Republicans Are Trying to Redefine Antisemitism. We Can't Let Them
Why are these white nationalists suddenly great supporters of Jews?
Take a look at the people pictured in the image above. On the far left, there’s Republican Representative Elise Stefanik, a newly galvanized crusader against “campus antisemitism” who also touts the Great Replacement Theory that holds that Jewish people and any people of color are attempting to “replace” white people in America. Standing at the podium is Republican Representative Tom Emmer, another suddenly sensitive defender of the Jewish people against antisemitism who claimed that wealthy Jewish people had “bought” Congress. Then there’s Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a discarded marionette who maintains an anti-porn pact with his son and also touted the Great Replacement theory, decrying the presence of foreign people of color as an “invasion” meant to overtake white people in America. Lastly, there’s Representative Steve Scalise, yet another proponent of antisemitic white nationalism who has experienced an apparent Pauline Conversion from white supremacist antisemite to a defender of the Jewish people.
So we have an apparent pattern of white supremacist Republicans with a history of antisemitic rhetoric and of fostering conspiracy theories that paint people of color as an invading horde and Jewish people as wealthy puppet masters buying control of the levers of power suddenly locating a scant shred of human decency and suddenly claiming their place in the fight against antisemitism. So does this mean they’re finding some common ground with progressives in a shared desire to protect and uplift the marginalized?
It would seem unlikely. The hardened leather effigy with chips of flint for eyes that we call Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green joined Rep. Matt Gaetz, a shark-human mutant with more teeth than the Osmond family, in decrying a recent antisemitism bill because it named the repeated myth that “Christ was killed by Jewish people” as antisemitic and like the excellent allies to the Jewish people they are, they simply couldn't have that. No matter that this bill intends to define antisemitism so that claims of civil rights violations can be properly addressed, what’s most important here is that the dominant Christian faith is prioritized above all things.
“Antisemitism is wrong, but I will not be voting for the Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023 (H.R. 6090) today that could convict Christians of antisemitism for believing the Gospel that says Jesus was handed over to Herod to be crucified by the Jews,” Greene wrote in a Twitter/X post. With a similar sensitivity and sense of sacrifice that all great allies have, Gaetz claimed, “The Gospel itself would meet the definition of antisemitism under the terms of this bill!” To be crystal clear here, these two definite, absolute allies of Jewish people who wish to resist antisemitism in all its forms really need their Christian beliefs to be centered and respected here. It doesn’t matter that saying “Jewish people killed Christ” to a Jewish person would constitute antisemitic speech that dehumanizes people, what matters is that Greene and Gaetz carve out their ability to say it. They’re real gold medalists in the Ally Olympics. Just top-tier stuff from them. Take it from these leading scholars on diversity and inclusion: true allyship means putting yourself first.
All bits aside, it’s alarming to see these white supremacist antisemites not only attempt this feint at basic human decency (“antisemitism is wrong”) but appear successful. In a more just world, Stefanik’s “Great Replacement” beliefs would be mortifying enough to be expelled from Congress, but instead, she’s leading the charge on yelling at the presidents of expensive private universities until they resign or call the police on peaceful protests. Gaetz embraces white nationalism, Greene put “Jewish space lasers” into the world, Johnson, Scalise, and Emmer all believe people of color and Jewish people are attempting to “replace” white people, and yet all their talk of cracking down on antisemitism is received credulously as if such claims aren’t in direct opposition to everything else they’ve said and done.
I can’t claim to know everything, but I think there are a few different reasons antisemitic Republicans are suddenly claiming allyship to Jewish people. The first, and perhaps the most obvious, is that American Republicans are politically aligned with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose politics are quite similar to MAGA conservatism. That Netanyahu has invaded Gaza and killed many Palestinians in the process is likely enticing for these Republicans because, as white nationalists who view Islam as heretical and its practitioners as sub-human, the mass death of Palestinians is acceptable to them. American conservatives gleefully revved up the Islamaphobia engine in the wake of 9/11, and there is no cynical, hateful lever they won’t pull whenever it’s convenient. There’s also the geo-political consideration that Israel is an ally in the region and usually amenable to our military activity in the area. Perhaps these Republicans wish to keep our spot warm with them in case we ever need to foment another invasion of a country on false pretenses again. Or perhaps there’s a more mystical reason we want to stay in Israel’s good graces. In case you were wondering how the separation of church and state is going in Congress, let’s hear Rep. Rick Allen’s question to Columbia President Minouche Shafik:
This is a very revealing line of questioning. Shafik has been brought before Congress ostensibly to address Columbia University’s response to student pro-ceasefire protests and what they’re doing to stem the tide of antisemitism on campus. One might think as a committee member, Allen would want to explore Shafik’s commitment to protecting Jewish students and whether she’s genuinely committed to fighting antisemitism, something that’s self-evidently abhorrent as a type of bigotry. However, Allen asks instead about the Bible and discusses what actions Columbia would take, knowing that resisting Israel would earn them a curse from God. This implies that fighting antisemitism is not good because antisemitism is an evil to be refuted, but because God has specifically favored Israel. This fact should dictate how America, and its universities apparently, should act. This means that Republicans like Allen, Johnson, Emmer, Scalise, Greene, etc, all hold an ulterior motive for feigning allyship, and it has to do with their Christianity.
