Are Progressives Being Manipulated into Hating Jews?

Hey guys, I have an honest question for my fellow progressives: Do you think we’re being tricked?

Is it possible that our movement is being manipulated somehow, by unseen forces, into actually resenting or blaming “all Jews” for what’s happening in Gaza? Or, at the very least, are we being maneuvered into normalizing or tolerating people who do blame all Jews?

I mean, it’s one thing to hate the war in Gaza. (Who doesn’t?) But do you ever feel like we are being repositioned somehow into hating – like – all Jews, as a group?

As gross as it sounds, is that what is happening to our cause?

Because something is wrong.

I say this because, in the past two weeks, there have been two horrifying, violent attacks on Jews in America.

• There was a cold-blooded shooting in Washington, D.C., resulting in the murder of a Jewish and Christian couple. The shooter then shouted, “Free, free Palestine!”

• And those murders were followed this weekend by a firebombing (!!!) of Jewish elders and children in Boulder, Colorado.

In other words, four Jews went straight from a public park to the emergency room. Their crime: calling for Hamas to return Israeli hostages. For that, they were almost burned alive on the streets of America.

Is this our country now? Are we living in a nation where – every week – a different nutjob is going to shoot or firebomb some Jewish people? And then nobody is going to say much about it?

I mean, no matter what anyone thinks about the war, shooting and burning Jews on America’s streets is completely, totally unacceptable. Right?

Right?

And yet the outcry from the left has been … muted.

Which is weird.

Because no matter how much we hate bloodshed in Gaza, we progressives are usually the first to denounce bloodshed here in America. Especially when it is targeted, vigilante violence. Against ANY population.

In fact: as progressives, I think we can usually agree on a few things.

1. Bibi Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, is not our favorite politician.

2. This heartbreaking, horrific war has gone on for too long.

3. The Palestinians deserve a secure, democratic and secular Palestinian state – alongside a secure, democratic and secular Israeli state.

4. And we are anti-HATE – opposing vigilante violence and hateful acts (especially against ethnic, social or religious minority groups).

That last point is core and fundamental to our identity as progressives.

In fact: our whole beef with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was that it was vigilantes using violence to try to get their way.

I can’t believe I have to even say this. But progressives OPPOSE hate crimes.

Progressives OPPOSE vigilante violence.

And we have spoken against it. REPEATEDLY.

• When Muslims got jumped on after 9-11, we spoke up. And when Trump later targeted them with his “Muslim ban,” progressives said, “NO!” We jumped up and said, “Leave these American Muslims alone. Are you nuts? Muslims are the best neighbors any of us HAVE – with the lowest crime rates, lowest divorce rates and highest educational attainment for women. Hands off the Muslim community!”

• When Asians were getting jumped after COVID, we were the first ones saying, “Hands off of Asian Americans! They had nothing to do with whatever happened in China with this virus! Leave them alone!”

• When a nightclub full of LGBTQ+ people was shot up, we were the first ones standing up and saying, “Leave the LGBTQ+ community alone! Hands off! No violence!”

• And don’t forget what happened in Charlottesville! A bigot ran over a young Jewish woman, Heather Heyer, while White nationalists chanted, “Jews will not replace us.” We spoke up. We went crazy. We said anti-Jewish hatred and violence must stop – immediately!

Nobody thought this was strange. Speaking out against hateful, bigoted, vigilante violence is kind of our thing. It’s one of the main things we do.

So why is it that – in the aftermath of these shocking attacks on American Jews – I’m seeing people online shrugging it off and saying, “Yeah, well, but what about Gaza, though?”

Wait. Hold on a second. That doesn’t make a lot of sense

• If progressives started hunting and killing Russian Americans to protest Putin’s actions in Ukraine – would we support that? Wouldn’t we immediately speak out?

• If conservatives started hunting and killing Ukrainian Americans to send a message to Volodymyr Zelensky, would that make sense? Wouldn’t we immediately speak out?

• If progressives started hunting and killing Chinese Americans to protest China’s brutal policy of oppressing Muslim Uyghurs, wouldn’t we be horrified? Wouldn’t we immediately speak out?

You can oppose Bibi Netanyahu. You can oppose the war in Gaza. But how in the world could that ever justify fellow Americans being firebombed, shot, chased and hunted in our own country? It doesn’t make any sense.

After all, attacking and killing American Jews is not going to help one person in Gaza. It’s not going to help one mother in the West Bank. It’s not going to help anybody.

So, what’s going on here?

• Is someone manipulating our algorithms so that we are starting to accept things that we would never have accepted, just a few years ago?

• Is someone working overtime online to slowly, slowly, slowly turn us into a version of the kind of hateful, hypocritical movements that we have always fought against?

• Are we being manipulated?

Well, we need to return to our roots and defend our values.

I think it’s time for more of us to say it plainly, as progressives:

“We are against hateful violence against anyone in the world – Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, or otherwise. We are against it overseas, and we are against it right here at home.

So stop threatening, hunting, attacking, and killing American Jews. Period. Full stop. You’re not helping. We don’t want this. HANDS OFF AMERICAN JEWS!”

And if we can’t say that, are we still progressives anymore?

And what happened to us?

Van Jones is a three-time New York Times bestselling author, a CNN host and contributor, and an Emmy Award winner.