Trump, Evangelicals, Israel, and anti-semitism

Supporters of the Palestinians are are often accused of being anti-semitic. To whatever degree there are right-wing supporters of the Palestinians, and there are, yes, they most certainly are anti-semitic. Their hatred of Jews is apparently greater than their hatred  of Muslims.

When it comes to progressive supporters of the Palestinians, it’s more complicated. Yes, even as a supporter of the Palestinians, I readily admit there is some anti-Semitism. There is ignorance of the large minority of Jewish-Americans who support the Palestinians. There is a ridiculously flawed understanding of how much power Jewish-Americans have over foreign policy. There is tolerance for attacks aimed at intentionally killing civilians.

But in my experience most progressive supporters of the Palestinians are not anti-semitic. Many are Jewish.

*************

At some point I need to say that the post on my blog that are at least partly about anti-semitism can be found here.

Overlapping with that are my posts partly or entirely about the Palestinians. Those are here. The most relevant one is here. As far as information about the Palestinians that I agree with, there’s always between one and many articles to read on Juan Cole’s blog, just scroll down if you want more. If you want a MUCH more frequently updated and less partisan but only slightly pro-Israel source, see The Times of Israel.

******************

What about American supporters of Israel? There’s some leftists and the liberal and moderate Democrats who support Israel, but their numbers are declining. A majority of people who support Israel are Republicans. As I’ll explaIn, the idea that these people are motivated by opposition to anti-Semitism is ridiculous.

All of them, including a small number who are atheists, support Israel because they were our ally during the Cold War and they mistakenly believe that Israel is a helpful ally in the War on Terror.

The ones who are evangelical Protestants (and according to the Pew research Center, in 2014 45% of registered voters who are republican or lean republican are evangelical) believe that Jewish control of that part of the middle-east will bring about the second coming of Christ. According to the PRC:

“In a July 2003 Pew survey, fully 44% of Americans expressed their belief that God gave the land that is now Israel to the Jewish people. In a Pew survey a year ago in August 2005, 22% of Americans said that their religious beliefs were the biggest influence in determining their support for the Jewish state.”


About half of evangelicals also believe in something called the rapture. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “The Rapture, in Christianity, the eschatological (concerned with the last things and Endtime) belief that both living and dead believers will ascend into heaven to meet Jesus Christ at the Second Coming (Parousia).” (I’m Catholic and not very familiar with such things). Jews will either become christians or will perish, according to about half of evangelicals.

UPDATE 2/9/20 there are polls indicating minorities (small and large) of evangelicals are liberal on some issues. I'd be surprised if they are among the ones who believe in the Rapture and I'd be surprised if these Evangelicals with liberal tendencies vote Republican all the time. It might be safe to say that the vast majority of Evangelicals who consistently vote republican believe in the Rapture.

As I said, I’m Catholic and not familiar with theology, but I believe that we all go to the same heaven (well, out of respect for the beliefs of people who are neither Christian, Muslim nor Jewish, maybe just Muslims, Jews and Christians (I'd probably add the Druze to this)). If the Rapture is going to happen, in my version the Jews will ascend as well.

Although I couldn’t find the poll I found 10 years ago on the PRC site about the idea that Jews killed Christ I wouldn’t be surprised if many Republicans believe that they did.

In N. Ireland in the last 20 years support for the Palestinians in the Nationalist (Catholic) community has blossomed so much that when the Irish flag is displayed it is often accompanied by Palestinian flags and some times it is temporarily replaced by the Palestinian flag. In response to this and perhaps in solidarity with fellow bigoted settlers, often Israeli flags have been seen the Unionist (Protestant) community. At least some of those Israeli flags were erected by the Ulster Defense Association, a group that has often welcomed visiting British Nazi skinheads. In fact at one point they had to temporarily take down the Israeli flags before such a visit (in all fairness they didn't replace them with the Nazi flag, but they WERE flying the Union Jack in British-occupied Ireland, which is almost as bad).

