Liberal Jews Thought Progressives Were An Ally, They Thought Wrong
My appearance on the Tony Katz Show: “I’ve seen this and I’ve heard this, a lot of people are shocked that the antisemitism is coming from the left because they’ve been spoonfed by the media and by their universities and by the newspapers that antisemitism is a MAGA thing. Antisemitism is people running around in Chicago at night attacking Jusse Smollet with a red hat on. I mean, they’ve been fed a fantasy.”
I appeared on the Tony Katz Show this morning, and we talked about several aspects of the anti-Israel reaction and support for Hamas expressed by various groups on campuses. (Full appearance here.)
We talked about this tweet of mine:
For the nine millionth time, academia (particularly in the humanities and social sciences) is completely broken, it has been taken over by radicals more extreme than you can imagine, it cannot be reformed internally. https://t.co/2bqZns094N
— William A. Jacobson (@wajacobson) October 19, 2023
One of the focuses was how liberal Jews feel betrayed by leftists they thought were there friends. Here is that segment.
Transcript (auto-generated, may contain transcription errors)
Tony Katz (00:00):
The place where we’re discussing it now has to deal with the conversation of antisemitism. So you are Jewish. I’m Jewish, and you have been on lists of influential Jews in media and in academia. I once actually read one of those lists, <laugh>. That’s the best I’ve ever gotten to being on one of those lists.
The number of people that I have spoken to since the attack on Israel and the murder of 1400 by the terrorist group, Hamas, the Jews that I have spoken to, are very shaken, beyond shaken, I’ve never seen this in my life. And many of them are surprised that the people that they collaborate with coordinate with, the liberals and the leftists and the progressives that they’ve always been friends with. And they fought for this. And George Floyd was terrible. And, and my gosh, look at the, the oppression over here, and we need Black Lives matter over there.
All of a sudden, these people are not with them, and they are shocked, and they are stunned. And there was this video of this, of this girl, the student, at Cal Berkeley saying to one of the deans, we’re doing everything we can, and yet we’re getting all this, all this hate. Why? Why aren’t you doing anything to help us? And my immediate response was, you didn’t know that these liberals hated you.
As I now posed a question to you, how much of an eyeopener is this to Jews across America, maybe across the diaspora, that their liberalism will not save them from the antisemitism that is really baked in to today’s progressivism?
WAJ (01:53):
Yeah. I think this was a wake up, an eyeopener for a lot of left-leaning, liberal progressive Jews who thought that the progressive movement was their friend. And as we’ve known through history, the Marxist movement is not the Jews friend. Might, you know, use them as cover from time to time, but it’s not our friend.
And so they have really, I know a lot of people, and I’ve seen this and I’ve heard this, a lot of people are shocked that the antisemitism is coming from the left because they’ve been spoonfed by the media and by their universities and by, you know, the newspapers that antisemitism is a MAGA thing. Antisemitism is people running around in Chicago at night attacking Jusse Smollet with a red hat on. I mean, they’ve been fed a fantasy.
That’s not to say there is an antisemitism on the right. Certainly there is, but the right doesn’t control the institutions in our country, the left controls the institutions. And so the progressive antisemitism, the progressive embrace of people who want to destroy half the Jewish population in the world, meaning the Jewish population in Israel, who want to destroy that population in the historic homeland of the Jewish people, they are the real threat. That’s not to say again, that there aren’t isolated incidents where there have been crimes and murders committed by people on the far right, but as an institutional matter, as a societal matter in the United States of America, the left is far more dangerous.
Katz (03:30):
Talking to William Jacobson, Cornell Law professor, the Mind behind the legal insurrection, uh, dot com, this was the, the tweet that, that made me reach out for the 9,000,000th time. ou write, ‘Academia, particularly in the humanities and social sciences, is completely broken and has been taken over by radicals. More extreme than you can imagine. It cannot be reformed internally.’ And this was in response to a tweet from Guy Benson, who has been doing a very good job of putting things out there. He’s over there at Fox News and Town Hall regarding Northwestern University in this case, the Asian alumni that is saying that Israel is responsible for what has happened. And Hamas, and you hear this in so many ways, from so many of these leftist groups, it is Hamas that is nothing more than a resistance fighting the occupation. This is one heck of a statement from you, sir. It cannot be reformed internally. So how is it reformed?
