The Danger of Left-Wing Antisemitism
Antisemitism is a rising threat on the right, but it has already been institutionalized on the left.
The American right has been roiled by an intramural conflict over antisemitism for the past month or so, with broad swaths of the movement getting involved in the fracas, from publications and podcasts to politicians and think tanks. Pretty much everyone who finds himself right-of-center on the American political spectrum has weighed in on the topic – including myself, in a long essay and a dedicated podcast episode. As a conservative who values individual liberty, supports American exceptionalism, believes that a strong relationship with the nation of Israel is key to our national interests, and sees Jews as an important buttress of our civilizational inheritance, I abhor antisemitism and will always argue against it, no matter from where it emanates. I am heartened and inspired by the widespread right-of-center agreement with this inherently conservative position and the condemnation of those who oppose it. There is much work to be done – and many increasingly powerful enemies to fight – but the groundwork for appropriate pushback is there. I wish I could say the same for the political left.
For as much of an issue as right-wing antisemitism is, left-wing antisemitism is far more deeply embedded in the movement writ large. The antisemitism on the American right is a radical fringe, even if it is gaining adherents and rising in influence, especially among the younger cohort. On the left, however, antisemitism has been institutionalized, centered, and promoted, if not outright celebrated. There is no significant segment of left-wing political opinion that anathematizes antisemitic behavior or ideology. In fact, moderate leftists tend to wink and nod at the antisemites in their coalition, not go after them with fervor. This is significantly worse than the current situation on the political right and speaks to a much larger problem with leftist ideology as such. This problem, though, is not new. It goes back to the most globally influential version of modern leftism, the Soviet Union.
Russian antisemitism has an even longer history, but much of this was religiously-coded1 – a clear nonstarter in the militantly atheist USSR. Still, the socio-cultural basis for antisemitism was strong in the polity that became the Soviet Union, providing fertile ground for the leftist version to take hold. Communism has always coincided with a distaste for Jews, going back to Karl Marx himself – ironically, an ethnic Jew who despised his own birth faith and people.2 Jews were viewed by Marx’s adherents as significant barriers to the imposition of a communist utopia, as they were organized and insular, held to different cultural values and mores than the majority, and made up, often due to historical discrimination and legal prohibitions, a major proportion of the bourgeois class. Russia’s significant Jewish minority made those general issues far more salient in the USSR, exacerbating an already meaningful enmity. This took the form of labeling Jews as traitors to the state, purging them from positions of influence, and exiling them to the gulag.
After the end of World War II and the horrors of the Holocaust, official Soviet antisemitism had to be couched in less outwardly recognizable and incendiary forms. Once the nascent state of Israel – founded largely as a socialistic endeavor, interestingly enough – was recognized not to be a mere pawn of Moscow, the excuse was evident. Antisemitism became anti-Zionism, which could be presented as opposition to a nation-state’s policies instead of what it actually was: naked Jew-hatred. Antisemitism and anti-Zionism are, therefore, inextricable from one another. They are one and the same, in theory and in practice.3 Thus Soviet persecution of Russian Jews centered on forbidding all emigration to Israel, Soviet foreign policy supported multiple Arab attempts to eradicate the Jewish state, and Soviet ideology presented Zionism as a malignant form of racist imperialism in order to appeal to Western progressive and Third World audiences. The latter quest, formally instantiated in UN General Assembly Resolution 3379, was highly successful in winning adherents to this vile form of hatred and remains the central organizing principle of leftist antisemitism and pro-Palestinian activism.
The political left has fully embraced that particular cause – anti-Zionism – with a fervor unlike nearly any other policy prescription, from healthcare to education to national defense. It has been institutionalized in Western universities4, NGOs, and thinktanks. It is embraced by professors, pundits, and politicians. It has become the progressive omnicause, infecting and overtaking everything else, even the racial reckoning of 2020. There is no modern organizing around any cause that isn’t somehow tangentially related to Palestine, including, paradoxically, LGBT activism.5 Greta Thunberg has even dropped her classic climate change activism to promote Palestinian sovereignty. This is decidedly in the mainstream of left-wing opinion. It was already becoming the case once the pandemic began to peter out and the Biden administration became more and more unpopular, but a new gear was found after the murderous pogrom of October 7, 2023.
