OPINION:
In June, the Biden administration released its “National Strategy for Countering Antisemitism.” Crafted in part with the help of groups that promote antisemitism, such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations, it should come as no surprise that the policy was moribund at birth and dodged the difficult issues, such as offering an appropriate definition of the term itself.
Rather than simply mock the Biden strategy, which was never intended to do much more than shore up the support of liberal Jewish voters, conservatives must craft their own innovative, modern campaign to address this ancient hatred.
And make no mistake, we have a problem — a big one. Antisemitism is resurging in America.
From the Ivy League to the halls of Congress, hatred of Jews today is brazenly displayed in prominent institutions and is gradually eroding our freedom, prosperity and security — the fundamental values that make America great.
Traditional means of fighting back have failed to stop the rising tide.
Conventional approaches assume that hatred of Jews is a function of ignorance. They assume that antisemites simply don’t understand that the scurrilous charges against Jews are false. In this view, antisemites are accidental bigots.
The solution to this perceived ignorance has been education: making people more familiar with Jews, promoting Holocaust education, and teaching that hating Jews (or other groups) is morally wrong.
These efforts are failing because the truth is that the people who hate Jews are not uneducated so much as they are evil. We shouldn’t forget that Nazi Germany enjoyed a sophisticated, highly educated culture, and that this did not hinder the Holocaust.
Fast-forward to today, recent research documents that people with higher levels of educational attainment tend to be more antisemitic, not less.
A more effective strategy for combating antisemitism will feature two main efforts: The first is winning the American culture war, and the second is reestablishing strong Middle East policies.
The United States has long been a remarkably hospitable place for Jews because a fundamental principle of the American republic, even if imperfectly practiced, is that all groups deserve equal treatment under the law. The recent rise in antisemitism in the U.S. is a direct byproduct of the degradation of America’s commitment to equal treatment.
Critical race theory is the most potent current manifestation of the challenge to equal treatment. Its proponents believe that groups of people can be divided into two main categories: oppressors and the oppressed.
The oppressed deserve reparations for the injustices they and their ancestors have collectively experienced. The oppressors, in turn, deserve harsh treatment.
This Marxist belief in collective reward and punishment for historic acts is completely at odds with long-standing American political thought.
Once people come to believe that groups of people inherently deserve different treatment, it is almost inevitable that Jews, despite their minority status and history of oppression, will be placed in the “oppressor” category. Not too long after that, any harsh treatment they receive will come to be seen as justified.
So, the key to combating Jew-hatred is a full-court press to defeat the pernicious worldview of CRT, from dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion bureaucracies in schools and corporations to blocking leftist policies that betray the core American principle of equal treatment under the law.
To be successful, this initiative must be paired with a revitalized U.S. Middle East policy. Antisemitism has not only been used as an instrument of cultural Marxism here at home, but also employed as a tool to isolate, weaken and destroy Israel, the Jewish homeland and one of the most important U.S. allies.
U.S. policies must eschew efforts to attack and undermine Israel in international organizations and combat attempts to funnel international aid to entities that exploit and inflame Palestinian grievances, empower corruption, and foster violence against the Israeli state.
Instead, policymakers should stand staunchly and unambiguously with Israel, never subordinate U.S.-Israeli bilateral relations to the resolution of the Palestinian issue, and reject all attempts at diplomatic rapprochement with Iran, which is determined to destroy the Jewish people.
At the same time, Washington must actively support peace treaties between Israel and Arab states that foster economic security and diplomatic cooperation in the region. Doing so not only combats antisemitism, but also counters China’s growing malicious influence in the Middle East.
In conclusion, to combat antisemitism, American policymakers must simply remember what principles have made this country so great for Jews historically and fight to strengthen them. From winning the culture war to defending Israel, policymakers would do well to ignore President Biden’s game plan and instead take a note from his predecessor George Washington, who once wrote to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island:
“May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the goodwill of the other Inhabitants; while everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”
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Jay P. Greene is senior research fellow in the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation, where James Jay Carafano is senior counselor to the president and E.W. Richardson Fellow for International Engagement.
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