There was an editorial last week in The Free Beacon positing that due to anti-Semitism within its ranks, the Democrat party will mimic the electoral defeat of England’s Labor Party, which is similarly plagued by anti-Semitism. The Ilhan Omar–Ocasio-Cortez–Tlaib trio, as well as many members of various Democrat congressional caucuses, are open enemies of Israel’s existence and redolent with anti-Semitic pejoratives. The Beacon’s theory is that just as Jeremy Corbyn’s Labor Party was shunned by Jews and many in the public, thereby losing the last election to the Tories, so will Democrats lose to Republicans in 2022. Nancy Pelosi in the House and Chuck Schumer in the Senate, though themselves not anti-Semitic or anti-Israel, continue to allow this anti-Semitism in their party, and Pelosi goes farther by publicly and proudly embracing the Squad and especially Omar.
The Beacon should have given its supposition a bit more scrutiny, for there is a big difference between the repudiation of the Labor Party in England and the situation here with the Democrat party. In Britain, virtually every Jew, Jewish organization, and Jewish politician spoke against the anti-Semitism and severe anti-Israelism happening within the Labor Party. Their disgust was across the board, and many Jewish Laborites spoke of leaving the Labor Party…and did. The entire Jewish community was alarmed by what was happening and growing within Labor’s ranks and leadership, spotlighted it as the anti-Semitic party, and worked hard for Labor’s defeat.
In contrast, here in America, we do not hear or see the majority of Jews repudiating the Democrat party. Not at all! The Democrats have lost basically none of their previous 70% Jewish support. If one removes the Orthodox support for Republicans, the Jewish Democrat support is as high as 80%. Nor has any of the Jewish politicians threatened to leave the Democrat party. In fact, a dozen or so Jewish congressmen have joined and led others to further tighten Joe Biden’s grip over Israel, and many Jewish Democrat politicians continue to defend Ilhan Omar and whitewash everything she says, calling her critics Islamophobes. And while some Jewish organizations have criticized Omar herself, none of the major establishment organizations has made any condemnation of the Democrat party per se, as was done against Labor by England’s Jewish organizations. Dismayingly, non-Orthodox American Jews continue to stand solidly behind the Democrat party today, just as they did last Nov. 3 and many years previous.
Why the difference? Though in the past, many British Jews voted Labor because of their leftward tilt and past voting patterns, for American Jews, the Democrat party has become more than a preferred party or a voting pattern. It has become the heart and home of most American Jewry, with identification and love for it surpassing even the synagogue. It is their lifeline. There is no doubt about this. In fact, their synagogues and temples are subservient and in service to it.
England’s Jews left Labor, for their survival instinct rose in importance over their past voting patterns. Not so with American Jewry. Their very life, their sense of who they are, and their life’s transcendence, as well as their political power, are tied inexorably to the Democrat party, its politics, and its causes. It is the anchor and springboard of their “religious” mission, an earthly vehicle toward purpose and fulfillment. And in practical terms, they have an influence and rank within it that they think is unassailable. They are not worried at all. In their minds, it is still their party, “where a Jew belongs.”
