The term “de-Judaification,” coined by the Nazis, refers to the systematic exclusion of Jews from civic life. It happened in Germany. It happened in the Soviet Union. Now it’s happening in America.
We’ve all read the recent stories: Jews are not being hired for teaching jobs, especially at elite colleges. The same schools have reduced Jewish student admissions from upward of 20% a decade ago to single-digit percentages. Those Jews who are admitted are subject to increasing harassment—to the point that students at the University of California, Los Angeles blocked off a portion of campus and refused to allow Jewish students to pass on their way to class.
Publishers will not accept manuscripts by Jewish authors, such as Dark Horse Comics’ cancelation of a comic book by Holocaust scholar Rafael Medoff because he refused an editor’s demand to add criticism of Israel and U.S. immigration policy. Jews are being denied service in public accommodations, a clear violation of the Civil Rights Law of 1964.
Even Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), defeated in a Democratic primary by a Jewish leftist, was given a refund by a cafe in the largely Jewish Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn after it was revealed that he was Jewish. More alarming, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, one of the highest-level Jewish elected officials in America, has decided not to attend the state’s Democratic convention for fear of being verbally assaulted, if not worse.
Then there is the escalating number of hate crimes. Indeed, Jews are the most targeted religious group in the United States.
There is an even more ominous threat than this, however.
One of the Nazis’ first acts when they came to power was to disbar all Jewish lawyers and remove all Jewish judges in Germany. Without full access to the legal system, our enemies could do anything they wanted to us, and they did. A similar phenomenon is underway in, of all places, New York City.
Among the most egregious of antisemitic Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s actions sent a subtle message: Given the opportunity to appoint 18 members to the Mayor’s Judicial Advisory Committee, Mamdani named not one Jew. Given that an estimated 50% to 60% of New York attorneys are Jewish, this is no oversight. The implications are clear: Don’t hold your breath waiting for any Jews to be appointed to the municipal bench.
The Democratic Party has largely rallied around the antisemitic radicals and Islamists who are winning primary elections in blue districts. Indeed, New York’s two senators and the narrowly defeated Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) quickly endorsed Dr. Abdul El-Sayed after he won the Michigan senatorial primary. El-Sayed is a close associate of fellow Jew-hater Hasan Piker, who claims that America deserved the terrorist attacks on 9/11.
Forty of 47 Democratic senators and 103 Democratic representatives, including retiring former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), voted to cut off all aid, even defensive aid, to Israel based on scurrilous and false accusations of genocide. This comes even though the atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023 clearly showed that it is the Palestinians who are guilty of at least attempted genocide.
Sadly, there have been numerous Jews, including public officials, who have done little or nothing to stem the wave of antisemitism sweeping the country. Perhaps the most shocking is Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who once upon a time dubbed himself the shomer or “guardian” of New York’s Jews. He no longer does—and for good reason.
So, where do we go from here?
One approach, while we still have Jewish lawyers and judges, as well as sympathetic non-Jews, is lawfare. For example, the targeting of the California school system, including the California Education Department, State Board of Education and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, for systemic antisemitism in state schools.
Another is to be more careful about voting. Don’t rely solely on party affiliation; look at candidates’ positions on the issues. Being a Democrat is no guarantee of sainthood, nor does voting for a Republican mean a one-way ticket to hell.
Jews who immigrated to America from Eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries described the United States as the medina shel chesed—the “land of kindness.” It would be tragic if today’s antisemitic leftist-Islamist alliance completes its conquest of the United States and turns that phrase into nothing more than a fond memory.
