LGBTQ groups whom the Left always support also marched in support for Hamas even though they would suffer imprisonment or death under Hamas governance and in all Arab and Islamic countries.

University student groups, our future leaders issued pro-Hamas manifestos, confusing cold-blooded murder with freedom fighting and claiming that Israel was to blame for this massacre.

Labor unions in Canada came out in favor of Hamas, as did many of their supporters on the left of the Liberal Party and the socialist New Democratic Party. 

All the above justified the Hamas invasion of Israel and massacre of men, women, and children, as well as the taking of hostages of all ages.

In addition, many of them attacked Jewish institutions and individuals around the world and continue to do.

Hamas has ruled Gaza with an iron fist since 2007 with no democratic elections, with no investment in health or education, with no attempts to create a society capable of attracting much needed investment to provide Gazans with the development that they need to survive in a global marketplace.

Hamas has wasted all its aid and resources building tunnels and purchasing weapons to destroy the Israeli state. It has flaunted humanitarian rules of war by using Gazans as a human shield as it hides weapons and terrorists in hospitals, schools, and mosques.

Leftist legislators from the U.S. Democratic Party called on Americans to abandon Israel and blamed the Jewish state for the vicious murders and hostage taking on October 7th. They use terms that are based on ignorance rather than on fact.

To label Israel as an “apartheid” state is to demonstrate a lack of understanding of the term. Israel is the only true democracy in the region. It is a country where Muslim Arabs are represented in Parliament, can join the police and armed forces, attend, teach, and run universities, and serve as judges -- including on the Supreme Court (Justice Khaled Kabub). 

Another calumny that protestors use is to call Israel a settler colony and not a country. With a three-thousand-year historical presence in the Holy Land, Israel was a country in the past, and is a country today. In the view of protestors, this labelling justifies finding Israel guilty of the loss of all lives in the region. 

And yet, Hamas is the model of governance that these protestors support!

Israel has the right to exist. 

Palestinians have the right to a homeland. 

Neither has the right to demand that the other disappear or be wiped off the face of the earth. The Israeli right does not favour a two-state solution. But they do not call for the extinction of Palestinians. Meanwhile Hamas and its international supporters seek the complete destruction of Israel and the obliteration of all Jews.

There can be no negotiating with Hamas or any entity that seeks the extinction of Jews and the Jewish state. This is an existential issue for Israel. Arab and Muslim states must end Hamas’s rule of terror, renounce terrorism and recognize Israel’s right to exist. Only then can we expect a meaningful chance for peace in the region.

Through participation in pro-Hamas demonstrations and by blaming the victims for the heinous attacks, the left underscores its support for a group whose stated aim is the elimination of Jews everywhere and the dominance of its world view everywhere. The last time this was attempted, Jews learned the importance of the term “never again”. 

Whether out of naivete or hatred, the left must take stock of its role in promoting hatred and genocide. 

And it must be stopped.

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Keep reading: The Liberal Option

Edition: Estefanía Cardeña