For those who spend too much of their time on social media, there is a nefarious and disturbing trend gathering on every side of the political spectrum: the mainstreaming of Jew-hatred. This stems from the ridiculous notion that the State of Israel “owns” the United States in some way, a notion that is never explained or elaborated upon aside from conspiracy theorizing. Those who promote this concept accuse their detractors of being “Israel first,” yet they are the ones who constantly have Israel on the brain.
Growing up attending yeshivah, there is a consistent lesson taught to every student who passes through the system that what we are learning is part of a multi-millennia lineage that was passed to us and that we will pass to our children. Like every religion that believes its beliefs are the “correct” ones, Judaism has its reasons as well. Part of the reasoning that is given is the obsession the world has always had with the Jewish people. This outsized attention to the activities of the Jewish people is nothing that Jews seek and everything that we try to avoid.
Unlike other religions, Judaism does not proselytize. We have no interest in converts, and even those who seek to join the Jewish nation are rejected several times. We also do not claim that salvation in the afterlife is dependent on joining; merely keeping seven simple commandments (the Noahide laws, which are essentially the blueprint for a functional society) is sufficient to merit Heaven. Even after the Messiah comes, according to Judaism, we do not claim that all will become Jewish. Instead, it is live and let live. We will be peaceful in the Land that was promised to us, and everyone else can go about their business.
It is also not as if there are so many Jews that the world cannot help but notice us. Yes, the Jewish people have had extraordinary success in a wide variety of public-facing fields, but those achievements do not translate to such an obsession. There are as many or more Sikhs, Kurds, Armenians, Gypsies, and Uyghurs as there are Jews, many of whom are very successful, and not one of those groups receives a fraction of the attention the Jewish people get.
This is coming from the fringes of both the Left and the Right and is the most cited example of the horseshoe theory of politics. On the Left, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) spend far more time pushing anti-Israel ideology than they do socialism. At their conference in 2017, there was one agenda item related to foreign policy — boycotting Israel. They have absolutely zero interest in any nation on earth except the Jewish one. When they passed the resolution, the crowd erupted in cheers and chants of “From the river to the sea…”
The DSA did not stop there. In their questionnaire to New York City Council candidates in 2020, the DSA had only two foreign policy questions — both about Israel. The first was a pledge not to travel to Israel; the second was support for the BDS movement. There was no similar pledge to avoid Russia (this was before the invasion of Ukraine) over its occupation of Crimea or Georgia. There were no demands to boycott North Korea, China, Venezuela, or Iran, all of whom have well-documented human rights abuses. Only Israel.
Now there is Zohran Mamdani, whose obsession with Israel and the Jewish people is literally the foundation upon which he built his entire political career. He founded a Students for Justice in Palestine chapter in his college and tried to get them to join BDS. His fledgling rap career promoted his admiration for the Holy Land Five, a group that was convicted of supporting terrorists. What connection does he have with Israel? None. He was born in Uganda and his parents are from India. Yet his only piece of legislation that he sponsored during his short stint in the New York Assembly was a ploy to get every Jewish not-for-profit shut down or fined if they contribute to Israel.
Now that he is the mayor-elect, the DSA, who helped him get there, sent a list of demands to ensure that he did not turn his back on them. Every single one of the demands was about Israel. There was no mention of free busing, lower costs, widespread housing, or any other item on the socialist agenda that Mamdani campaigned on. No, the demands were that Mamdani ban Israeli products from grocery stores, investigate real estate agents who sell property in Israel, shut down every Jewish institution for raising money for the IDF, arrest Benjamin Netanyahu, and more.
That is the Left side of the horseshoe. The Right side is, as of now, far less influential in the GOP than the DSA is with the Democrats. Thanks to the efforts of many on the commentary Right (like Ben Shapiro) and the pragmatic members of the Trump administration, the libertarian isolationists have little influence in government, despite maintaining a vocal online presence. That is not to say they are not dangerous — they certainly are.