WAJ (04:31):
You know, that’s a statement I’ve made. Maybe it’s not the 9000000th time, but maybe the eighth millionth time. I’ve been saying that for years. I’ve been saying it in writing, I’ve probably said it on your show before, that these departments, the Asian Studies Department, the English department at a lot of places, the political science department, have been completely taken over by people who have a worldview that is hostile to Israel, that’s frankly hostile to the United States.
And that’s what you get when you have a group of professors at Northwestern, apparently in the Asian studies department, signing a letter basically saying, hey, Hamas is just doing what you would expect them to do. They’re just a political movement. They’re just a militant group. They are nothing out of the ordinary. You are to blame you. The victim is to blame because you’re Jewish in the historical Jewish homeland, which had a Jewish presence before there even was an Islam, before the region was taken over in Muslim conquest, that you are the problem you.
So this is victim shaming and victim blaming. That doesn’t really take place with anybody else, except when progressives talk about Jews.
Here’s the full segment:
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Comments
The question is are Liberal Jews allies of Israel or not?
If that isn’t a rhetorical question, the answer. is a resounding
“NO” ……
The Jews that identify with BLM and the left are the modern version of “useful idiots” of the former Soviet Union!
Actual liberal Jews are getting an awakening, and hopefully seeing they must break from progressives. This is their red pill?
Some maybe. I wouldn’t count on most of them.
Not among progressives, but maybe more liberals than we imagine. Hoodwinked by BLM, watching the Democrats accept Tlaib and her antisemitism. Growing hostility in places that were once safe. The door has been opened like never before and all of us are seeing who is who.
Time will tell.
I want to see liberal Jews denounce BLM and DEI as racist–racist against whites and Asians and so on, not just against Jews. I want to see liberal Jews denounce open borders and other destructive policies.
Liberal women got surprised by ‘progressives’ too.
But then, I want to see liberals in general denounce BLM and DEI.
@pst314 will those whites and Asians stand with Israel? Because so far, it’s been very mixed. And “white nationalist” is often a code for antisemitic Nazi.
artichoke: very mixed, indeed. 🙁
Quite possibly, those “Actual liberal Jews” will simply develop a new phrase or word to provide them blanket protection from legitimate ridicule.
Jews need to wake up much faster. The problem is not just Arabs, American blacks are turning against Jews in a big way.
I associate with many other MAGA and have yet to see one who harbors ill will for Jews.
Jews should have a merit based approach. Diss those who lack merit and promote those with merit. Jews will fare well with a merit based system.
Leftist Jews are embarrassed of Israel. They hated ever having had to defend the state’s existence and, as leftism has seriously degraded in the West, they have finally stopped with that charade.
This is the same with the rest of the American left and their attitude towards America, itself.
The Western Left has, in its final death spiral, descended into pure, unabashed nihilism. They hate themselves (which is their only reasonable stance) and they hate everything that reminds them of themselves, or even worse, of their fathers. They want to destroy everything and make all of us pay for the fact that they were ever born. Western leftists are about the sickest, most deranged people to have ever lived. They are a dangerous monstrosity of evolution.
The left dreams of a perfect Communist society ignorant of the fact that every Communist experiment has been a failed dictatorship. The left wants chaos and a one party government everywhere run by benevolent dictators. The liberal Democrats as distinguished from the progressives really believe in the one party state. Ask them if the Democrats have helped Blacks? Their answer is a resounding yes. But that of course is belied by the truth. My fellow Jews tend to fall into one of those camps. The reality is we are beginning to see the 1930s with the Anti-Semetism return. Scary. There are two Communists and the Islamists. Both will kill Jews even their fellow travelers although some Kapos like Soros survived.
Saw this on a Twitter post I saved, sums it up completely:
“Not one self-described Communist ever sees themself as a worker in the future socialist paradise. They all imagine themselves as some kind of party official, dictating doctrine while some other poor bastard hammers steel all day, stinking of cheap soup and filth. “
Not as sick as Arabs in Palestine.
Obviously not. They’re virulently anti-religious, third & fourth generation communists with Jewish surnames.
