‘Beards’: The hypocrisy of politicians who speak out against antisemitism
At face value, a series of events in the last few years brought good news to the Jewish community:
- A member of the House of Representatives, in a discussion of a congressional resolution about forms of hatred, declares “I strongly oppose antisemitism.”
- Another House member, during a similar discussion of hate, declares, “Antisemitism is real … I oppose antisemitism… [I have] always been and will always be opposed to antisemitism.”
- A member of the US Senate denounces “antisemitism, racism, fanaticism and demagoguery.”
- Another House representative, following the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks on southern Israel, states that “I oppose antisemitism, [and] support the Jewish community.”
- A candidate for the Senate pledges to “fight the fight against antisemitism. My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own kids.”
- A prominent public intellectual declares that “Antisemitism is something that exists throughout society, just like misogyny.”
- A prominent mayor increases funding for his city’s hate-crime prevention efforts, and pledges that “This is an administration that will root out antisemitism” across his city.
Actually, not so good news.
None of the people above, some Jews among them, are our friends. None of them (respectively Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Rep. Ilhan Omar, Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Rep. Cori Bush, senatorial candidate Abdul el-Sayed, left-wing author-filmmaker Naomi Klein, and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani) have the interests of Jews at heart. Mostly liberal politicians and academicians, they wield their words against antisemitism as shields against accusations that their behavior may mark them as antisemitic.
(On an international level, this phenomenon is paralleled by countries – notably France, England, Canada and Brazil – that have taken strong positions against antisemitism, while strongly criticizing Israel’s actions in Gaza.)
These US men and women, many Arabs and Muslims among them – and, sadly, prominent Jews like Sanders and Klein – are outspoken in their attacks on Israel, on Zionism, and on people who support the Jewish state. As elected officials, they typically back the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) anti-Israel movement, accuse Israel of committing genocide, and vote against financial/military aid to Israel. But speaking out against antisemitism is protection …
A public stand against antisemitism is their beard.
In the slang of contemporary culture, a “beard” is a heterosexual man or woman dating or married to a closeted homosexual who is unwilling to publicly reveal his or her gay identity. The beard, whose “straight” relationship with the other person is well-known, establishes the closeted gay person’s “normative” sexuality; this was particularly necessary until the last few decades, which have witnessed greater public acceptance of declaration (i.e., “coming out”) of one’s homosexuality. For a long time, being gay was a shande, a disgrace for religious or personal-preference reasons.
Some prominent apparent beards in recent decades included actor Johnathon Schaech, who accompanied comedian/talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres to public events before DeGeneres became open about her sexual i.d. and she became a spokesperson for gay rights; and Phyllis Gates, an interior decorator who was married for three years to Rock Hudson, the macho actor who died of AIDS. Betty White, the late, beloved comic actress, said she frequently served as the beard at public events for Liberace, the flamboyant pianist who did not publicly identify as gay.
In addition, Bess Myerson, the only Jewish woman in US history to win the Miss America title, for many years kept steady company with New York City Mayor Ed Koch, who was a lifelong bachelor and was thought by many political observers to be gay. Was Myerson Koch’s beard? Koch steadfastly declined to comment on his sexuality, or on his relationship with Myerson.
A beard played a prophylactic role in a person’s social standing, heading off assertions that a man or woman – typically unmarried – was homosexual, at a time when that would have ruined one’s career or left a person vulnerable to widespread mockery or criticism. How could he or she be gay if involved in an ongoing relationship with someone of the opposite sex?
Today, declarations of opposition to antisemitism play the same role in political life. They’re a potent political “beard.” How can a person be an antisemite – even if loudly denouncing the action of the Israeli government or the Israeli army – if he or she takes a strong, vocal stand against antisemitism?
Political figures at varying levels of government – most notably in the US Congress – consistently use condemnations of antisemitism as cover for their vitriol.
It’s the contemporary version of the old “I can’t be antisemitic – some of my best friends are Jewish!” line. And it preys on Jewish naiveté and gullibility. And Jewish ignorance. Remember the pictures of the butcher shops in Jewish neighborhoods a century ago that featured signs that advertised the stores’ fleishig products as “Basar Basar”? The words in Hebrew/Yiddish letters mean “meat meat,” but looked almost identical to the words “Basar kasher” (kosher meat). Customers who didn’t know any better were fooled into buying, and consuming, treife meat.
Buyer beware!
Speaking out against antisemitism is smart politics, a great defensive move. As the number of antisemitic incidents in the United States steadily rises post-October 7, the acerbic critics of Israel can point to the speeches they have made, and the legislation they have crafted to counter antisemitism.
As if their vocal opposition to Israel doesn’t fuel the antisemitic fervor in the US.
