Eyes wide shut: The Jewish vote

The last year has been a very telling year for the Jewish community. Jewish students were physically obstructed from going to areas on college campuses. And this was not just a one-off. It happened on multiple campuses. Jewish students have been followed and harassed, even attacked. Jewish professors have also been stopped from entering places on campuses. Jewish students have had to barricade themselves in school libraries, locking the doors, while protesters “pounded on the doors”. Jews having to hide for their safety? Are we revisiting 80 years ago in Europe?

With that, we have an administration that says the protesters have a point, as we heard the current President say at the Democratic National Convention. “The protesters have a point”?

What is their point?

• They take down American flags, burn them, and put up Palestinian flags.
• They call to free Palestine “from the river to the sea,” an expanse that would replace Israel. Not to mention what it would mean for the Jewish inhabitants judging from what occurred on 10/7.
• They call to “globalize the Intifada”.

Their point is clear – clear to everyone but the US administration.

There has been a concerted effort to downplay what has amounted to hundreds of violent, intimidating, and obstructive protests. Biden/Harris have been silent in calling out the blood libel of genocide that has been and continues to be used against the Jewish state. For the Jewish people, blood libels have led to brutal massacres and pogroms throughout their history. Hamas committed a genocide against the Jewish people on 10/7 but they have been calling for it since their inception in 1988. It is in their founding documents. The Hamas charter instructs its followers to commit genocide against Jews the world over. With clear intent – purposefully. When Israel fights back, the Palestinians and their supporters scream genocide. Real genocide is what happened to the Jews of Europe. To claim it against Israel fits the IHRA definition of antisemitism because it accuses Israel of doing something the Nazis did to the Jews. Most of the Biden/Harris administration’s scripted denunciations are of hate in general, covering all forms of hate while failing to identify and acknowledge the overwhelmingly disproportionate increase in hate crimes against Jews.

We are in a situation where American Jews are afraid to wear kippahs and other symbols of Judaism in public. It is a very serious and dangerous time.

Moreover, the Biden administration refuses to speak up against members of their own party in Congress who side with the antisemitic protesters. Instead, the administration repeats the same bromides about hatred in general. Ilan Omar actually referred to “pro-genocide” Jews and “anti-genocide” Jews. About this spiteful fiction not a word of condemnation from our leaders.

This is a broader problem than the current administration will admit. It is not just about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. If it were, why are the protesters taking down American flags and putting up Palestinian flags? This happened just blocks from the United States Capitol Building at Union Station.

If the protesters really cared about the Palestinians, they would be protesting and screaming their chants against the death cult of Hamas. If the protesters really cared about the Palestinians, they would have sit-ins demanding that Hamas stop shooting rockets at Israel from behind, besides, and below Palestinian women and children putting them, purposefully, in harm’s way. They should be shouting “war crimes” at Hamas, not Israel. If the protesters really cared about Palestinians, they would be joining their Jewish and American brethren who want the hostages released – fellow Americans among them. They would demand that Hamas surrender and end their unwinnable war.

This is a larger war of Radical Islam against the West. This is a continuation of what happened on Sept. 11, just showing up differently and more insidiously. Just think…have we seen similar protests in other wars where there were exponentially more killed such as in Syria, Congo, etc? No – nothing close. We need to let that sink in. There have been bridges blocked in America’s largest cities, train station protests, congressional buildings overtaken, highways blocked. If we don’t see this as a trial run for more disruption, we have our heads in the sand. But that is how our current administration views it. What starts with the Jews never ends with the Jews. Basic history shows this.

And our current administration continually oversteps in their assessments of geopolitics and military understanding. Democratic presidential candidate Harris warned Israel to not attack Rafah. Rafah had numerous tunnels which were necessary supply lines for Hamas to survive and keep fighting. Without an attack on Rafah, Hamas would not be defeated and would continue their war to annihilate the Jewish state. Those are Hamas’ words, to repeat October 7 again and again until they have completed their mission of destroying Israel. Harris said she knows Rafah. She said that she had seen the maps, that Rafah cannot be defeated without extensive civilian casualties since so many civilians could not possibly be relocated out of the way of the fight.  She warned that if Israel went into Rafah, there could be consequences from the United States by that action. Her warning was meant to stop Israel’s fight. And America is Israel’s ally?!

As we all know, Israel easily moved all the Gazan civilians out of the way in short order, and defeated Rafah, with minimal collateral losses. This action will likely shorten the war and reduce casualties on both sides.

VP Harris says that young American protesters are “showing exactly what the human emotion should be.” They have shown violence, harassment, and obstruction of Jews. They have defaced and vandalized Jewish and American institutions. They have sided with those who take babies as hostage and call for genocide against the Jews the world over in their charter. This is not what the human emotion should be.

Donald Trump is a candidate with flaws. That said, his record on Israel was flawless. He moved the American Embassy to Jerusalem, further legitimizing Israel – something that previous Republican and Democratic presidents failed to do. He recognized the Golan Heights as part of Israel. And most remarkably, he did something that the top experts at the State Department have said for decades was impossible without a peace deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians – he orchestrated a peace deal between Israel and multiple Arab states with the Abraham Accords.

However, when I see Jews being obstructed from going to places in America – Jewish students banned; Jewish professors – banned; Jewish students having to lock themselves in libraries for protection – Houston, we have a problem. And to hear those in power follow up with platitudes? Bad platitudes at that: “we are against all hatred.” What other group is subjected to this sort of obfuscation? It’s Kristallnacht in America with few consequences for the perpetrators, and no actions from our leaders.

Biden/Harris also remained silent about the congressional testimony given by three college presidents of elite universities. When the officials were asked if calling for the genocide of Jews violates their schools’ code of ethics, they responded that it depends on the context. Of course it doesn’t depend on the context, but for our leaders to not condemn the insulting testimony is horrid – and telling. College presidents say it’s ok to call for a genocide, a second Holocaust, and not a word from the White House?

The Biden/Harris administration won’t deny the blood libel of genocide. Biden has even inflamed it, giving teeth to it, by saying “Israel is using indiscriminate force” and Israel’s force is “over the top.” Harris has also said nothing about the genocide blood libel. After Netanyahu spoke to Congress, she said that the war is “not binary.” In other words, each side has its points. After seeing the barbarism, the dismemberment, the sexual crimes, the taking of hostages on 10/7, how can she not say Israel is in the right and their attackers in the wrong? Instead, she chooses to play politics and say just enough that each side of the issue takes it as a “win”, when ultimately she is saying nothing. On our safety and the safety of Israel, she won’t take a firm stand.

Will Jews get this bigger picture? Do they want to live with the current ideology? However smooth and pleasant it is decorated and put on display and however off-putting the other side is to some – will we see the bigger picture? We will know soon enough. November 5^th is around the corner.

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Dr. Michael Berenhaus is a freelance activist who works to combat anti-Israel bias in the media. He has been widely published in news sources such as The Economist, The New York Times and The Washington Post.