Jews are oppressors by being smart, and the Palestinians oppressed by being dumb. There’s more than a standard deviation spread between the population averages. It shows up on how much stuff you have and the imbalance means that you’ve stolen it from the oppressed.
There’s a Marxist tinge that maybe is the initial attraction to Jews but certainly to the progressives, but that socialism was supposed to relieve you of the obligation of private charity in favor of government charity, instead of, as it turned out, getting you killed.
Is that what the reform rabbis are saying, give give give to leftist charities and that’s your tzedakah payment?
If you want a real answer to that, read this book. It’s a must-read if you want to understand how so many ignorant Jews have become convinced that “social justice” is the central if not the only Jewish value.
I would like a recommendation for a book or an essay explaining why the Jews are so hated and have been hated for so long..
20 million Jews compared to WW 8 billion on earth, and they control the world somehow?
A decade ago, I struggled through about half of Hannah Arendt’s
ORIGINS. It was a struggle.
I started it again last week, but it is just too dense for my capacity to understand.
Recommendations?
No one is dumber than those who think that their enemies are their friends.
Guess that explains those on the Right who still belong to the Republican Party.
About 2 standard deviations, that is a staggering difference in capabilities. I have often wondered how much Jew hatred is driven by inferiority complex.
Asian Americans have a lot more in common with Jews than they do with far-left progressives.
But Asian American social science faculty seem to be a glaring exception. More evidence academia is broken and cannot be reformed internally.
That might be objectively true, but they don’t perceive it.
A possible explanation is that duller Asians are attracted to soft majors, IE, those on the left side of their Bell Curve.
We are constantly being told there’s a distinction between peace loving Palestinians and evil Hamas.
On the other hand, to Muslims a Jew is a Jew.
Wait, there’s a difference between the people and the people they elected to represent them?
There is a difference, but it’s like a set of identical twins. They’re so clse they can change places and no would know the difference.
Muslim see other people as either Muslims or targets. It is that simple.
I must wonder how many of the “peace loving” Palestinians voted for Hamas, have failed to do anything to rid themselves of Hamas, have done much but consider themselves victims of Israel and Jewish people. Just wondering …
They elected this government, it’s been regularly reelected for over 15 years. It’s what they chose, no excuses are possible.
There has never been another election. They just are another dictator ruling with fear as a tool
There hasn’t been another election, and about half the population was too young to vote then.
But the young ones have all been brainwashed into supporting Hamas and wanting to kill Jews.
The progressives, including the likes of JVP, are turning against liberal Jews with zeal, showing they were never liberal in the first place.
The actual struggle overall is between liberalism and illiberalism.
I disagree – liberalism itself is the source of the problem
Leftist Jews thought they were leftists, not Jews.
This delusion has been shattered over and over and over again … but they will not learn, which is much of the reason why they are idiot leftists, to begin with.
Trump was most likely the best Oval Office friend that Israel has ever had, yet Biden got 72% of the Jewish vote,,… so as with the Dem Mayors complaining about the influx of illegals, my comment to American Jews is that you too, got what you voted for as this stuff was not happening with Trump
Unfortunately, despite their achievements in science and business, they’re shallow fools when it comes to politics.
It’s ironic, a comment I made three years ago during the Covid paranoia and the Reign of Karen, means even more now. “Well, I have always wondered which of my friends would have been the first ones to say, “Oh yeah, the Franks? They’re upstairs!” American Jews are finding that out the hard way these days.
I think many conservative gentiles eschew Jewish company, not because of religious prejudice, but because a Jewish surname overwhelmingly betokens rabid left wing politics and social causes. I always wonder how my conservative Jewish friends have the fortitude to buck the trend.
I am a conservative Jew and I am not following you. What is it about a Jewish surname?
Res Ipsa loquitur
The good professor has pointed out, not for the first time, the dilemma of liberal Jews. The elephant in the room is that this subset of Jews comprise over 70 percent of American Jews and almost all non-orthodox Jews. The possession of a Jewish surname is a reliable marker of being Jewish. A well-meaning, conservative gentile with finite hours open to social activity would not rush to joint a forum, event, club or neighborhood whose name roster is predominantly Jewish. Perhaps this is inartful, but it is not intended to give offense.
