Why the Left is Antisemitic, and Why that Will Not Change

As someone who has been a liberal all my life, I am saddened by what has happened to the left in the last few decades with regards to the Israel-Arab conflict. The left was once sympathetic to Israel. That was when Israel was poor and weak, barely able to stand up to its Arab enemies. Now that Israel can defend itself, the left is highly critical of Israel, to the point where it is demonization, not reasoned criticism.

Such concerted and indefensible demonization of the only Jewish state can only be characterized as antisemitic although this type of antisemitism is relatively recent compared to classic antisemitism (consciously hating Jews). While classic antisemitism is probably no more prevalent on the left than on the right, the new antisemitism is far more prevalent on the left than on the right.

Glorification of Violence by the Left

The new antisemitism on the left follows naturally from a long tradition of supporting and even romanticizing violence by what is seen as the oppressed against what is seen as the oppressors. The following is some of what was said on this subject by the founders of the modern left:

Karl Marx: “There is only one way in which the murderous death agonies of the old society and the bloody birth throes of the new society can be shortened, simplified and concentrated, and that way is revolutionary terror”.

Frederick Engels: “A revolution is certainly the most authoritarian thing there is; it is the act whereby one part of the population imposes its will upon the other part by means of rifles, bayonets and cannon — authoritarian means, if such there be at all; and if the victorious party does not want to have fought in vain, it must maintain this rule by means of the terror which its arms inspire in the reactionists”.

Vladimir Lenin: “The suppression of the bourgeois state by the proletarian state is impossible without a violent revolution”.

Leon Trotsky: “The revolution does require of the revolutionary class that it should attain its end by all methods at its disposal – if necessary, by an armed rising: if required, by terrorism”.

Mao Zedong: “A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.”.

Frantz Fanon: “At the level of the individuals, violence is a cleansing force. It frees the natives from his inferiority complex and form his despair and inaction; it makes him fearless and restores his self-respect”.

Che Guevara: “The guerrilla is the people’s combative vanguard, situated in a certain territory, armed, disposed to realize many warlike actions who drift to the unique strategic possible aim: the capture of the power”.

While modern left-wing politicians avoid such rhetoric and even oppose violence as a means of changing society, those who support violence are still very popular among left-wing activists, even if the activists don’t readily admit to supporting this aspect of socialism. Western leftists proudly wear T-shirts with the picture of Che Guevara, an advocate of violence and a rabid homophobe.

A Juicy and Easy “Cause”

For the modern left, especially the Western left, the Israel-Palestinian conflict is the perfect cause. It allows them to support violence by the “oppressed” against the “oppressors”, but it doesn’t threaten their own possessions like a revolution in their own country would. Supporting the “oppressed Palestinians” allows the left to engage in virtue signaling at no risk whatsoever.

After all, from their point of view, what’s the worst that can happen? Palestinian terrorists will kill Israelis? They will weaken or even destroy Israel? That’s no skin off their backs since they don’t live in Israel. And if Palestinian violence prevents trust in the Palestinians’ ability to run a peaceful state and therefore prevents the creation of a Palestinian state (which is exactly what has happened so far), why would they care about that either? They’re not stateless with the desperate need for a state.

Those Western leftists live comfortably. They typically have well-paid jobs. They can afford leisure activities. And they alleviate their “bourgeois” consciences by supporting the “oppressed Palestinians” without really supporting the Palestinians in any meaningful way.

If the Western left supported the Palestinians, they would encourage them to end terrorism, to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, to learn Jewish history, and to engage in peaceful dialog with Israel on how to resolve the conflict. This would immediately discredit the Israeli right that opposes the creation of a Palestinian state, and it would open wide the door to the creation of a sovereign, peaceful, and prosperous Palestinian state. The Palestinians need their so-called friends to encourage them to take these steps rather than to encourage them in the current self-destructive path of hating Israel and the Jews.