Although this might arguably have more to do with racism than anti-semitism, Trump has often been, at least averse to conflict with the far-right. Eve if it IS just racism, if he were the friend of the Jewish people some like to say he is, he would have immediately and forcefully disavowed David Duke's support when he first heard about it (in all fairness, Trump's response in an interview was:

Well, just so you understand, I don’t know anything about David Duke. OK? I don't know anything about what you’re even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So, I don't know. I don’t know, did he endorse me or what’s going on, because, you know, I know nothing about David Duke. I know nothing about white supremacists. And so you're asking me a question that I'm supposed to be talking about people that I know nothing about.

As I said, he's not a passionate opponent of anti-Semitism unless it involves American foreign policy and fucking over a mostly Muslim population. He also displayed this lack of passion after the murder of an anti-fascist protester by fascists in Charlottesville- a woman was killed and he couldn't rouse enough passion to simply condemn those responsible (his first response failed to do that and in general  his responses leaned towards favoring the fascists)- apparrently his racism is more important to him than his opposition to anti-Semitism.

UPDATE 2/24/20 In 2016 Trump gave a speech that was pretty easy to interpret as anti-semitic. There is an article about it here. As far as I can tell, JTA is a good source, not sure to what small or slight degree it's pro-Israel or how liberal it is. It seems pretty professional and only slightly pro-Israel and maybe a little liberal.
UPDATE 2/24/20 According to this, Trump gets along with the leader of Hungry, Victor Orban. This discusses Orban's treatment of Jews. The article says that Orban claims Jewish philanthropist George Soros is supporting illegal immigration into Hungry. A senior leader of the Jewish community in Hungry sort of defends Orban but crucially says that he doesn't believe the conspiracy theory against Soros. If this man is right and Soros is innocent, why does Orban (very publicly) make the accusation? I think it's because of anti-Semitsm. Also the organization of Orban's Jewish defender is heavily supported by the government- admittedly that might erode what I'm saying, but not necessarily. MANY bigots are simply not consisent (i.e. I've heard of Nazi skinheads eating Thai food, and when a Chinese politician in N. Ireland accused an element of the Orange Order of being racist towards the Chinese community there, those accused responded by claiming (probably honestly) that they love Chinese food) and it's not irrelevant that the Nazis used a small but significant number of Jews as collaborators just before and during the Final Solution). Lastly, at least some Jewish leaders in Hungry ARE greatly concerned about Orban. Orban probably IS an anti-Semite.

UPDATE 2/2/8/20 On a related note, a poll recently found that any of the Democratic presidential candidates would beat Trump 2-1 among Jewish-Americans and that includes anti-AIPAC Jew Sanders and anti-AIPAC non-Jew Warren. There is also information about how American Jews feel about Trump's Israel policy, which dents the idea that he is supporting Israel the extreme way he is because Jewish-Americans want him to.

UPDATE 3/9/20 There's an article about anti-Semitism at Fox News.

UPDATE 6/17/20 There's an article here about a senior GOP politician pushing an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory about liberal Jewish billionaire philanthropist George Soros controlling the Dems. UPDATE 2/4/21 An article here contains (towards the bottom) news about her promoting another anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.

UPDATE 7/8/21 An article about Taylor Greene TWICE comparing anti-COVID-19 efforts with what Nazi Germany did.

UPDATE 9/18/20 Trump spoke to Jewish-Americans as if Israel and not America was their country. 

UPDATE 7/8/21 An article here contains an accusation that Trump spoke positively about Hitler.

UPDATE 2/27/22 An article here about two GOP congresspeople attending an event organized by an anti-Semite.

UPDATE 11/26/22 An article about Trump associating with anti-Semites.

UPDATE 9/19/23 An article about Trump making anti-Semitic statements.

UPDATE 9/14/24 An article here is about an apparent dirty-tricks GOP operation aimed at discouraging critics of Israel from voting for Harris- partly because her husband is Jewish. Although I'm not sure they are necessarily anti-Semites, what they are doing can easily result in more anti-Semitism in this society.

UPDATE 9/18/24 There is an AMAZING article here suggesting that JD Vance is pretty soft on anti-Semitism in the GOP.

UPDATE 9/21/24 And article about Tucker Carlson and Holocaust revisionism ("revisionism" is the term used, and might be a little more accurate than "denial" but "denial" also works pretty well).

