Antisemitism and Islamophobia

Yesterday we woke up to news of a horrific massacre in Australia. Members of the Jewish community were celebrating "Hannukah by the Sea" on the famous Bondi Beach when two gunmen — apparently a father and son who were allegedly associated with the Islamic State — opened fire, killing at least 15. This was antisemitism in its rawest form. The celebration was targeted solely because its participants were Jewish. There is no explanation or justification that can change that fact. This was not an attack targeting individuals, but rather members of a group based on the assumption that their being Jewish was enough to legitimize their murder. Such thinking should be condemned. Indeed, many condemned it, often with tremendous but understandable anger. However, there were also some whose reaction was to engage in thinking that was very similar to that of the killers. However, their categorical presumption of guilt was targeted at Muslims.

Antisemitism comes in many forms. Regardless of how it is dressed up, it is contemptible. There are those whose hatred of Jews is lodged in ancient religious beliefs or primitive tribal hostilities. More recently, some point to the Israeli genocide in Gaza as justification for hating Jews. Israel's actions in Gaza are crimes against humanity, and I have written many posts condemning Israel's behavior. However, what has happened in Gaza is the fault of the Israeli government, not the worldwide Jewish community (nor indeed the entire Israeli Jewish community). Hate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if you want, but recognize that not all Jews agree with him. Collective guilt is wrong. Unfortunately, however, the similar assignment of collective guilt to Muslims has been common, even among American political leaders, both prior to and after the shooting in Australia.

The two killers at Bondi Beach are allegedly associated with the Islamic State. It is a simple fact that the Islamic State has killed more Muslims than it has killed members of any other group. To act as if this group of lunatics represents all Muslims is to engage in an especially dire level of ignorance. Moreover, the events at Bondi Beach themselves highlight that not all Muslims are the same or supportive of such murders. If there is any sort of silver lining to yesterday's horror, it is certainly the actions of Ahmed al-Ahmed, a Muslim native of Syria who, though unarmed, attacked one of the shooters and disarmed him. For his trouble, al-Ahmed received multiple bullet wounds and is currently hospitalized after undergoing surgery. Muslims played both the parts of good and evil in this drama. What better evidence is there that the entire community should not be painted with the same brush?

Yet, in certain quarters of America today, it is in vogue to treat Muslims in a way that, if targeted at Jews, would almost universally be acknowledged as antisemitic. Probably the leading example of this behavior is all-around crazy person Laura Loomer. A self-described "proud Islamophobe," Loomer rarely goes more than a few hours without using her X account to launch an attack on Muslims. Just today, for instance, Loomer objected to the notion that "it’s not all Muslims you guys! Most of them are actually great people." Dismissing that idea, Loomer writes that "I reject everyone who says ‘it’s not all of them’. It actually is." So how does Loomer account for the fact that the hero of Bondi Beach is a Muslim? She simply decided that the man is actually Christian. Despite televised interviews in which al-Ahmed's family has described him as Muslim (and his father's name is Muhammed), Loomer has repeatedly written that al-Ahmed is Christian, though she has changed his alleged denomination from Coptic to Maronite as she has learned more about which Christian communities live where in the Middle East. Loomer may or may not believe her own lies, but certainly many of her 1.8 million followers do. Yesterday, writing about Muslims, Loomer claimed that "These people are like cancer.” Cancer will kill you if you don’t radiate it in time." This sounds very much like she is calling for the extermination of Muslims.

Loomer is not content to just exploit the Bondi Beach murders to arouse hatred of Islam. She is trying to turn another recent mass shooting into an Islamic attack. In this case, the shooting at Brown University that killed two students and wounded several others. Early reports have said that upon entering the classroom, the gunman "yelled something," but nobody has disclosed exactly what that was. Loomer, however, has decided that she knows. This morning, she tweeted "BREAKING: Brown University mass shooter yelled ‘Allahu Akbar’ before opening fire on campus according to sources." Loomer included a Fox News video report that makes no such claim. The shooting at Brown occurred during a study session for an Economics class. Because the teacher of the course, who was not at the study session, is Jewish, Loomer has claimed this was an antisemitic attack. That seems far-fetched as there are much more obvious nearby Jewish targets than a study session that didn't involve the professor. To be clear, I don't know who the shooter was at Brown. Authorities don't appear to know either and yesterday detained a decidedly non-Muslim man as a person of interest. That individual was later released. But, the point is, Loomer most certainly does not know either but is taking advantage of the opportunity to blame Muslims.

