How the US and Israeli Right Redefined Antisemitism to Stay in Power

Fascists by definition need antisemitism to stay in power. The US and Israeli right found a way to use it while pretending to fight it.

A week ago, Donald Trump repeated his insult that, Jewish Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has “become a Palestinian.” This was the second time since he first used the insult in March.

Targeting Jews this way is nothing new from Trump. He has often referred to Democratic Jews and Jews as disloyal, hating their religion, hating Israel, and would be the ones responsible if he lost.

All of this exhibits a pattern beyond the obvious antisemitism: Donald Trump and many of his Republican colleagues & supporters don’t see center-left to left wing Jews as Jewish. Which is why they can direct antisemitism at us: if they see us as Palestinian, they can’t be antisemitic when they target us. It is a classic form of “Good/Bad Jew” antisemitism.

There is another group that sees us this way. The Jewish far right, in Israel as well as the diaspora, and much of the Jewish right as well. This can often be explicit, as was exemplified in moments like Avi Mayer, former editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, declaring that Jews against the war declaring that Jews who oppose the war are no longer part of the Jewish people. It can also simply imply that some Jews don’t actually consider themselves Jewish at all, as is the case with the common “JINO” (Jews in name only) slur and the “self-hating” designation.

It is for this reason, then, that many of these same people have no trouble spreading antisemitism themselves. Netanyahu regularly spews conspiracy theories about George Soros and the “deep state” targeting him.

In each case, as long as a specific group of Jews is targeted with antisemitic conspiracy theories, it is judged as acceptable. Progressive and left wing Jews become the targets because they are not seen as Jewish, and thus worthy of targeting. The irony being that in so doing, they are treated more like the Jews who have been targeted throughout history.

But their use of antisemitic tropes is not just about hatred or division or partisanship. They need targets of antisemitism in order to maintain power, just as fascists and authoritarians, from Nazi Germany’s “Jewish Bolshevism” to modern far-right movements, have needed these conspiracy theories for generations. It is just that they have each figured out that as long as they lob the antisemitism at the other side, their supporters will actually see it as support for the Jewish people.

Both leaders reference the same conspiracy theories when justifying their crackdown on protests. Netanyahu claims they are orchestrated by the same deep state targeting him personally. Trump and his supporters have spent years claiming that campus protests were orchestrated by George Soros.

The right in each country has gone further than this, however, as they have worked not only to redefine who is Jewish, but also what is antisemitism.

When people believe that Jewish survival depends on the existence of a nation-state, it becomes easy to convince them that anything at all that threatens that existence is by its very nature antisemitic. And while there is of course validity to believing this, as time has passed, any nuance or context to this view has been stripped bare. It has narrowed further and further, to first encompass every version of anti-Zionism, then criticism of Israel’s government, and finally even opposition to the war.

Indeed it was October 7th and the ensuing conflict that finally crystalized the change. When a war is seen as existential, it becomes easy to convince people that opposition to it means opposition to the survival of those fighting it. This is the case in most wars: countries polarize and critics are accused of being traitors or worse.

The combination of changing who is considered Jewish and the redefining of antisemitism has meant that much of the antisemitism perpetrated by the right in both the US and Israel is unseen.

Many Jews in the diaspora who subscribe to this view (even many who genuinely care about protecting all Jews) may acknowledge the existence of other forms of antisemitism, but even so have trouble perceiving it, let alone the danger it represents. This is how you can have Elon Musk stand on stage and do a Nazi salute, reinstate neo-Nazis onto Twitter/X, and more with only momentary waves of concern. Thus the richest man in the world is genuinely seen as less of a threat than a campus anti-war protestor.

Not only that, they may not even be weighing or comparing each in the first place. It took years of warnings by people like myself for the danger Musk represented to even be elevated by organizations like the ADL, let alone much of the pro-Israel Jewish community and leadership. The warnings largely went unheeded because Musk’s antisemitism was couched in conspiracy theories with progressive Jews at the center, like the Soros conspiracy theory and Great Replacement conspiracy theory. Without a danger to Israel, they were, in effect, not considered antisemitic.

Even the reinstatement of neo-Nazis on the platform, not to mention their wider success within the rightwing mainstream, has hardly made true waves until antisemites like Candace Owens began targeting Israel as well.

All of this has provided an opening for the fascist leaders in Israel and the United States. Not just in their consolidating power within their own countries, but in their partnership in aiding each other in that work.

There is a collaboration between the Israeli far right and the Western far right that has grown through the decades and culminated to this moment. One in which they work together to make progressive Jews utilitarian targets so that they can each build power from within in the name of fighting antisemitism.

Each benefits from this in different ways. In the United States, Netanyahu operates as a sort of Kosher symbol for antisemitism. He will come to the defense of Trump and Musk as if his position somehow gives him the authority to do so. Trump and Musk return the favor by using their respective powers to advance Netanyahu’s agenda. In Trump’s case, America’s support as well as the targeting of protestors in America.