The pre-existing mechanism of progressive antisemitism spun into action almost immediately, repeating the same old saws of Soviet anti-Zionism, from the apartheid comparison to the whitewashing of antisemitic violence. Major protest movements spawned from seemingly nowhere on college campuses and in urban areas across the country; in reality, they were organized and funded by a widespread network established for and dedicated to this express purpose. This ‘tentifada’ movement was supported and bankrolled by major NGOs, attended – if not led – by professors (and not only of Arab Studies), and allowed to continue by universities and their either cowardly or approving administrators. Urban protests focused on institutions of Jewish life and neighborhoods in which Jews reside erupted shortly after 10/7, migrating quickly to the suburbs. They were well-organized and planned around specific events in which large numbers of Jews would be in attendance, including talks about emigrating to Israel and fundraisers for victims of the October 7 attack. The rise in antisemitic violence since that horrific day has been an exclusively left-wing phenomenon, including firebombings, beatings, and even assassinations. These acts of despicable antisemitic violence have been driven and incited by the risible and repetitious spewing of blood libels and falsehoods in various legacy media outlets – ranging from claims of mass killings and deliberate civilian murder to forced famine and genocide.6
Left-wing politicians have long embraced this antisemitism to boost their progressive bona fides, going all the way back to the Soviet era – the infamous Angela Davis, a former Communist Party VP candidate, was a key example of this phenomenon. It has grown significantly over the past decade, evinced by the rise of the Squad, the far-left set of representatives who center hatred of Israel in their politics. They are a microcosm of the growing Red-Green alliance of progressives and Islamists evident across the left both in Europe and America. Representatives Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) best represent this strain of leftism, consistently engaging in full-on antisemitic tropes, including accusing other politicians of supporting Israel purely for financial reasons. Neither of these figures was formally reprimanded or censured by the Congress, with Democratic leadership instead pushing a resolution against all forms of “hate.” This only served to supercharge the antisemitism emanating from the left and gave cover for those who aid and abet it. The post October 7 world has seen this ramp up enormously, with politicians repeating the media’s blood libels and pushing votes to strip Israel of all security funding, including for defensive weaponry like Iron Dome. Even candidates running on explicitly moderate platforms have refused funding not only from AIPAC – an American group that supports stronger US-Israel relations7 – but from Jewish bundlers more broadly.
Now, one of the Democratic Party’s newest rising stars has made this specific strain of leftist antisemitism into his primary organizing strategy: New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. The former longshot Democratic Socialist of America candidate swept the overcrowded primary field and earned the Democratic nomination earlier this year, which would normally make him a shoo-in for the mayoralty. Mamdani did end up winning, barely eking out 50% in a victory over perennial Republican candidate (and total weirdo) Curtis Sliwa and New York’s most hated politician, disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo. Still, his victory has been seen as a mandate for the political left, capturing for them the most important local office in the nation. And despite his slick campaign messaging about “affordability,”8 Mamdani’s core conviction is not rent reduction, helping the poorest New Yorkers, or solving homelessness; it is anti-Israel activism. In this quest, the apple does not fall far from the tree, as Mamdani’s father is a hardcore anti-Zionist professor at Columbia University. And Mamdani the Younger has followed in those footsteps, starting off his academic career by founding a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine – one of the key cogs in the aforementioned tentifada – at the ritzy Bowdoin College in Maine. He has explicitly stated that he got into the DSA because of its stance against Israel and that Palestinian activism is the center of his political mission.
Mamdani’s one uncompromisable position, according to proponents, is Gaza. He spent much of his time as a New York State Assemblyman advocating against Israel, pushing for BDS resolutions (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) against the Jewish state, and attending rallies in support of a ceasefire in Gaza – even starting within a fortnight of the October 7 massacre. Within 36 hours of that horrendous assault, Mamdani blamed Israel for “violence” and accused it of genocide and apartheid, taking a page directly from the campus left’s playbook. He has repeated and promoted every antisemitic smear job pushed by bogus human rights groups, international institutions, and Jew-haters across the spectrum. Mamdani has spent time enjoying the company of a terrorist-sympathizing unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. In his former career as an internet rapper (yes, this was one of his only ‘work’ experiences prior to entering politics), he sang the praises of the Holy Land Five, a group of convicted terrorist financiers. He has threatened to use his power as mayor to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu on an international warrant for war crimes if he comes to the city – a regular occurrence due to the United Nations being located in Manhattan.9 Yet there has been no such similar threat posed against the leaders of Iran, for instance, who have actually committed myriad human rights offenses. In short, Mamdani’s claims to feel strongly about antisemitism are likely true, but not in a good way.
This was put to the test just this past week, when antisemitic agitators surrounded a Manhattan synagogue during an event about emigration to Israel, protesting vitriolically and shouting despicable slogans, including “death to the IDF,” “globalize the intifada,” and “make them scared.” The event at Park East synagogue, a longstanding institution of New York’s Jewish life, was hosted by Nefesh B’Nefesh, an advocacy group that assists Jews in navigating the process of making Aliyah, or moving to Israel. It is not a military organization, a violent militia, or a far-right group. It is about as anodyne as it gets in its advocacy for voluntary migration to Israel. Yet it was targeted with a (likely illegal) protest meant to menace Jews for having basic Zionist beliefs – a core tenet of the faith. Now, Zohran Mamdani is not yet mayor (he will be sworn in on New Years’ Day), but as mayor-elect he does have an obligation to speak out about the events in the city he will formally lead in a month’s time. And boy, did he.