As a conservative Christian I disagree. I would join a forum, event, club or neighborhood that I wanted to without considering surnames at all.
And, you would no doubt walk down an unfamiliar dark street, oblivious to the ethnicity of the man on your heels, knowing a random black man is 30 times more likely to murder you than a white. This is baloney, moral preening and selective wokeism.
I’m an orthodox Jew, used to be non-practicing and at that time I found I was soft-rejected by generally-leftist Jews in several situations, likely because my name is not obviously Jewish. Perhaps I was on the receiving end of Jews’ wish to be separate. We don’t proselytize. I didn’t find any rejection from the Orthodox, but often one has to find them intentionally. I am not suggesting a change to less separateness, but it is what it is and others may find it uncomfortable or unrewarding.
Muslims don’t proselytize either, but they have been known to force conversions in recent history, which seems a much less friendly set of behaviors.
Do you know why there is little evidence of moderate Muslims? Their fellows are prone to murder them.
Unfortunately they’re not wrong.
Racism is a form of collectivism over individualism, and therefore an inherently leftist trait.
Liberal Jews will take this war to be a message that Israel is a dangerous place to be. But the real lesson is that Israel is the only place where Jews have an army. Everywhere else, Jews are at the mercy of the sovereign, the raging populace, the Jew-hating media.
Will they learn anything from this experience? I doubt it. Maybe a handful Wish more would. But it’s hard to get up and leave when you have a good life. Remember, most German Jews stayed even after the Nuremberg Laws. So this is nothing.
If they’re still in the states, they weren’t about to move to Israel (with maybe a few random exceptions.)
On the other hand, Israel is full of secular leftist extremists
Resurgent Islam. Not just a problem for Jews. This is an excerpt from Bernard Lewis from 1976.
https://www.commentary.org/abe-greenwald/bernard-lewis-on-the-return-of-islam/?utm_campaign=bernard-lewis-on-the-return-of-islam&utm_medium=social_link&utm_source=missinglettr&mibextid=Zxz2cZ
It’s Islam vs.. anyone and everyone who is not a Moslem – whether Jewish, Christian, Budist, etc.
Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik of blessed memory thought that this process began in the wake of the Six Day War -Think of it this way-the progressive world was in love with Arafat may his name and memory be erased for decades before the signing of the Oslo accords
Generations of bringing up Jewish children in nontraditional Jewish movements and non-Jewish movements, and processing them through elite public and private schools at all levels, have left many of today’s Jews very vulnerable. These people have real trouble in knowing who they are and in telling enemies from friends, and some have become enemies themselves. This latest wakeup call has to be heeded. It’s not enough for Jews to identify now with Israel. A return to serious Torah study and observance is in order.
Even the ones who study Torah can be astonishingly uninformed and naive about politics. At a Sabbath dinner a few years ago I was nauseated to hear another guest boasting about how her synagogue had invited Ben (or Jerry) to come speak to the congregation.
Excellent observation by Prof. Jacobson. There’s been a lot of unmasking of antisemites over the past 2 weeks.
I thought the King of Jordan’s claim (at least via his spokesman) that if Israel even tries to MOVE the Palestinians in Gaza, he would see it as an act of war, presumably against Jordan. Wait, these aren’t Jordanian citizens, they aren’t on the land of Jordan, how could that be an act of war?
Simply because the King of Jordan (who has control of the Temple Mount by agreement) is an antisemite, and one excuse after another has been stripped away, and now he must show his true colors.
True but it’s also a fear that the only place those Palestinians would go would be Jordan. Jordan like other countries in the region don’t want Palestinians in their countries.
Most “Palestinians” are Jordanian, though.
If he’s willing to risk an escalation of the war over a return of his trash, he’s a real lowlife. They have so much open desert in Transjordan, plenty of space for them. But I read that they once tried to overthrow the monarchy in Jordan. Still it’s a hell of an overreaction, and I won’t make that excuse for him.
You have it backwards; most Jordanians are “Palestinian”. Most “Palestinians” outside Jordan are not Jordanian.
They should all be moved to Iran, not Jordan.
