Anti-Israel equals antisemitism

There was a time that negative stereotypes flourished on major networks. “Amos and Andy” was a parody on Black Americans. Their parts were played on radio with white actors putting on exaggerated Black accents. A group of African Americans were portrayed as foolish, stereotypical black people who had trouble like many people but with a nasty racist twist.

On radio, Jews were not portrayed with raw racist antisemitism. Maybe it was the preponderance of Jews in high positions in the radio and TV industry. “The Goldbergs,” a staple of daytime radio in the ’30s and ’40s was written by a Jewish woman who also played the lead role. Her name was Gertrude Berg.

On the other hand, there was a Catholic priest by the name of Father Coughlin who had a daily syndicated “religious” radio program that spat antisemitic lies to a large audience across the country.

In early movies, Jews were portrayed as evil, bearded, long-nosed men who were crooked money lenders and sexual predators. In the early ‘30s the Jews took over the movie business and the antisemitic portrayals disappeared.

In the 1950s there was the beginning of a sea change in attitudes. I have written before that my parents bought our home in Shaker Heights, Ohio, in 1950 and that had we tried the year before, we couldn’t have done it. Written into the laws of Shaker Heights was: No Jews/No Blacks could own a home in Shaker Heights. Today it is a totally integrated community.

Overt antisemitism began to disappear in the late ’50s and the ’60s as Jewish organizations began to use their economic clout to drive the overt antisemites to the fringes where these hate organizations began to focus their hatred on people of color.

Antisemitism did not disappear. It went underground and flourished among right-wing organizations like the one that marched in Charlottesville chanting “Jews will not replace us.”

Today, it flourishes in a new light: Antisemitism has taken on the mantle of Anti-Israel. The Far Right has become a strange bedfellow of the Far Left. The Far Left berates Israel for its “treatment” of Arabs in Israel. Arabs open and run businesses in Israel. Arabs can worship freely in Israel. The cry of the call to prayer at Mosques can be heard throughout Israel.

The new cry from the Far Left is that there is housing discrimination on Arabs. It stems from Arabs building and occupying homes that are not built or maintained to legal standards. No one can do that anymore than they would be allowed to in Shaker Heights, Ohio, or Winter Park, Florida.

The Far Right is not happy about the Jewish support of Liberal candidates for office. For years Jews have been in the forefront of race equality. Jews were totally active in the voting rights drives of the 1960s. Jews serve on boards of many Black corporations.

So, from the Far Left to the Far Right there is a new target: Israel. The cry from both Far Left and Far Right is: Israel is crushing the freedom of its Muslim inhabitants. How? Where? When?

The media jumps on an incident where a few Arabs were evicted from their homes. They had, according to the Israeli press, illegally added additions to their homes in violation of zoning laws that apply to everyone living in Israel, just as they do in the U.S.

But with pro-Arab congresspersons like Representative Omar of the Bronx, this new form of antisemitism has now reached into the U.S. Congress. While limited to a few members of the House of Representatives, they are vocal enough, strong enough so that there is a possibility it could change the overwhelming support for Israel in Congress. They may try to limit “aid” to Israel.

Well, you could look this up, but just about every dollar in “aid” to Israel is to be spent on armaments bought in the U.S. from American companies. So, millions of dollars in “aid” are sent to Israel, only to come back in purchases of aircraft, armaments and other “war” materials. This includes parts for Israeli aircraft designed in Israel.

On the Far Right it remains mostly hatred of Jews as Jews. And therefore, the ideal target is Israel, the only Jewish nation. The Far Right does not like Jews. Period. Never have. Therefore the Jewish nation is an ideal target. Israel is attacked in far-right newspapers and on radio.

Look, antisemitism is not going away. It pops up in unusual places. An ideal example? The Black Lives Matter movement just officially declared solidarity with the pro-“Palestinian” Movement. Jews as we said, have always been in the forefront of Black political causes including the “Right to Vote” movement.

This does not matter to BLM. They are looking for targets. Rather than concentrating on the real danger to Black people like the voting laws being passed in Southern States, BLM chooses to attack the State of Israel. Not Smart. Not justified. Just antisemitism directed against the Jewish State. As Molly Goldberg would say: “If it’s not one thing, it’s another …”