Leonid Goldin | Learned Nothing, Understood Nothing

“When God wants to destroy a man, He first deprives him of reason.
Sophocles 

This year, Holocaust Remembrance Day coincided with the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. In commemoration of this date, many events were held. At the Park East Synagogue in Manhattan, representatives of federal and local authorities, foreign diplomats, and others gathered. Rabbi Arthur Schneier, now 95 years old and a Holocaust survivor, has been urging people to remember history lessons for over 50 years. Thanks to his initiative, part of 67th Street in Manhattan was named Yad Vashem this year—after the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, which has been conducting research and educational work since 1953 to preserve the memory of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators.

At the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan, an exhibition was organized in memory of Anne Frank, the 15-year-old girl who perished in Auschwitz. The exhibition includes artifacts from the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam, where she wrote her world-famous diary. The exhibition will also travel to many cities across America.

Twenty years ago, the UN established International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Once again this year, ritual speeches were delivered. However, the UN, like many other international organizations, is increasingly adopting openly anti-Semitic positions.

The day was also observed in Washington, where the radically new stance of the U.S. administration was made clear: an uncompromising condemnation of terrorists and their supporters, support for Israel, and the necessity of decisive measures to combat anti-Semitism both domestically and globally.

But memorial dates are not the only reminders of this tragedy. Today, anti-Semitism has become a global phenomenon, supported by international organizations, numerous countries, street mobs, and the liberal cultural elite.

During World War II, anti-Semitic ideology and the genocide of Jews were confined to Nazi-controlled territories. The civilized world failed to prevent the catastrophe but at least understood and condemned the nature of fascism. The Holocaust became a symbol of ultimate evil, moral collapse, and dehumanization in the Western consciousness. But today, even the West has lost its moral compass and fundamental values, often supporting modern anti-Semites whose ideology and actions are no different from those of the Nazis.

Can anyone doubt that if Hamas, Hezbollah, or Iran had the opportunity to build a new Auschwitz, they would do so without hesitation—and that their schoolteachers would lead children to the barracks and gas chambers as part of their “patriotic education”?

The enemies of the Jewish state—and of all Jews—do not hide their intentions. Yet, today, even in the Western world, the depth of hatred is so great that the murder of Jews and the taking of hostages by terrorists have become reasons for their justification and even glorification.

“Never again” has turned into a utopian mantra in which liberal Jews once believed, but repetition has not made it a reality—it has suffered a crushing failure. The events of October 7 and the world’s reaction to them have left no room for illusions. And yet, delusional fantasies still dominate liberal thinking, nowhere more evident than among American Jews. Their belief that hatred and prejudice can be overcome with good deeds, education, negotiations, agreements, conferences, and memorials remains unshaken.

Two independent states, living in peace and cooperation. Global community participation and support. More billion-dollar subsidies. New generations were raised on the ideals of humanism and liberal democracy… These ideas have been repeated for decades, and they have never worked. Why should they work now, at a time of unprecedented postwar tensions, when the world is more divided than ever and global crises are escalating faster than they can be resolved?

The election of President Trump will lead to many unpredictable consequences, but one thing is clear: he has already dismantled the old, ineffective paradigm of international and domestic relations. He has dared to call things by their true names without concern for the dominant global liberal demagoguery and mythical thinking. The era of Obama and Biden’s empty rhetoric and hypocrisy is over.

Already in his first term, Trump convincingly demonstrated his position on Israel. In recent days, new, previously unimaginable signs of his paramount attention to the fate of Israel and American Jews continue to emerge daily. No predictions or imagination could have foreseen Trump’s approach to solving the Palestinian issue. Regardless of how feasible these ideas are in their entirety, their political effect was immediate: a clear message to the enemies of the Jewish state who seek its destruction.

Trump has done what was unimaginable under Obama, Biden, or Harris: he has demanded investigations, accountability, punishment, removal from office, and deportation of foreigners who have committed anti-Semitic acts and violence. He will not allow them to hide behind demagoguery about free speech.

Trump is not alone in his resolute support for Israel and American Jews. Elise Stefanik, appointed as the U.S. ambassador to the UN, previously, as a member of Congress, called out university administrations for allowing pro-Hamas activists to harass and intimidate Jewish students and professors while calling for Israel’s destruction. Brian Mast, who is set to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee, rejects the myth of “innocent victims” in Gaza, whose residents overwhelmingly support Hamas. “I don’t think we should be quick to use the term ‘innocent Nazis’ when talking about World War II. It is no exaggeration to say that there are very few innocent Palestinians,” Mast stated. A Christian evangelical, he believes in the Bible and has no doubts about who rightfully owns Judea and Samaria. He volunteered in the Israeli army and even wore his uniform to Congress after October 7, while Democrat Rashida Tlaib displayed the Palestinian flag.