Take Zohran Mamdani. Please!
He became mayor of the Big Apple on January 1, succeeding Eric Adams, an unabashed Judeophile and supporter of Israel.
Mamdani, who based much of his successful pre-mayoral political career on his advocacy of Palestinian rights, and on his outspoken criticism of the “apartheid” Jewish state, subsequently loudly proclaimed his devotion to the protection of the city’s Jewish community during his campaign for City Hall, and following his election to the mayor’s office.
He is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), a uniformly progressive party whose hostilely anti-Zionist charter calls Zionism “racist, imperialist and a settler-colonial project.” However, some individual DSA chapters have adopted resolutions that oppose antisemitism.
Mamdani’s positions about Israel and Zionism – “central to my identity” – have reflected the DSA’s general slant – he has called AIPAC supporters “monsters,” declined to condemn the “Globalize the Intifada” chant, and stated that “when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF.” Also, he has received the endorsement of the pro-Palestinian Jewish Voice for Peace, and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, organizations, and appointed several progressive Jews to positions in his administration and his transition team.
These cumulative acts have created an atmosphere of uncertainty for many Jews who live in New York City – the mayor’s words contra antisemitism notwithstanding.
As part of his outreach to the Jewish community and to demonstrate his credentials against antisemitism, he called antisemitism “something that we have to tackle;” he said he would increase police protection outside of houses of worship and Jewish institutions; he called the October 7 attacks a “horrific war crime;” he proposed an expansion of the city’s office for the prevention of hate crimes; he flaunted his support from a spokesman for one of the segments of the anti-Zionist Satmar chasidic group, wrote an open letter in Yiddish about his support for issues dear to the Chasidic community, and distributed photographs of him meeting with Chasidic leaders.
All, substantive beards.
But the leaders of the city’s mainstream Jewish community don’t readily accept the mayor’s assurances of comradeship.
Some hold him culpable for the recent stabbing of two identified Jews on Manhattan’s Upper West Side – and for a vandalism attack on a Chabad synagogue in Sarasota, Florida, for which the alleged assailant cited a Mamdani video about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an influence for his act. Earlier, the morning after Mamdani was elected mayor, swastikas were spray-painted on the walls of a Syrian yeshiva in Brooklyn, vandalism that the mayor criticized as “disgusting and heartbreaking.”
Said Eric Goldstein, immediate past CEO of the UJA-Federation of New York, “When the mayor of New York repeatedly uses his platform to relentlessly single out and demonize Israel … and calls those who support it ‘monsters,’ he contributes to a climate in which Jewish New Yorkers are increasingly targeted and unsafe.” Mark Treyger, the JCRC’s current CEO, similarly said, “Words matter. Leadership matters. The climate we create matters.”
Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in Manhattan said, in a JNS interview, that “the mayor’s priority is how his administration is perceived in the media. He has no interest in the serious work of rebuilding his relationship with the Jewish community…. [he] is only ready to meet with Jews who he picks and chooses as ideologically comfortable.”
Moshe Phillips, national chairman of Americans For a Safe Israel, says it is legitimate to claim that many people who speak out against Israel, and against antisemitism, are “using it as a cover.”
In other words, a beard.
“Some people,” Phillips says in a phone interview, “do legitimately believe they are not antisemitic.” But, “some are true antisemites.” The latter group, he says, consistently find fault with Israel’s government and army, while not criticizing human rights abuses and military shortcomings of other countries. Attributing anti-Semitic motivation to them “is not difficult math to do.”
While Mamdani is arguably the most prominent example of a political leader who diligently criticizes Israel while speaking out against antisemitism, the criticism of his performative behavior extends beyond the mayor of the country’s biggest city, home to the biggest Jewish community in the world outside of Tel Aviv. He’s not the only beard.
For example, both Ro Khanna, a progressive Democrat from California, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a rising star in the House who is a DSA member, are unstinting in their criticism of Israel, and in their statements opposing antisemitism. Khanna in 2024 held a town hall with the Bay Area Jewish Coalition to discuss the rise in antisemitism following October 7. AOC calls antisemitism “on the rise in America and across the world … it is dangerous.” But, she adds, “It is also true that accusations and false accusations of antisemitism are wielded against people of color and women of color by bad-faith political actors, and weaponizing antisemitism is used to divide us.”
I am against antisemitism. But …
The tide of criticism of Israel in the United States is unlikely to recede in the near future. And assertions of opposition to antisemitism by these same critics is likely to increase. As are the buts.
People who truly care about the safety of Eretz Israel and of Jews in this country are advised to look beyond the beards, and consider, on balance, who is in our corner. Then we can decide whose actions reflect their words. Then we can be realistic about our friends and foes.
That will be good news.