Musk, in turn, has achieved lucrative business deals with the Netanyahu government, from AI to Starlink to Tesla.

Perhaps more importantly, though, Musk has used his power as the owner of Twitter/X to moderate only two phrases in the name of fighting antisemitism: “from the river to the sea” and “decolonization” as they relate to Israel. Not threats to kill Jews, not Holocaust denial, not the very conspiracy theories Musk himself spreads. None of these were moderated. The reason, of course, has nothing to do with antisemitism: it is about literally shutting down criticism of Israel.

Incredibly, Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the ADL, celebrated the move, even while the organization later downplayed Musk’s Nazi salutes. All of this is an indication of just how much power has shifted within America thanks to the alliance between the far right in Israel and the US in redefining antisemitism post-October 7th.

This alliance is antisemitic at its core all while cloaked in the language of fighting antisemitism. It has been incredibly effective at consolidating power for the fascists in both countries.

This alliance culminated most vividly in the recent conference on combatting antisemitism convened in Jerusalem by the Israeli government which featured some of Europe’s most dangerous and extreme far right figures, almost all known for spreading similar antisemitic conspiracy theories. Some of them represent political parties, such as the Vox Party in Spain, which have members who subscribe to neo-Nazi ideology.

In a telling moment during his opening speech, Amichai Chikli, the Israel Diaspora Minister and organizer of the conference, lambasted Haaretz for its coverage of the far right attendees, saying it was “a beacon of lies, anti-Zionism and propaganda.” He went on to say that “Haaretz and others like them do not represent the Jewish people.”

In this one moment he embodied everything described in this article. An alliance with far right fascists and antisemites in Europe. The targeting of criticism of Israel in the name of antisemitism. And the erasure of these critics as not part of the Jewish people, thus legitimizing them as targets of antisemitism.

The conference itself was a far right nationalist, pro-Israeli government, pro-war convening. Its panel of influencers were all pro-war. The right wing leaders of the respective governments used their time to show support for the war, as if it was the most important topic of the day.

All of this is in line with the definitions of antisemitism by this group of allies, as well as who is considered a Jew worth defending.

None of this makes Jews safer, of course. In fact, the result is that Jews are in more danger in the diaspora than they’ve been in generations. Historically speaking, Jews have generally been safer in democracies. And far right governments, it seems to have been forgotten, have been far less safe for Jews.

We are seeing this play out in just about every country where the far right has flourished, especially in places of actual governmental power. Jews are less safe in these countries. Hungary. Poland. Italy. All far less safe for Jews since the far right took power.

Even in regard to antisemitism on the left due to October 7th, electing far right governments has done nothing to stop or even slow that form of antisemitism. Like Musk and Trump, these governments don’t genuinely care to stop antisemitism, just to instrumentalize it. And alongside that, the antisemitism of both the far right government officials and people on the ground means that this threat has no force to slow it down.

This is just as true in Israel, where the far right has not only not stemmed the danger of violence, but has overseen the biggest failure to protect Jews since the Holocaust. This is not a coincidence, it is a fact of far right and fascist governance: the people aren’t actually a priority. Only those in power are.

Part of the failure of the far right in Israel was that it was so focused on oppressing Palestinians in the West Bank that it failed to protect Israelis in the south. Days before the attack, three battalions were removed from the Gaza border and reassigned from Gaza to protect illegal settler Sukkot events in the West Bank. And since the beginning of the war in Gaza, the hostages have not been protected by the government: they’ve been sacrificed.

The answer has been and always will be that governments, societies, and movements that prioritize the safety and solidarity of all people are the most sustainable in providing safety to Jews. Protection within the construct of safety for all people is more sustainable because a government that only protects some can and will change its priorities to suit its needs. It is by definition temporary and transactional: safety is promised at a cost. Today, in the US the cost is to sacrifice some Jews with the promise of safety for the smaller percentage who stand with Trump. In Israel, the cost is to sacrifice hostages and those on the ground who are protesting for them through intense crackdowns.

All of this while Palestinians in Israel are oppressed and Gazans are wiped out. All of this while immigrants in the US are being deported to concentration camps, guilty of crimes or not. While there is an attempt to erase trans people. While DEI is used as a euphemism for removing Black people from jobs, positions of power, and simply in any place of society where white people are.

Safety can only happen through solidarity. The hostages will be safer when Israelis see that Israelis are not safer because Gazans are dying or the West Bank is burning. Jews in the diaspora will be safer when their safety is not used as a cudgel against minorities, but rather a justification for ensuring their protection as well.

This then also applies to progressive Jews who are the focus of antisemitic conspiracy theories: one day, the focus will turn to right wing pro-Israel Jews as well. We all deserve safety.

Ironically, Donald Trump accidentally revealed a hidden truth when he claimed that Schumer was a Palestinian.

When a Palestinian life is considered as valuable as a Jew’s, and vice versa, we will live in a far better and safer world.