The New Antisemitism

In the past couple of years, the meaning of "antisemitism" has been redefined. Historically, "antisemitism" referred to prejudice towards or hatred of Jews. Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, however, "antisemitism" has come to mean anything that is pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel. As protests erupted on college and university campuses across the United States, students chanting "Free Palestine" or "From the River to the Sea" have been accused of being antisemitic. This despite the fact that many of those among the protesters were themselves Jewish. Nevertheless, the administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump has seized upon the alleged antisemitism — which is really just anti-Zionist or anti-Israeli speech — to justify a crackdown on universities and foreign students. In one of the most egregious examples, Rümeysa Öztürk was seized off a public street by a group of individuals — several of whom were masked — and forced into an unmarked vehicle. What happened to Öztürk was indistinguishable from a kidnapping. Eventually, Öztürk was moved to a detention center in Louisiana, where she spent weeks in very difficult circumstances. Her "crime"? She coauthored an op-ed for her college's newspaper criticizing the university's policy regarding Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Per the Trump administration's preferred definition of "antisemitism", this was antisemitic.

In contrast, perpetrators of traditional antisemitism, i.e. hatred of Jews, have been coddled and embraced by the Trump administration. Hatred of Jews is especially tolerated if it is accompanied by support for Israel. Just as opposing Israel's policies is now viewed as antisemitism, support for Israel excuses traditional antisemitism. This is a very cynical practice that is promoted by the government of Israel, many American pro-Israel organizations, and, of course, the Trump administration. Similarly, activity that is supportive of Nazis is ignored if not outright condoned by the Trump administration. One of the most obvious examples is Elon Musk, until recently a Special Government Employee and the de facto head of the U.S. DOGE Service. But there are other examples as well.

It is not necessary to dig very deeply to find examples of antisemitism on Musk's part. In November of 2023, almost exactly at the time that students chanting "Free Palestine" were being called "antisemites", Musk responded to a tweet accusing Jews of being behind the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory. The initial tweet said, in part, that "Jewish communties [sic] have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them." The tweet went on to suggest that Jews have been flooding the country with "hordes of minorities". In response, Musk tweeted, "You have said the actual truth." It was exactly the accusation that Jews support the replacement of Whites with minorities that led to the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh and a subsequent shooting at the Chabad of Poway synagogue in Poway, California. Musk was supporting the same hateful rhetoric that had led to Jews being shot and killed in their places of worship.

More recently, at a Trump inauguration event, Musk twice made what appeared to be a Heil Hitler salute. While many rushed to excuse Musk, including astonishingly the Anti-Defamation League, Musk's own reaction was to engage in a series of Nazi-themed puns. "Don’t say Hess to Nazi accusations!" Musk tweeted. "Some people will Goebbels anything down!", and "Bet you did nazi that coming". This motivated even the ADL's Jonathan Greenblatt to find his voice, despite his previous excuses for Musk. Greenblatt tweeted, "@elonmusk, the Holocaust is not a joke." But Musk visits Israel and meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. So, ultimately his antics are tolerated.

Another supporter of the Great Replacement Theory is Kingsley Wilson, the newly appointed Press Secretary for the Department of Defense. Wilson's appointment has been criticized by the ADL and the American Jewish Committee. The Jewish organizations are especially bothered by Wilson's claims regarding Leo Frank. In 1915, Frank was lynched, an act largely seen as antisemitic. In fact, it was Frank's lynching that led to the creation of the ADL. According to the Jewish Telegraph Agency, "Neo-Nazis have long claimed that Frank was guilty and that the consensus that he was framed is evidence of Jewish control of the media." Wilson has tweeted an allegation that Frank was guilty of murder that mirrored neo-Nazi talking points and she attacked the ADL for defending Frank. Seth Mandel, senior editor of the Jewish conservative magazine Commentary, stated that the Frank lynching is "a foundational blood libel that is inseverable from the violence it provokes. This is the way a pogromist talks, and she’s now deputy press secretary [note: she was subsequently promoted to press secretary] in Trump’s DoD."

On May 29, Trump nominated Paul Ingrassia to be the Special Counsel of the United States. Ingrassia has a range of abhorrent far-right views that should disqualify him from government. However, for the sake of this post, I will stick to those that are antisemitic. Ingrassia is criticized less for his own actions and more for with whom he associates. He is very close to Andrew Tate, who the ADL claims "consistently makes antisemitic and racist comments, including using 'Jew' as a pejorative towards his critics (regardless of whether or not they’re Jewish), hurling slurs, and promoting numerous antisemitic conspiracy theories". Ingrassia defended Nick Fuentes and Kanye West, both of whom were banned from x.com due to support for Nazism and antisemitism, suggesting that the bans should be lifted. In addition, Ingrassia has specifically advocated for Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, a January 6 defendant notorious for being photographed with a "Hitler mustache" and recording a video in which he described orthodox Jews as a "plague of locusts". The ADL criticized the nomination of Ingrassia, saying, "Appointing someone to a senior administration role despite their documented support for antisemites seriously conflicts with and undermines ongoing efforts to combat antisemitism at this critical moment". Ingrassia himself is guilty of provocative remarks involving Israel. For instance, in a since-deleted tweet, he described the Hamas attack on Israel as a "psyop."

Even Trump’s pick to lead the federal antisemitism task force, Leo Terrell, has been embroiled in an antisemitism controversy. This started with a remark by Trump saying that he didn't consider Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to be Jewish, but rather a Palestinian. A video of Trump's remark was tweeted by Patrick Casey, the former head of the White supremacist group Identity Evropa, who captioned the video by writing, "Trump has the ability to revoke someone's Jew card". Terrell then retweeted Casey's tweet. As Amy Spitalnick, the chief executive of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, noted, "Trump’s antisemitism chief shared an antisemitic, white supremacist post from a neo-Nazi involved in Charlottesville."

Speaking of Trump, he has his own history of antisemitic remarks. The above-noted statement about Schumer is one example. As the ADL said, "A President has many powers, but none of them include deciding who is and isn't Jewish." Beyond that, there is an entire Wikipedia page devoted to Trump and antisemitism. Trump frequently equates Jews and Israel and has suggested multiple times that Jews who support Democrats are being disloyal to Israel. Similarly, he has said that "any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion." Speaking to American Jews at the Republican Jewish Coalition, Trump referred to Netanyahu as "your prime minister".

Antisemitism, like racism and bigotries of all sorts, should be condemned. However, "antisemitism" has been co-opted by both Trump and supporters of Israel, although for somewhat different ends. Supporters of Israel are eager to suppress criticism of Israel, and tarnishing critics as antisemites has been a successful tactic. By successfully labeling criticism of Israel as "antisemitism", Israel's supporters have managed to suppress freedom of expression on college campuses. Even the slogan "Free Palestine" has been labeled as "antisemitic". Jews themselves have suffered under this new definition. For instance, Maura Finkelstein, a tenured associate professor at Muhlenberg College, was fired after posting anti-Israel statements on her Instagram page.

The Trump administration, on the other hand, is exploiting the new definition of antisemitism to gain control over colleges and universities and other aspects of our democracy. Israel's supporters handed Trump a weapon that he is now using. As Amy Spitalnick, who is quoted above says, "This administration doesn’t care about countering antisemitism. They care about exploiting it to attack democracy."