The Biden administration has convened an “inter-agency group led by Domestic Policy Council staff and National Security staff” to address antisemitism in America.
Will the Domestic Policy Council’s initiatives do for antisemitism what they have done for domestic policy? It might not be a bad thing if they could lower the productivity of America’s antisemites by creating a supply-chain crisis in the market for bigotry.
We can applaud the sentiment while also remaining sceptical about whether anything will change. Or perhaps we shouldn’t even applaud the sentiment.
The forum, according to the White House press office, will address “antisemitism, Islamophobia, and related forms of bias and discrimination”. Not, we note, anti-Zionism, the gateway drug so popular on American campuses and in left-wing media.
Not so long ago, the Democrats excoriated attempts to universalise the “Black Lives Matter” slogan.
Now, they are quick to relativise anti-Jewish racism and violence. This both-sides, All-Lives-Matter sloganeering cannot solve the problem of antisemitism, not least because antisemitism is not a problem like inflation or border security. This strategy can, however, dilute antisemitism, and politicise it.
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President Joe Biden
The white racists on the fringe of the Republican Party tend to hate both Jews and Muslims. In this context, linking antisemitism and Islamophobia, whatever that is, directs opprobrium in their direction.
They deserve it, too. But the Democrats have their own problems with “the Zionists”. This went unaddressed at the round table.
In case there’s any doubt this was a partisan PR exercise, consider its official convener. As the husband of Vice-President Kamala Harris, Doug Emhoff is America’s first Second Gentleman.
He is also the first Jewish spouse of a president or vice-president. Emhoff, who was raised Reform in Brooklyn and New Jersey and has married out not once but twice, is an entertainment lawyer by profession. This is the first time Emhoff has taken on a political issue.
This is what we get when government sees its task as handing out symbolic rewards on the basis of collective identity. Again, we can applaud his sentiment. But nothing here suggests Emhoff knows what he’s talking about, and everything he says carries the whiff of a press release.
“I’m proud to be Jewish,” Emhoff said after the meeting, “and I’m proud to be living openly as a Jew.”
If Jews can’t “live openly” in Brooklyn, New Jersey and the entertainment business in LA, then it’s worse than we think.
We can, of course.
It was a bizarre thing to say, given the setting. The issue isn’t whether Doug Emhoff gets to affirm his identity when he could have done so all along, and whether he now feels proud about it.
The issue is incitement to mass murder, which is what shooting up synagogues is. It’s an apparently uncontrollable epidemic of assaults on Orthodox Jews in New York City and other major cities, all of which are run by the Democrats.
“We will not be silent in the face of hate, bigotry, and lies,” Emhoff went on. Again, commendable, but he had to spoil it by staying on-message.
“We will continue speaking out against antisemitism and hate of all kinds.” The Second Gentleman has yet to share his first out-speak against the constant demonisation of Israel and Jews on the left of his own party. Don’t hold your breath.
This was not a policy announcement. It was a press conference, an exercise in the higher tokenism for low motives. It has nothing to do with reducing incitement and violence against Jews, and everything to do with holding together the Democratic Party’s coalition. The beatings will continue until morale improves.
