How many times have you heard Republicans, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, prattle on about the George Soros, a Jewish Hungarian immigrant and philanthropist, as if he is the chief string-puller controlling the Democratic Party? 


Meanwhile, Trump routinely demonizes Jewish Democrats for not supporting him and the Israeli government.


These tropes reference common anti-Jewish conspiracies theories that previous research has shown lead to hostility and violence. … Some of these statements [presented to respondents] view Jews as “clannish,” with 70 percent and 53 percent of Americans saying that Jews stick together more than others and go out of their way to hire other Jews, respectively. Other tropes relate to the concept of “dual loyalty,” with 39 percent of Americans saying that Jews are more loyal to Israel than the United States. Finally, we see over 20 percent support for several statements relating to Jews being too powerful in business and Wall Street.

Much of this sounds like the rhetoric coming from the MAGA movement, and specifically its leader, defeated former president Donald Trump. How many times have you heard Republicans, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, prattle on about George Soros, a Jewish Hungarian immigrant, as if he is the chief string-puller controlling the Democratic Party? Trump meanwhile routinely demonizes Jewish Democrats for not supporting him and the Israeli government.

Auschwitz concentration camp was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II and the Holocaust.

These tropes reference common anti-Jewish conspiracies theories that previous research has shown lead to hostility and violence. … Some of these statements [presented to respondents] view Jews as “clannish,” with 70 percent and 53 percent of Americans saying that Jews stick together more than others and go out of their way to hire other Jews, respectively. Other tropes relate to the concept of “dual loyalty,” with 39 percent of Americans saying that Jews are more loyal to Israel than the United States. Finally, we see over 20 percent support for several statements relating to Jews being too powerful in business and Wall Street.

Much of this sounds like the rhetoric coming from the MAGA movement, and specifically its leader, defeated former president Donald Trump. How many times have you heard Republicans, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, prattle on about George Soros, a Jewish Hungarian immigrant, as if he is the chief string-puller controlling the Democratic Party? 


Trump meanwhile routinely demonizes Jewish Democrats for not supporting him and the Israeli government.

One need look no further than the “Camp Auschwitz**” T-shirt worn by a January 6 insurrectionist to see how white Christian nationalism overlaps with antisemitism. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s conspiracy theories and her assumption that Jews possess excessive power (evil stuff!)

Evil antisemitism exhibited by January 6th insurrectionists and election deniers...
....are only a slightly exaggerated form of the antisemitism that suffuses her (Growing Older and Grumpier) party.

Moreover, when Trump dines with renowned antisemites and Twitter chief Elon Musk reinstates neo-Nazis on his platform, they take another step toward normalizing anti-Jewish hatred. Soon their rhetoric becomes like wallpaper, part of the background of the American scene.

The far left makes its own contribution to antisemitism through its over-the-top denunciations of Israel. 


Of course, not all criticism of Israel is wrong.  In fact, plenty of objections to current government policies are legitimate — including its inclusion of rabidly anti-Arab nationalists, its attempt to curtail civil rights and the ultra-Orthodox groups’ attempt to write non-Orthodox Diaspora Jews out of the worldwide community of Jewish people. However, there is a point at which criticism of Israel can veer into abject antisemitism. This includes the suggestion that Israel “treats Palestinians like the Nazis treated Jews” (a view held by a stunning 40 percent of the ADL survey respondents) or “Israel can get away with anything because its supporters control the media” (nearly one-fourth of those surveyed agreed).

Unlike right-wing tropes, however, Israel-related antisemitism is rarely heard from mainstream politicians. Occasional outbursts are met with robust denunciation from Democratic leaders. In 2021, when Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) suggested an equivalence between the United States and Israel, on one hand, and Hamas and the Taliban, on the other, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded by stating that “drawing false equivalencies between democracies like the U.S. and Israel and groups that engage in terrorism like Hamas and the Taliban foments prejudice and undermines progress toward a future of peace and security for all.”

That antisemitism has roared back with a vengeance is thanks mainly to a party that embraces white Christian nationalism and kooky conspiracy theories. Republicans need to clean house to rid their party of purveyors of rabid anti-Jewish hatred. Meanwhile, Democrats must continue to make it clear that statements against Israel that veer into antisemitic tropes have no place in our political conversation.


* Trope- figurative or metaphorical use of a word or expression.


** "A Virginia man who stormed the U.S. Capitol while wearing an antisemitic 'Camp Auschwitz' sweatshirt over a Nazi-themed shirt was sentenced on Thursday to 75 days of imprisonment.

Robert Keith Packer, 57, declined to address U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols before he sentenced him during hearing held by video conference. The judge noted the "incredibly offensive" message on Packer's sweatshirt before imposing the sentence.

'It seems to me that he wore that sweatshirt for a reason. We don't know what the reason was because Mr. Packer hasn't told us', Nichols said."  Reported on NPR Maine Public.