Helping the Palestinians achieve peace and prosperity would, however, rob the Western left of a juicy and easy cause. To them, marching in the streets with a Palestinian flag or even a Hamas flag is far cooler than doing the hard work of peacemaking. Wearing a keffiyeh while drinking Starbucks coffee is the new version of champagne socialism.

The left does not admit this hypocrisy any more than they admit that Israel deserves support far more than its enemies do. A recent poll found that among American Democrats under 50 years of age, a higher percentage have an unfavorable view of Israel (62%) than they do of China (43%) or even Iran (54%). It is hard to believe that any sane person thinks this way, and yet, the American left is probably less deluded on this issue than the left in the rest of the Western world.

Time to Find the Exit Doors

The left has a big antisemitism problem, but you won’t find many left-wing leaders willing to admit it. I hold no hope that the left will reform itself anytime soon because while some left-wing leaders are willing to fight blatant antisemitism (as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer did in his Labour Party), they are not willing to address the modern form of antisemitism, the irrational demonization of the Jewish state. The left has an addiction to hating Israel and therefore Jews.

This leaves any reasonable people on the left with no options but to look for other parties to support or join, with the hope that bringing liberal ideas to those parties may be easier than reforming the left.

Former Ontario NDP (New Democratic Party, Canada’s left-wing party) leader and premier, Bob Rae, left the NDP in disgust in 2002. In his parting op-ed, he wrote, “Svend Robinson, the federal New Democrat spokesperson for foreign affairs, has gone to Ramallah to show solidarity with Yasser Arafat. In a recent interview, Mr. Robinson described Israel as a terrorist state and proudly declared that he had ‘taken sides.’ Mr. Robinson’s views are apparently now the official stand of the federal New Democratic Party. They are not mine”.

Bob Rae went on to take leading roles within the Liberal Party of Canada, a centrist party. Until recently, he was Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations.

Ryan Painter, a long-time activist and executive in the NDP is another example. In May 2024, he denounced antisemitism in the NDP and wrote that, “The NDP caucus fully embraced activist antisemitism in the wake of Hamas’ October 7th attacks”. He is now involved in the Conservative Party of Canada and the Conservative Party of British Columbia.

When I mentioned to Ryan Painter that I was going to use him as an example in a blog on left-wing antisemitism, he asked me to quote his feelings on the subject. He said, “Antisemitism on the left isn’t a glitch. It’s what happens when an ideology divides the world into oppressors and oppressed, codes Jews as powerful, and then treats hostility toward them as a form of justice. We’ve seen it on Canadian campuses, in union locals, and in activist coalitions that would never tolerate this language about any other minority.”

I am another example, although I left the NDP much earlier than Painter did, and he and I argued about it a few years ago. When I first came to Canada, over 40 years ago, I quickly joined the NDP, became very active in it (within two years, I was president of the Ottawa West NDP association), and became friends with several members of the party. I was particularly close to one of them and we continued to be friends for years. He was best man at my wedding, and after he moved to the other side of the country (several hours away by plane), we stayed in touch.

In 2015, I voted for the Conservative Party of Canada for the first time, and I told my friend. It was Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s last election, and unfortunately, he lost. My friend became very angry at me. I explained that the NDP had become antisemitic while Harper had steadfastly supported the Jewish community (among other things, Harper initiated the National Holocaust Monument and he was a strong voice for Israel on the world stage), but my pleading didn’t help. He was no longer interested in my friendship. He wasn’t the only friend that I lost in this way. Evidently, their left-wing ideology was more important to them than their friendship with me and more important than my concerns about antisemitism.

Unfortunately, this is typical of left-wing ideologues and their attachment to a Palestinian “cause” that they neither understand nor care about, but that is important to their own egos. The left is shamelessly using both Israelis and Palestinians, and no decent liberal, who believes that fairness and peace are better values than envy and violence, can tolerate it.

It is well past the time to leave the left and never look back.