Through a spokesperson, Mamdani stated the following: “The mayor-elect has discouraged the language used at last night’s protest and will continue to do so. He believes every New Yorker should be free to enter a house of worship without intimidation, and that these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.” This is an abhorrent statement for several reasons, the least of which is that it was via a spokesperson and not directly from Mamdani himself. It does not criticize the fact of the protest, merely the “language used” during it. It does not focus on the specific problem, which is bias against Jews in particular. It does not mention any of the negative tactics involved besides the federally-illegal one, blocking an entrance. And it smears the emigration event as a “violation of international law,” after just recently suggesting that New York was a city that would enforce the same. This last aspect matters a great deal, as international law is a fiction that tends to skew antisemitic in practice10 and often runs completely afoul of the United States Constitution, the legal document which controls the rights of Americans and the purview of our government. Peacefully advocating for voluntary migration to Israel is not only not a violation of international law, forbidding it is a violation of the First Amendment. If this is a prelude to the Mamdani mayoralty, America’s largest and most Jewish city will be run by a functionally-antisemitic administration. And that administration will be in profoundly good standing on the political left, perfectly demonstrating the seriousness of the problem.
There is today a war for the soul of the American right. Will the antisemitic fringe become dominant? Or will conservatives be able to fend them off and relegate them to the dustbin of history? Time will tell as to who wins that battle, but I am extremely optimistic about the outcome. There is no such conflict on the left, but that is not because the antisemites have lost. It is because they have won. The progressive antisemitic left is regnant in the movement. It forms the vanguard of the party and sucks up a great deal of funding. It is dominant on campus, indoctrinating the next generation of leftists with no pushback. It is the ideological heavyweight in the public discussion. It holds the whip hand of intimidation and pressure against the theoretical moderates. It has, as the kids say, the juice.11
Right-wing antisemitism and left-wing antisemitism are not the same threat. One is a fringe movement that has received intense criticism, while the other forms the mainstream of party opinion. One is espoused by podcasters and pundits, the other by professors and politicians. One spends its time praising Hitler on the internet for clout, the other spends its time physically blocking off synagogues and chanting violent rhetoric about Jews. What the antisemitic right says is more inflammatory, but what the antisemitic left does is more inflammatory – including literal firebombings. No, these are not the same.
Still, both are evil. Both deserve calumny and political exile. The conservative right has stepped up in a big way. Where is the reasonable left?
This pseudo-Christian antisemitism has echoes in the modern American right-wing’s antisemitism, including a focus on Jews as ‘Christ-killers’, murderers of Christian children, and shadowy string-pullers behind what they view as bad or corrupt government policies.
A decent number of early Bolsheviks had partial Jewish backgrounds, but none were faithful nor had any ties to the broader non-leftist Jewish community – most abhorred their supposed backwardness. Jews have historically been overrepresented in the educated classes of Europe due to the emphasis on education in Jewish culture, relatively high group IQ levels, and social discrimination keeping them out of certain major professions, which makes it unsurprising that many were involved in philosophy and politics.
The linked essay (which I wrote) delves deeply into why this is the case, so I would suggest reading it if you are interested in the specifics of the argument. In short, these two are the same theoretically because Zionism – the innate inseparability of the Jewish identity and history from the land of Israel – is foundational to the orthodox faith, properly and historically understood.
The vast majority of Arab Studies, Middle East Studies, or Colonial Studies programs at world universities are chock full of antisemitic activists who use the guise of academia to push rampant Jew-hatred. This movement, as with much of the leftist march through educational institutions, was at least partly a Soviet project.
This is ironic because Palestinian culture and society are extraordinarily antagonistic to homosexuality. Hamas routinely murders gay people simply for the fact of their existence, so “Queers for Palestine” banners always make me chuckle.
None of these claims was true. Each and every one contributed to a climate of antisemitic violence and every single outlet that pushed these blatant lies deserves nothing but scorn.
There is a common trope that AIPAC is a foreign organization that should be forced to register as such. In reality, it is a group made up of Americans, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, who like Israel and wish to see closer bilateral ties.
Everything is affordable when the government makes it free, comrade!
It is hard to overstate just how insane and radical this idea is. Local officials have no role in foreign policy, and deliberately causing an international incident and harming American diplomacy would be an absurd way to assert that authority. No cop in his right mind would comply with that order. And international law is not sovereign in the United States of America – something to which we shall return in short order.
Just look at the number of resolutions against Israel in the United Nations as compared to far more egregious human rights violators like North Korea.
The kids probably don’t say this.