Hausman: Anti-Semitism and Jewish Dissonance on the 2016 Campaign Trail
Matthew Hausman at the Irwin J. and H. Ethel Hausman Memorial Speakers Series
Ahavath Torah Congregation, Stoughton , Massachusetts
Matthew Hausman is a frequent contributor to The New English Review. While a practicing litigator in Connecticut, he has returned to his original roots as a journalist. We are grateful for that, as his commentary is both sagacious and literate hewing to problems facing Israel and Jewish people here in America. This essay, originally published as an op-ed in Arutz Sheva, Israel National News, and republished in the eponymous Dr. Rich’s eMagazine, delves into the risible discord created by the abandonment of Israel by the progressives in the DemocraticParty who refuse to recognize Muslim anti-Semitism. That has increasingly created a dilemma for Democratic Jewish voters who have heretofore been obsessively loyal to their own undoing. Surprisingly, many GOP contenders in the 2016 race have made obligatory trips to Israel, as much to learn about the Jewish’s nation’s security concerns, as well as, demonstrate why they support the special relationship with the only democratic ally in the troubled Middle East. Invevitably, that has much to do with national security concerns about the isolation of Israel by the Obama Administration whose objective is to conclude a questioinable nuclear deal with Iran, lavishing the Islamic Regime with billions of impounded funds on the downstroke of a signature. The better to let the Shia Mahdists rain death and destruction on Israel, destabilize the Middle East and potentially America. Moreover, the presumptive early Democratic contender, former Secretary of State Hillary has shown evidence of moving further to the left of President Obama in denial of Muslim anti-Semitism potentially isolating American Jewish Democratic voters. As Secretary of State, Clinton facilitated the introduction of Muslim blasphemy codes via recognition of UN Human Rights Council Res. 16/18, “combatting religious intolerance” suborning the Estblishment Clause of the First Amendment, the right to critize any religion, most immediately, Islam. That is not lost on Matthew Hausman and his equally astute brother, Rabbi Jonathan Hausman, who as spiritual leader of Comgregation Ahavath Torah in Stoughton, Massachusetts, has hosted valued speakers of global repute under the sponsorship of the The Irwin M. and H. Ethel Hausman Memorial Speakers Series many of whom have addressed Jihadist Islamic doctrine and its roots of anti-Semitism.. Rabbi Hausman has been a colleague of this writer in the efforts to secure passage of versions of American Law for American Courts in a number of states, most successfully in Florida in 2014.. Through those experiences we have seen evidence of the progressive alliance of the ACLU, ADL, Southern Poverty Law Center in league with Muslim civil rights groups combating the salutary human rights aspects of ALAC,often through deceitful means. Among speakers at Hausman Memorial Speakers Series have been Mark Steyn, Geert Wilders, Bat Ye’or, our colleague Dr. Richard L. Rubenstein, Dr. Mark Durie and many others. Matghew Hausman has been a speaker as well as a moderate at several events. Hausman’s central thesis in his latest op-ed is:
The left has to do some soul-searching and reflect why it describes anti-Semitism as political expression, but criticism of Muslims as hate speech. Liberal Jews have to do the same about Obama.
Editor Note by Jerry Gordon
Anti-Semitism and Jewish Dissonance on the 2016 Campaign Trail
by Matthew Hausman
The 2016 presidential cycle is beginning to gear up, with Hillary Clinton assuming the mantle of presumptive Democratic nominee and Republican hopefuls preparing to compete with each other during the primary season. And Jewish Democrats are already lining up to shill for Clinton and attack the Republicans.
If the litmus test for Jewish voter loyalty is Israel, however, Democrats long ago abdicated any authority to determine “who’s good for the Jews” by their continuing support for Barack Obama – despite his relationships with Israel-bashers, his appeasement of Islamist regimes, his disrespectful treatment of Binyamin Netanyahu, and his pursuit of a deal with Iran that rewards aggression, enables its nuclear ambitions and threatens the existence of the Jewish State.
Jewish Democrats attacked Republican Senator Marco Rubio for allegedly creating a political wedge issue when he spoke in support of Israel from the Senate floor in response to the White House’s personal attacks against Netanyahu before his address to Congress in March. They criticized Rubio even as Obama refused to meet with Netanyahu and Democratic operatives were meddling in Israel’s election in an unsuccessful attempt to push a left-wing coalition to victory. It seems that party hacks were more interested in belittling Rubio’s unwavering support for Israel than in condemning the negative message sent by the fifty-eight Congressional Democrats (some of them Jews) who boycotted Bibi’s speech, and by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s churlish conduct in turning her back to the Prime Minister as he spoke.
Similarly, the National Jewish Democratic Council was quick to criticize Kentucky Senator Rand Paul for his position on aid to Israel and to insinuate that he would be detrimental to the Jewish State. This criticism is actually valid in light of Paul’s past statements about reducing aid to Israel and his isolationist rhetoric – as well as the dubious positions of his father, Rep. Ron Paul, regarding Israel. But it is hypocritical for Jewish Democrats to sound the alarm regarding Paul’s candidacy considering how they portrayed Obama as a friend to Israel and champion of Jewish values while ignoring his associations with anti-Semites, his uncritical acceptance of the revisionist Palestinian narrative, and his hostility toward the Jewish State – particularly during last year’s war in Gaza.
There is clearly a strategy to push a distorted narrative that taints all conservatives with the presumption of anti-Semitism, though hatred of Jews is far more prevalent on the political left these days. While there is a history of anti-Semitism on the right to be sure, there is just as long and pernicious a tradition of Jew-hatred on the left, where it has been a potent political force since the rise of socialism, communism and European liberalism. It permeated the ideological fabric of these movements because it was part of the societies in which they grew. Progressives today often project hostility for Jews and Israel onto conservatives while pretending that liberal and Muslim anti-Semitism does not exist. (READ MORE)