Inexplicably, Loomer has considerable influence among Republican elected officials. I have written before about Congressman Randy Fine. Like Loomer, Fine takes pride in his Islamophobia. Today Fine tweeted that "It is time for a Muslim travel ban, radical deportations of all mainstream Muslim legal and illegal immigrants, and citizenship revocations wherever possible." Yesterday, Fine tweeted that "Islam is not compatible with the West." Fine is a buffoon, but a dangerous buffoon. Moreover, he is not particularly bright. He currently has a pinned tweet at the top of his X feed saying that "In Washington, two Israeli embassy staffers were murdered by a Muslim terrorist." In fact, Elias Rodriguez, who is not Muslim, has been charged for the murders. But I guess a guy who wants to cleanse all Muslims from the United States has no issue falsely attributing crimes to them. However, imagine for a second the reaction if Representative Ilhan Omar had tweeted that Judaism is not compatible with the West and that Jews, even citizens, should be deported? There would be 24/7 coverage with CNN's Jake Tapper devoting his entire show to calling for Omar's removal. Yet, there is silence in response to Fine.

Not to be outdone, Senator Tommy Tuberville has joined the fray. Tuberville is apparently going to relinquish his position as the country's dumbest Senator and run for governor of Alabama. In the meantime, he is burnishing his Islamophobic credentials. Yesterday he tweeted:

Islam is not a religion. It's a cult. Islamists aren't here to assimilate. They're here to conquer.

Stop worrying about offending the pearl clutchers.

We've got to SEND THEM HOME NOW or we'll become the United Caliphate of America.

Tuberville recently appeared on the floor of the Senate to claim that Muslims are a threat to "this country as we know it" and that the values on which this country was built cannot co-exist with Muslims. During his remarks, Tuberville positioned a large sign saying, "SHUT DOWN SHARIA". Tuberville was so proud of his statement that he retweeted a video of it five times.

There is a group trying to implement religious law in the United States, but it is not Muslims. It is Christians such as Tuberville whose vision of America as a Christian country gains ground every day.

It is notable how closely the Islamophobic statements of those such as Loomer, Fine, and Tuberville mirror classic antisemitism. Without irony, they condemn attacks such as that in Australia, but engage in the same sort of rhetoric that inspires such attacks. Moreover, by encouraging a divide between America and Muslims, they serve the agenda of the Islamic State, which also claims that there is a fundamental incompatibility between Islamic and Western values. It is not an exaggeration to say that Loomer, Fine, and Tuberville are aligned with the Islamic State in a common goal. The murders served the agenda of both.

In 1919, Adolph Hitler wrote a letter to Adolf Gemlich that has become known as the "Gemlich letter" and is considered to be Hitler's first antisemitic writing. Just as Loomer, Fine, and Tuberville warn of the dangers that they believe Muslims present, Hitler discussed the "danger posed by Jewry". As Loomer refers to Muslims as a "cancer," Hitler described Jews as "racial tuberculosis of the nations." Hitler wrote about the "systematic and pernicious effect of the Jews as a totality upon our nation," much as Tuberville warns that Muslims will undermine the values of America and establish a caliphate if we don't act. In the end, Hitler argued for "the irrevocable removal of the Jews in general," which, in context, refers to expulsion. This is no different than the calls by Fine and Tuberville to expel Muslims from the United States. To the extent that Islamophobia and antisemitism are two sides of the same coin, Loomer, Fine, and Tuberville are budding Hitlers.

Today there is a rush not so much to explain an event, but to control the narrative of the event. As has been seen, there are many who are eager to portray the atrocity of Bondi Beach as a battle in a war between Islam and the West. This was most certainly the goal of the two men who did the shooting. Sadly, there are many in America, even among our elected officials, who will gladly join the Islamic State in furthering such a narrative. But, just as the murderers were wrong to view their victims as deserving of death simply because they were Jewish, it is mistaken to view Islam as a monolith. One need look no further than Ahmed al-Ahmed to see why such a view is wrong. Loomer, Fine, Tuberville, and others like them are engaging in dangerous rhetoric. They may well be doing it simply for personal or political advantage, but it is still dangerous. It is long past time that Islamophobia is seen as just as unacceptable as antisemitism. Neither should be tolerated.