********

UPDATE 2/11/20

I missed something about two months ago when Trump signed an Executive Order about anti-Semitism on American college campuses. I'm not saying the idea in general is a horrible one- whether it comes from the right or the left, there is anti-Semitism. But on campuses I'm sure almost everyone who is perceived (rightly or wrongly) as anti-Semitic is a progressive and/or Arab and/or Muslim supporter of the Palestinians, and Trump knows that. According to an article here, even some of the Jewish students who complain about anti-Semitism aren't happy about it, and that includes supporters of Israel. Another article here explains that even the anti-Semitism expert who developed the definition it uses isn't happy with it on free speech grounds.

Some of the elements of the definition of anti-Semitism used are:

“holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel” That IS anti-Semitic.

“denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor” I'm not sure they have a right to self-determination and certainly not one that trumps that of the Palestinians who have a better claim to that area, and it IS kind of a racist endeavor (in about a week or two I should have a post done which will explain why I doubt they have a right to self-determination, as well as related issues (UPDATE 3/8/20 That post is here) (for more about self-determination, see the bottom of this post)).

“and drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” Such comparisons are not absolute bullshit but they're close. And on a similar topic, if I got pissed off and called a Jewish person a Nazi the way I MIGHT call anyone a Nazi when I'm pissed off, I would apologize immediately.

"Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations." This is also anti-semitic. 

(I got the four items above from the second article and from the State Department page about a definition of anti-semitism)

There is a European Union body that has said using the phrase "Israeli Apartheid" is anti-semitic. I deal with that here.

As the second article says, it is about suppressing pro-Palestinian speech, and as I said Trump knows that on college campuses criticism of Israel overwhelmingly or exclusively comes from people who are progressive and/or Arab and/or Muslim.

*******

UPDATE 2/21/20 In an article here, I learned that Trump's ambassador to Germany (Richard Grenell) has expressed great fondness for a conservative Austrian political party in coalition government with a far-right party. Although beyond that the article is a little vague (I don't know exactly what parties he's talking about or exactly what they're like), he has expressed enthusiasm for insurgent "conservative" (right-wing) parties in Europe. In an article here, it says: 

"The president lashes out frequently at Germany and Merkel, whose defense of liberal democratic values has turned her into a favorite target of the Republican right. Grenell, since arriving in Berlin in May of last year, has doubled down on Trump’s criticisms via tweets and interviews with sympathetic news outlets, seeming to relish the opportunity to translate the trollish ethos of Trumpism into international diplomacy."

Merkel is the leader of a center/center-right party, not a progressive or anything like that. 

Trump just recently made Grenell acting  Director of National Intelligence, the highest official in the intelligence community despite the fact that he has never worked for an intelligence agency or the military, has no experience as an elected politician and has almost no significant experience in the State Department. Trump really likes him.

UPDATE 2/28/20 The Austrian Parliament, including the far-right party I referred to above, passed a measure condemning Israel-related anti-Semitism. It briefly referred to anti-Semitism in general but was focused on the kind about Israel. I think this is similar to what I wrote about Trump and college campuses. 

**********

UPDATE 2/21/20

I want to briefly explain something I mentioned above. My doubt that the Jewish population has a right to self-determination. I AM going to write a post about that and a lot of related things but I have only done some of the research for it and it won't be completed for about 2 more months (UPDATE 3/8/20 That post is here).

The Jewish people are not a nation. Religious groups don't have a right to self-determination (Catholics globally and in Ireland don't). In America, being Jewish is a religious and/or ethnic identity and ethnic groups don't have a right to self-determination (Irish-Americans don't have a right to self-determination). Even with a large concentration in Israel, Jews are a diaspora, and that was even more true in 1948. The Irish diaspora does not have a right to self-determination. The Irish on that island do, but not the diaspora.

UPDATE 2/28/20 IF (and it might be a huge if) anyone says that the Jews are a race and therefore they have a right to self-determination, here's my response: A) No, races don't have a right to self-determination (does the white race have a right to self-determination?); B) The Nazis certainly thought Jews were a race, and C) are such hypothetical supporters of Israel saying that Israel is a racial state?

UPDATE 3/2/20 If the definition I discuss above is referring to Jewish-Israelis as having a right to self-determination, settlers and their descendants don't have that right- white people in America don't, Unionists in N. Ireland don't, Protestants there don't.

*********

Who are the real anti-Semites?