This could be done in one of two ways – a mass driver to propel capsules with an automatic parachute with 5-10 Palestinians at a time into Iran, or low speed but very large drones to do the same, picking up a load of Palestinians, dropping them over Iran with a parachute, and circling back for another load.
Here’s another idea. The Gaza folks like tunnels right? Dig a tunnel and squeeze them thru it like toothpaste, and on the other end they come up in Iran.
I’d do that first with Hezbollah though, with Iran really supports. Here Iran, you trained these thugs, you can have them!
The real anti-Semite was Moshe Dayan, who after winning the war against the Arabs, conceded Temple Mount to them – he was irreligious and didn’t understand or care about its meaning and value to Judaism and Israel.
In fact, many observant Jews believe that the Temple cannot be rebuilt until M’shiach comes.
True, but that doesn’t mean it should have been given back to the Wakf! On the contrary, if its soil is too holy for Jews to tread then how much more so Arabs. It should have been left an empty site, with nobody allowed there except IDF patrols.
Let the King of Jordan take them in, oops Jordan cast them out. Israel should offer them swimming lessons.
Professor Jacobson, spot on. This is the question I have asked before, when do liberal Jews in the west finally realize that the politicians, political parties and organizations they support want them exterminated? It appears that a central theme with liberal Jews is that those viewed as anti Semitic are lumped into a bowl are Christians (those who believe in Jesus) and thus as a result we must hate Jews and Israel. Those who are “progressive” are seen as “open” to all views and beliefs and thus these are the people that liberal Jews thought (wrongly) are on their side.
If I may quote an anti Jew pastor who is a good friend of another anti Jew named Obama, “America’s chickens have come home to roost.” Yep, they have. The question is will liberal Jews finally break away from their “progressive” friends and their politicians or remain hand in hand with someone who is more than willing to see them annihilated?
“The question is will liberal Jews finally break away from their “progressive” friends and their politicians or remain hand in hand with someone who is more than willing to see them annihilated?”
My guess is that some will, but most will not.
Of course, it depends on how you define who qualifies as a Jew.
If you mean ethnically, but not necessarily religiously, then I think the vast majority will remain committed to the left – at least for now.
OTOH, if you mean those that adhere to the religious tenets of the faith, I’d predict the opposite.
Maybe we need a new terminology, A word to describe a person who follows the faith of Judaism, and another for someone who is ethnically Jewish but does not follow the faith.
Current terminology is uniquely confusing, as the same word is used to mean a member of a religious group, a member of an ethic group that is not part of that religious group, and a member of an ethic group that is also part of that religious group.
I am careful here in nit getting in the weeds as you are doing. I make the distinction of “Liberal Jews” not “Jews” in general. I would think it is fair to say that most Jews in the US are liberal (some extremely liberal) to the extent that they think those who “are like them” in views and beliefs (non-religious) “are like them” in their Judaism. But I would agree that most liberal Jews will NOT break free as a whole from their progressive “friends” but remain hardened and blinded to the very same people who them with disgust and contempt.
I think “secular Jew” suffices to describe ethnic but non-observant Jews.
And frankly, in terms of anti-Semitism, the Jew haters do not distinguish any difference. It is the bloodline which they would see obliterated.
“I think “secular Jew” suffices to describe ethnic but non-observant Jews..”
Well it kind of fits my belief (and experience) that the vast majority of the Jews on the far left are ethnic Jews, but spiritual atheists.
“And frankly, in terms of anti-Semitism, the Jew haters do not distinguish any difference. It is the bloodline which they would see obliterated.”
True for many, especially those trained to hate from birth.
However for others, if you can get them to talk (and think) about it will discover what they hate is not Jews, but actually what might be better described as white urban progressives.
Although white urban progressives come from many ethnic and religious backgrounds, too many anti-Semites conflate white urban progressive and Jew. They believe all, or almost all, Jews are white urban progressives – or Marxists.
“At least for now” I don’t think there’s much time left, but that’s for them to decide for themselves.
Answer: Never. They’re delusional leftists and incapable of self reflection or learning from facts.
The people you are describing will stay on the left because they have been taught all their lives that “social justice” is the core of the Jewish religion. They don’t know anything else about the religion they claim to have, and the one thing they do think they know about it is wrong.