While the Left is clever enough to conceal its Jew-hatred under a façade of “anti-Zionism,” the libertarian isolationists — who have a fair-weather relationship with the right wing at best — are far less subtle. The head of the “groypers,” and an avowed white nationalist, anti-Semitic, Hitler- and Stalin-loving, intellectually deficient moron, Nick Fuentes, is spending his entire existence recruiting young men to his cause. He is doing so with the help of Candace Owens, the Hodge twins, Tucker Carlson, Dave Smith, Ian Carrol, and many more.
These characters have abandoned the right wing while simultaneously claiming they are the true “MAGA” and that everyone else is merely a pretender. They view their opposition to the Iraq war and the COVID vaccine as their ultimate credentials, while they sit on the sidelines and do nothing to help Republicans get elected or push any of a dozen policy agendas. The only policy they care about is, of course, Israel.
When not engaging in conspiracy theories about who killed Charlie Kirk and whether various wives or world leaders are actually men, they push debunked, out-of-context talking points as “proof” that Israel is actually America’s enemy, not ally. Anyone who pushes back against them is “Israel First,” as opposed to “America First” (which they are not), and any evidence against their claims is treated as proof that the Mossad has ensnared another victim or that Israel has paid them off.
This is not limited to online personas. Members of Congress Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie have been co-opted into this Israel Derangement Syndrome, along with former Congressman and nominee for Attorney General Matt Gaetz. Anyone who calls out that they are mistaken receives a reply of “$7000,” an accusation that they are being paid by Israel.
Their main gripe with Israel is the military aid that the United States sends every year. This is, of course, not unusual, as the United States sends billions of dollars to Egypt, Poland, Taiwan, Romania, and many other countries. The only one the groyper right cares about? Israel. Unlike the Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh, who wants to stop all foreign funding, they only want to stop one.
If they looked into this particular arrangement, they would see that this is not charity given by the United States to Israel, but rather part of the military relationship between the two nations. As part of this deal, all military hardware must be purchased from the United States, which amounts to over $30 billion spent by Israel in the U.S. annually (including the $3.8 billion America “sends”). This amounts to roughly a 10% discount for a good customer. America also gets field testing of its equipment and intelligence sharing in the region. This is not the unequal relationship the groypers complain about. It is one based on mutual understanding, shared values, and a safer world for both nations.
Facts and logic are irrelevant, however, as the woke-right libertarian isolationists are governed by their emotions just as much as their horseshoe-Left counterparts are. It does not matter that Fuentes unleashed his horde on Charlie Kirk and TPUSA back in 2019 or that, policy-wise, Ben Shapiro is far more aligned with Donald Trump than Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tucker Carlson, or Candace Owens are. Emotionally, they feel more “MAGA” because they are fighting the narrative — regardless of whether that narrative is true.
The reason for the obsession with Israel and Jews from both the Right and the Left is based on how they each view power dynamics. Good versus evil, moral versus immoral, and objective truth have no place in determining which side to back. The only question is who is powerful and who is not. The powerful are the evil ones and are therefore subject to attack. This mindset is infecting the Right and has completely permeated the Left. On the Left, if Israel is powerful, all other policies are cast aside to attack it. On the Right, if Jews are powerful in business, entertainment, and government, they are subject to attack as well.
It is morally wrong to advocate for anyone to be canceled over their speech, but that by no means suggests that they are above criticism or reproach. The answer to speech is more speech, not censorship. The way forward is to show the public that what these fringe groups are saying is objectively false, morally evil, and intellectually ridiculous. Their obsession with the Jewish people and the Jewish state itself is suspect, because it means they are focused on a singular issue when dozens of others are far more relevant to their daily lives than a nation the size of New Jersey on the other side of the world. Their obsession is a confession that it is not about this small nation, but something far deeper and more nefarious that lies inside their souls. If we do not call it out, it will influence and indoctrinate a new generation into hatred.
Moshe Hill is a political analyst and columnist. His work can be found at www.aHillwithaView.com and on X at @HillWithView.