Antisemitism on the left gets attention while on the right…?

JVL Introduction

Antisemitism is real and must be opposed. Hate speech as well as hate crimes are to be condemned.

Yet attention to the deeply embedded antisemitism on the right, in the US and elsewhere, pales into insignificance when compared with its claimed omnipresence on the left.

Rabbi Jay Michaelson exposes this neglect, starting his analysis below by saying: “America’s antisemitism watchdogs are committing institutional malpractice.”

These legacy organisations give uncritical support to Israel as “the Jewish state”, justify its genocide in Gaza as self-defence and then condemn as antisemitic and demand the cancellation and deplatforming of people who are simply opposed to Israel’s actions and/or to the ideology of Zionism.

It is dangerous for everyone, and particularly dangerous for Jews.

It is happening in the UK, too, where the so-called Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) recently asserted that the government’s decision to reduce arms licences to Israel by 8% was “an obscene decision” (although it seems this article, after widespread criticism, is currently “being reviewed”.

The CAA has form: around 1,400 articles about Labour antisemitism and a mere handful about Reform or its predecessor parties…

So too in the US where the plethora of examples of deep antisemitism on the right – including in the US government – are largely ignored by the ADL who are “too busy worrying about Zohran Mamdani’s wife’s political views”.

Michaelson offers many examples of the scope of right-wing antisemitism and its proximity to power in this important overview.

LL/RK