Dangerous escalation: The assault on Judaism penetrates US Congress - opinion

Last week, the Western assault on Judaism escalated as 17 Democratic senators and 71 Democratic Congressmen wrote a stunning letter to US President Joe Biden urging him to sanction the two elected leaders of Israel’s national religious population, effectively suppressing the votes of over 10% of the Israeli electorate.

This is not just an attack on Israeli democracy but also on US national security, as fighters and casualties in the Gaza and Lebanon wars come disproportionately from the national-religious sector.

Those religious heroes are fighting and dying also for the security of Americans. The attempt to rob them of their basic right to choose their own representatives symbolizes an extreme form of thanklessness for the sacrifices of members of the armed services – in Israel and the US alike.

This Congressional letter follows the initiative of EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who sought to impose sanctions against Israeli-elected officials whom he does not approve of for the way they speak! This underscores that the Western assault on Judaism is also a proxy for an assault on America – in this case, on the American principle of freedom of speech.

And yet, a reason provided by the 88 US lawmakers to sanction the two Israeli ministers – Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir – is their “calling on Israel to annex the West Bank.” This while the exact same call is voiced by a number of nominees in the incoming Trump administration.

This could be a daunting sign of what is to come: Those 88 Democratic lawmakers cannot sanction President-elect Trump and his nominees, but they can seek to sanction Israeli Jews who express similar views as an outlet for their frustration.

No doubt, many Israelis, in particular on the Left, are unhappy with the two ministers, but Israelis are adamant that Israeli politics must be a matter of the Israeli democratic process, not the EU and the Democratic party.

Recurring attempt to target religious Jews?

Some American Christians view this as part of an effort by Democratic leadership to target people of faith.

Israeli religious Jews are composed of two groups: national-religious, who are targeted through the proposed sanctions against their political leaders, and Haredi Jews, who were targeted in April through an attempt to defund the Israeli army unit in which they serve.

That unit, Netzah Yehuda, led heroic battles in Gaza and sustained casualties, including during the week it was targeted by the Biden Administration.

The “reason” given for the defunding in the midst of battle was not even about the fighting in Gaza but, rather, an incident in 2022 involving a handful of soldiers accused of criminal negligence that led to the tragic death of a Palestinian detainee from cardiac arrest. In that same year, there were over 3,700 criminal investigations opened in the US Navy alone. Should Marines and other US servicemen be concerned that their units will be defunded as “collateral damage” in the Western assault on Judaism? 

This further underscores the link between the Western assault on Judaism and US National Security, which was discussed in last week’s article.

Democratic leaders I spoke to back then assured me that such measures were temporary – merely “to win Michigan” – and things would be different after November. In came November, and things got worse. After targeting Israeli democracy and its religious population, the 88 Democratic lawmakers proceeded to spread the new antisemitic bile: settler violence.

‘Settler Violence’ a laundered term for Jewish violence

While anti-Muslim violence and rhetoric has mushroomed in the US and Europe, the Biden Administration decided to promote the European-sponsored fable of settler violence, which was designated by Israeli lawmakers as a “modern-day blood-libel.”

This was apparently done to minimize the October 7 Hamas atrocities and claim “extremists on both sides,” which in turn helped promote the  Democratic Party/EU’s sacrosanct concept of a two-state solution. Indeed, the congressional letter to Biden shockingly states: “We welcomed your Executive Order addressing actors on all sides undermining peace, security, and stability in the West Bank... We also believe that the administration should continue to increase efforts to ensure all actors complicit in this violence are subject to US sanctions equally.” 

In the launch event for my new book, The Assault on Judaism, renowned Times of London columnist Melanie Phillips argued that she was particularly alarmed by the degree of glee that the Western assault on Judaism was being carried out.

Indeed, in what is reminiscent of anti-Jewish propaganda of the last century’s assault on Judaism, the letter announced another reason to sanction the finance minister: “He has denied tens of thousands of work permits to Palestinian civilians since October 7.”

Should US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also be sanctioned for denying tens of thousands of visas to civilians? In 2023, over 250,000 student visas to the US were denied. Moreover, are those 88 Democratic lawmakers not aware of what their continuities surely are? Israel is at war.

‘We the people’ vs ‘We the Donors’

One must wonder: Did those 88 legislators set aside the core American principle of “We the People” in order to give way to the competing concept of “We the Donors,” some of whom are at the forefront of the Western assault on Judaism?

It should be made clear: Most of the 88 lawmakers are not antisemites. They are patriotic Americans who deserve a great debt of gratitude for their public service. Yet their actions are indicative of just how deep the Western assault on Judaism has penetrated – so much so that it was deemed to be a higher priority than other values, including freedom of speech, representative democracy, US National Security, and truth.

While the letter was signed by 88 Democratic members of Congress, it is also important to note that more than 30 Democratic senators and over 140 Democratic Congressmen refused to sign the infuriating letter, including harsh critics of Israel’s policies. Indeed, many in the Democratic Party wish it would abandon its “European values” and obsessive opposition to the Jewish state and return to its own core values.

Meanwhile, the congressional letter has arrived at the White House. Biden should not dignify it with presidential attention. Instead, he should forward it to the Senate and House Ethics Committees.

Perhaps there, measures can be taken to ensure that the Assault on Judaism – a proxy for an Assault on Americanism – will be kept away from the US Congress.

The writer is author of a new book, The Assault on Judaism: The Existential Threat Is Coming from the West. He is chairman of the Judaism 3.0 Think Tank and author of Judaism 3.0: Judaism’s Transformation to Zionism (Judaism-Zionism.com). His geopolitical articles are featured on EuropeAndJerusalem.com