Is The Left Anti-Semitic?

The essence of Judaism and the root of the Jewish soul is expediency and self-interest; the God of Israel is Mammon, who expresses himself in the lust for money. Judaism is the embodiment of anti-social attitudes.

Karl Marx

Much of it, well yes.  Next question?  Brendan O’Neill gives us a bit more detail:

This is a recurring theme in anti-Israel sentiment today: the idea that a powerful, sinister lobby of Israel lovers has warped our otherwise respectable leaders here in the West, basically winning control of Western foreign policy. You see it in cartoons depicting Israeli leaders as the puppet masters of politicians like William Hague and Tony Blair. You can hear it in Alexi Sayle’s much-tweeted claim that the “Western powers” kowtow to Israel because they are “frightened of it… frightened of the power that it wields”. You can see it in the arguments of John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt in their popular book The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, which holds an apparently super-powerful pro-Israel lobby in the heart of Washington responsible for the Iraq War and all other kinds of disasters. The claim is often made that Israel has corrupted Western officials, commanding them to carry out its dirty work.

Sound familiar? Yes, this has terrible echoes of the old racist idea that Jewish groups controlled Western politics and frequently propelled the world into chaos – an idea that was especially popular in the early to mid-20th-century Europe. Very often, anti-Israel protesters treat Israel not just as a nation at war – like Britain, America or France, which also frequently launch wars that kill huge numbers of civilians – but also as the warper of policy and morality in the West, as a source of poison in global affairs, as the architect of instability across the globe. Indeed, a few years ago a poll of Europeans found that a majority of them view Israel as “the biggest threat to world peace”. So Israel is undoubtedly singled out by Leftists and others, and even more significantly it is singled out in a way that the Jews used to be singled out – that is, as a sinister, self-serving corrupter of nations and causer of chaos.

Go here to The Telegraph to read the rest.

Anti-Semitism and the contemporary left go together like bread and butter.  Let me count the ways:

1.  Anti-Americanism-Israel is viewed on most of the left as a proxy for the US.  Since the left around the globe has a deep hatred for the US, a hatred of Israel comes naturally.

2.  Racism-Many leftists are racists as their constant diatribes against dead white males rather indicate.  Palestinians, although caucasians, are perceived as non-white, while Israel, although quite a racially mixed nation, is considered a bastion of white privilege and therefore demonic.

3.  Third Worldism-We see a lot of this on the Catholic left.  Anyone from a poor third world nation automatically has greater moral stature than anyone from a first world nation, and they are entitled to engage in any form of violence in order to “liberate” themselves.

4.  Anti-Capitalism-Back in the hey-day of Communism, Jews used to be called, simultaneously, Marxists and Plutocrats.  Now they tend to be devil figures on the left for those who hate capitalism.  Whenever terms like “bankster” are used, generally “Jew” is meant.

5.  Atheism-The left has usually been the political home of quite  a few, certainly not all, atheists.  However, bitter and angry atheists do tend also to be bitter and angry leftists, and atheist diatribes against the original Abrahamic faith often contain a political component.

6.  Conspiracy Theorists-Belief in conspiracy theories and anti-Semitism often go hand in hand as Mr. O’Neill notes, and even a cursory glance at most leftist websites will indicate that the left is awash in ridiculous conspiracy theories that are often taken as gospel truth, many of them focusing on Israel and the Jews as being the sources of evil in the modern world.

7.  Coalitions-The left tend to move in groups and organizations on the left have long accepted virulently anti-Israel members of the left as members in good standing of their coalition.  Here is a list of sponsoring groups of the far left anti- Israel hate group ANSWER’s march in Washington this Saturday:

Co-sponsors:
– ANSWER Coalition
– American Muslims for Palestine (AMP)
– Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
– American Muslim Alliance (AMA)
– Al-Awda: Palestine Right to Return Coalition
– Al-Awda: Palestine Right to Return Coalition – New York
– CODEPINK
– Muslim Legal Fund of America
-World Can’t Wait
– Partership for Civil Justice
– MAS Immigrant Justice Center
– UNAC – United National Antiwar Coalition
– Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)
– House of Latin America (HOLA)
– SI Solidarity Iran
– Labor Fightback Network
– Al-Awda, Palestine Right to Return Coalition, Cleveland Chapter
– Al Quds Committee
– Washington D.C. al-Quds Committee
– Veterans For Peace
– Methodist Federation for Social Action
– The National Muslim Council for Justice (NMCJ)
– Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel
– Free Palestine Movement International Solidarity Movement – Northern California
– Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality – Virginia
– The Phil Berrigan Institute for Nonviolence and Occupy the Dream, Reading, PA
– LA Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild
– The Green Party of New Jersey
– Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
– Labor for Palestine
– New York City Labor Against the War

I have always thought that attacks on Jews are a warning sign for Christians that bad times are ahead for them as well as for the Jews.  The open embrace by much of the left of stridently anti-Semitic bigots should be sending off alarm bells for every Christian.  Most of the left have just as much hatred for Christianity as they do for Judaism, and, like all bullies, they will back down, but only when confronted by people who are unafraid of them and willing not to avert their eyes because their main target at the moment are Jews.