See this book for details.
If you’re 18+ years of age, and you do not believe that you know everything, go volunteer in Israel for a year.
It’ll do you good, trust me.
Or work.
Or go to school.
Or a combination all of the above : )
“Liberal Jews Thought Progressives Were An Ally, They Thought Wrong”
Now if only the GOP had the brains to court these people and bring them into the tent…
But the GOP has no brains…
They won’t go into the GOP tent. The Jews support the Democrats because the Democrats are the dominant US Political Party – and they want to stay on the Dems good side. They give lavish contributions to the Democrats as Protection Money, and those donations will need to increase. They will still 70-80% vote Democrat, just to show the Democrats that the rats need them. The Jews survived 2000 years as a Tribe by playing strategic moves with the dominant political groups. They know Israel will eventually go the way of the Crusader Kingdoms, and they want their extended families there to have a refuge in the USA when Israel needs to be suddenly and completely evacuated. They know nothing can be gained by siding with a minority party like the GOP except ruthless retaliation from the Democrats. Jewish voters put the collective long-term interests of their Tribe above their own personal interests or the interests of Israel as a state. They know what they are doing.
“They know Israel will eventually go the way of the Crusader Kingdoms …” or at least they think they know that.
Not possible. They’re so brainwashed that they weren’t even grateful that Trump fulfilled the promise to establish the American Embassy in Jerusalem, thereby acknowledging it as Israel’s capital. They were too busy worrying about their lesbian niece and their imaginary black friends.
Liberals held open the door for the lefties or progressives. Fatal mistake.
Liberals are the real enemy
It is long past time to admit that the ADL is not a Jewish organization, it is a Marxist organization. Like all captured institutions, the stated purpose is secondary to pushing leftism.
Liberal Jews weren’t “spoon fed” anything. They gobbled it up at the all-you-can-eat bar because they wanted to believe they were part of the Cool Kids Club and not those icky, low-brow conservatives. I’m still not sure most of them have learned a damn thing from this atrocity and the American Left’s gleeful reaction to it.
I agree with you 100%,
Liberal Jews helped CREATE progressivism.
Perhaps many of those of the Jewish faith and/or Jewish heritage will come to realize that the lefty leftists only want their $$. It is readily apparent that many of the lefty left are anti-Semites in actions and in thoughts; they will invite them to fundraisers and the like to get their $$ -but continue to be of like mind (or participate) with those who engage in rallies supporting the murderers in Gaza Strip, in posting anti-Semitic hat-filled messages, posts, etc.
You know what? At the end of the day, this will all change nothing. Jews will still vote 70-80% Democrat. They will still contribute lavish sums to the Democratic Party as protection money. In fact, their contributions are likely to increase.
But in return is the Dem party protecting them?
I wonder what Reform and even Conservative rabbis are preaching now. It was leftism before. Will THEY wake up? Or will they continue leading their followers toward the antisemites?
They’ll continue preaching “social justice”, or as they call it “tikun olam”, because it’s all they know. It’s what they were taught at their seminaries and colleges. And the more actually Jewish Israel gets the more they will reject it and embrace its enemies.
I’ve always been amazed why liberal Jews would bend to being anti-Israel. The ADL is a perfect example as is the Democrat party. Is Liberalism the new theology to replace being Hebrew? Perhaps more Jews would be smarter to practice their religion and learn from the Bible and Torah.
Not liberalism, “social justice”. And it’s not new, it’s been preached for decades, and several generations of “progressive” Jews have been taught — and take it as gospel, you should pardon the expression — that it is not only a Jewish value but the Jewish value. If you really want to know about it, read this book.
(Hint: The phrase “tikun olam”, in that form, does not exist in any Jewish source. Similar phrases do exist, but don’t mean what they pretend it does. The closest phrase, mipenei tikun ha’olam, refers to technical regulations that make slight tweaks to social and market rules in order to make things work better. The first example that pops into my mind would be a requirement to display your house number prominently so that people looking for your address can easily find it.)
leftist Jews seem to think all these big government policies were handed down from Mount Sinai.
Bless their hearts.
Those of us who know Jesus Christ as our Lord & Savior, invite them to follow suit.