It’s a bad day for American Jewry when being anti-Israel helps candidates get elected.
Jews are up in arms at this development, as they should be. When three Israel-hating Democratic Socialist candidates win hotly contested House primaries in New York City, backed by Israel-hating Mayor Zohran Mamdani, we should be alarmed.
But if all we do is focus on the assault on Israel, we’ll be making a big mistake.
That’s because the Democratic Socialist assault is, above all, on America.
Attacking Israel these days is low risk. It’s a lot riskier to admit that your policies undermine the American Dream.
How so?
However cleverly they are masked, socialist policies are the antithesis of the American creed. This was artfully displayed by Mayor Mamdani in his inaugural message: To “replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”
That sounds so warm and cuddly, doesn’t it?
What Mamdani will never tell you is that it was rugged individualism that propelled his own rise to the top of New York politics. It was raw ambition and hard work and relentless networking — pillars of American liberty — that made him a winner.
Had he relied on the “warmth of collectivism,” he’d still be making hip-hop videos. The savvy mayor knows that cuddly collectivism may help him get votes, but it’s his drive and tenacity that gave him his American Dream.
Socialists don’t want you to know that. Admitting that “rugged individualism” fires up dreams would only undermine their own dreams.
It’s not cuddly collectivism that helped these socialists achieve their dreams. It’s moxie. It’s agency. It’s the American creed of making things happen. It’s everything their policies discourage.
It’s not cuddly collectivism that helped Bernie Sanders buy his private homes and travel in luxury. It’s the freedom to take advantage of opportunities, knowing that he lives in a country that rewards hard work.
Of course, “hard work” is not an idea that works on the campaign trail. You’re better off promising a sexy Marxist revolution that demands nothing of voters. Hang out at Starbucks all day while we give you free groceries and freeze your rent. What’s not to like?
A radical socialist like Darializa Avila Chevalier indeed hates Israel, but it’s much worse than that. When she says “No. more. police. at. all. Ever,” insisting that “a world without borders — just like a world without prisons or police — is possible, necessary and the only moral way forward,” or brags that “I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my face on the American flag behind me,” that is blatant, shameless anti-Americanism.
As Noah Rothman writes in National Review Online, “What tethers these [Democratic Socialists of America] candidates is not their shared hatred of the Jews or the banks or the moneyed and propertied classes. They hate America and the West … Marxian revolutionaries do not stop. They must consume continually, find new enemies to demonize and scapegoat … It is a hate group masquerading as a political movement.”
Their hatred of Israel is making all the noise, but it’s their hatred of America that is most dangerous.
Jews are left in an awkward position. Our natural reflex is to defend Israel against lies and call out the antisemitism spreading throughout the country. While that is obviously important, it would be a blunder to stop there. This is a moment when America itself is under siege. For Jews, it’s a chance not just to help our tribe but to help our country.
Maybe it’s not a coincidence that we’re celebrating America’s 250th anniversary this week. There’s no bigger priority today for American Jewry than to repair the fraying U.S.-Israel relationship. And there’s no better way to begin that process than by showing how much we care for America.
When we take on Democratic Socialists like Chevalier and Mamdani, our message must be: “You’re not just anti-Israel, you’re anti-America.” When we take on their hypocrisy, our message must be: “The American Dream has been good for you, but why not for your voters?”
In short, when we see anyone—right or left—undermine America and its founding ideals, the Jewish message must be: “We’re here to keep the American Dream alive.”
