A neo-Nazi murdered 11 Jews in an attack on a synagogue in P
A neo-Nazi murdered 11 Jews in an attack on a synagogue in Pittsburgh. In response, the Israeli right went on the defensive.
The prime minister condemned the attack, but found it necessary to prattle about Islamic extremism as well. Israel’s ambassador in Washington explained that there are also anti-Semites on the radical left. I can’t recall this pair saying “There are also neo-Nazis on the right” after any Islamist terror attack.
>>Under Trump, violence against Jews will only rise. We must be prepared | Opinion ■ Trump, the Jews and anti-Semitism: A dangerous double game | Explained ■ Why I call the Pittsburgh massacre a pogrom, and Trump a czar | Opinion
While the politicians are trying to sever the murder from its political context, the right-wing “street” has already identified the guilty parties. “Did we or did we not say that the left is guilty of encouraging anti-Semitism against Jews?” online commenters said, reiterating the Likud’s talking points. And from the bottom of the barrel, the rapper known as “The Shadow” screamed that the Pittsburgh murderer “is fed up with radical leftist organizations,” moments before he blamed the Jewish left for the Holocaust.
Rightists are on the defensive. They instinctively discerned the connection between America’s president and the attack, and given a choice between the safety of American Jews and Donald Trump, they chose the latter. Even on the Orthodox Jewish right, there are some who seem to be indifferent to the murder of Jews if they aren’t “one of us.”
American Jews watched their president run off to a campaign rally immediately after the synagogue shooting. To justify his attendance, he falsely claimed the stock exchange had opened the day after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. They heard him praising nationalism and warning against “globalists.” They saw the Republican Party refuse to denounce its candidate in Iowa, who defrauded a Holocaust memorial group to finance a series of meetings with Nazis in Austria. They saw Trump continue calling the media “enemies of the people” even after a mail bomb was sent to CNN. And now they see the Israeli government doing contortions to give this dangerous American leader, the darling of neo-Nazis and white nationalists, the legitimacy he so badly needs.
Is the United States still safe for Jews? Listen to Haaretz Weekly podcast
And they’ve already seen this before. It took Benjamin Netanyahu three days to denounce the car-ramming attack in Charlottesville, during which neo-Nazis shouted “Jews will not replace us.” He was waiting for Trump’s denunciation. The latter memorably condemned all sides and claimed that there were also “good people” at the white nationalist demonstration. This didn’t stop Netanyahu from declaring that the Jewish people has “no greater supporter” than Trump, who in turn used this to brush off accusations of anti-Semitism.
American Jews have been convenient partners. They have defended Israel despite the years of occupation and were willing to swallow the humiliation of Israel’s discrimination against Reform and Conservative Jews in silence (even if recently, they have begun to politely clear their throats). But politeness should not be confused with blindness, especially when Israel embraces someone who endangers their lives.
“Any strategy for enhancing the security of American Jewry should involve shunning Trump’s Jewish enablers,” wrote Franklin Foer in The Atlantic. “They have placed their community in danger.”
David Simon, creator of the television series “The Wire,” urged Education Minister Naftali Bennett not to come to Pittsburgh. “Netanyahu’s interventions in US politics aided in the election of Donald Trump and his raw and relentless validation of white nationalism and fascism,” he tweeted.
When Bennett, who is also minister of Diaspora affairs, boarded his flight to Pittsburgh, an American Jewish friend reminded me that Bennett hadn’t bothered to attend the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly in Israel last week. “The government is willing to talk to us only as bodies,” he said.
David Simon was even harsher on Twitter. “Your rabbinate only believes them to be Jews for purposes of a photo op,” he wrote.
American Jews don’t need pictures of Bennett lighting candles at the murdered Jews’ graves. Nor do they need an Israeli denunciation of Trump. What they do need, desperately, is for Israel to stop defending a president who encourages political violence for the sake of its own narrow interests. But for Netanyahu, even this appears to be asking too much.
Original Source