The story of the Second Coming asserts that when Jesus Christ returns to the Earth from Heaven, the reemergence will take place in Israel. Christo-fascists and white nationalists like Gaetz, Stefanik, and the like advocate for Israel for many reasons, but among them is the belief that staying close to Israel will allow us to be present there when Christ returns. So not only are these white nationalists taking up the cause of antisemitism to benefit their political goals, but they’re also supporting Israel for reasons entirely unrelated to Judaism. To serve their Christian mission, MAGA Republicans take up Israel’s cause. I emphasize that they’re aligning with Israel because Israel is a state separate from the Jewish faith. These white nationalists have been very clear about what they think of Jewish people, but if they have to play pretend-ally to service their relationship with Israel, they’ll do it.
There’s another insidious reason we should be alarmed these white supremacists have successfully entrenched themselves in this fight: from this position, they can redefine antisemitism exactly to their liking. They’re in the henhouse now, they’ve successfully taken public positions to “crackdown” on antisemitism which lends them the capital they need to make some changes. And how does one imagine a white nationalist would define antisemitism? They might start, as Greene and Gaetz have, by insisting that “Jewish people killed Christ” isn’t antisemitic. They might conflate the state of Israel with the faith of Judaism so that an act against the state is an act against the faith, making any resistance to state goals definitively antisemitic. They might dilute the very concept of antisemitism by warping it into buzzword nothingness as they did with “woke” or “cancel culture.” As racist, antisemitic Christians, they can use this new foothold they’ve carved out to yank every last tooth from the concept’s mouth until it means nothing at all. These are the people — fools and clowns though they are — that have successfully made the concept of gender and the grammatical form of pronouns a hollowed-out identity politics issue. They’re reliving their “affirmative action” glory days by assailing diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) as a silly, pointless buzzword.
It’s absurd that these bigots could, for even five seconds, pass their craven, cynical, false rhetoric off as genuine, and yet they have. I’ve heard the phrase, “Never doubt the fascist is fully aware of the absurdity of what they say,” and it feels like that’s what we’re seeing here. A party, so resolute in its antisemitism and white nationalism, can successfully pass itself off as a warrior against antisemitism even when its support is facile and fair-weather at best. It feels like unless we repudiate these pretenders, unless we loudly and strongly lash back against this, we cede to them the legitimacy they crave. If they can keep their position as stalwart defenders of the Jewish people against antisemitism, they can warp the very idea of “antisemitism” to fit them and their bigotry. Greene, Gaetz, Scalise, Stefanik, Emmer, Allen, and Johnson's goal is not to refute antisemitism, or any other -ism for that matter. Their goal is to make it so those words (antisemitism, racism, sexism, etc) don’t mean anything at all. Their goal is to make sure that no matter what they do or say, no one can call them a bigot because the word has no meaning anymore. They won’t stop what they’re doing, but they’ll take away your ability to say something about it.
Surely, we can all agree that we shouldn’t allow antisemites to decide what antisemitism is. That’s what it all boils down to. Don’t let the party of “Jewish space lasers” dictate anything, let alone how to fight antisemitism.
"They might conflate the state of Israel with the faith of Judaism so that an act against the state is an act against the faith, making any resistance to state goals definitively antisemitic.."
Bingo. The conflation of religion and politics is absolutely intentional. It's an antisemitic trope in its own way that has become part and parcel of the GOP platform these days. "Any Jewish person that votes for Biden does not love Israel and, frankly, should be spoken to." -- Donald Trump, April 8, 2024
I think the fascist right wingers are doing this because they hate being called nazis, so they can say "we don't hate the Jews, see?!"
They also like Netanyahu, because he's a right wing nutjob asshole too.
If Israel had a progressive leader, we wouldn't be seeing this, I bet.