It is worth noting that evangelical Christians, who firmly believe in every word of the Bible, are Israel’s most steadfast supporters. Yet, Jewish liberals see them as reactionaries and regressives, preferring instead to seek favor and friendship with those who today support the Palestinians.

The shifts in American politics are both stunning and encouraging, offering hope—but it would be naive to think the battle is over. “Liberals, it’s time to resist,” writes New York Times columnist Charles Blow. Democrats have not yet recovered from their crushing defeat, but they have no intention of capitulating. Fighting Trump and his policies has become their obsession and the very essence of their worldview and behavior. The president’s opponents have ample resources and opportunities at their disposal: mainstream media, the education system, and judges appointed by Democrats. A new demographic, intentionally stimulated through uncontrolled migration, gives Democrats hope for a future comeback. But the heart of this struggle is not just about power and money. The real question is: what kind of country will people be able to live in? And in that future, will there be room for their beliefs and values?

For no one is this question more stark and exposed than for the Jews. Even after the defeat of fascism—when the lessons of the Holocaust largely shaped public consciousness and morality—Jews were forced to flee almost every Muslim and African country. The few Holocaust survivors who returned to Poland, where the ashes of Nazi victims had barely cooled, were driven out again by new pogroms and killings.

Today, historical memory has faded even further. Books, lectures, and Holocaust museums cannot stop the rising hostility toward Jews. The concepts of the Holocaust and genocide have been hijacked to support the Palestinian cause, while Israel is equated with the Nazi regime.

Left-liberal policies in Europe, which opened borders to immigrants from countries where anti-Semitism is ingrained in families and schools, have made the continent unsafe for Jews. Even if governments wanted to, they are now powerless to stop anti-Semitic riots, vandalism, violence, and propaganda. If tolerance and support for anti-Semites are not countered with decisive legislative and practical measures, American Jews will face the same fate. Already, today, synagogues cannot open their doors without police protection. Attacks, verbal abuse, demonstrations, and protests with slogans calling for Israel’s destruction have become normalized, everyday occurrences.

Real life—not liberal naïveté—makes it clear who the friends and enemies of the Jews are. The choice should be obvious, especially given that liberal Jews are among the most educated and politically active segments of the American electorate.

Traditionally, American Jews have overwhelmingly voted for Democrats. But even at this moment of truth, the realization has not come. Around 70% of Jews voted against Trump. Meanwhile, Jews from the former Soviet Union and post-Soviet states have not forgotten the lessons of the past—and most of them voted for Trump.

According to polls, Israel and anti-Semitism are not priorities for American Jews. They are more concerned with abortion rights, gun control, climate change, inflation, protecting illegal immigrants, healthcare, support for racial minorities, and, above all, Trump, whom they see as a threat to democracy. More than a third of Jews believe Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is comparable to racism in the U.S. and consider Israel an apartheid state. Nearly half of young Jews have a negative view of Israel.

Jews support a party in which half of its members sympathize with Palestinians, while only 38% support Israel. Half of Democrats blame Israel for the war with Hamas and Hezbollah, compared to 21% of Republicans. American Jews, who make up just over 2.5% of the U.S. population, provide half of the Democratic Party’s financial backing. Fifteen of Kamala Harris’s top donors were Jewish.

How else can this position be described other than suicidal? But it’s not just Jews who hold this stance. Only Jews participate in pro-Israel and anti-anti-Semitism demonstrations. The majority of participants in pro-Palestinian protests are racial minorities, LGBTQ activists, pop culture figures, and those from the education sector. They cannot be unaware of how vastly different their way of life and thinking is from Islamic radicalism. It’s easy to imagine what fate would await them in a “free Palestine” and what rights and freedoms they would have under the rule of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or Hezbollah. But anti-Semitism blinds people, robbing them of common sense.

One of the events commemorating Holocaust victims was a program by prominent figures from the National Jewish Theater Foundation at Lincoln Center. The theme was “Broadway Musicals and Anti-Semitism.” Musicals are extremely popular in America, and Jews have played a leading role in their creation and development. The stage featured legendary theater figures and top stars reminiscing about productions related to the Holocaust. Theodor Adorno once said that writing poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric. I believe that composing a musical comedy about the Holocaust is profane, thoughtless, and in bad taste. But it is not for me to judge the choices of the American audience.

The participants in the discussion expressed concern over the rise of anti-Semitism in the country, identifying its causes and those responsible: Trump and his supporters. Americans have a saying: “Barking up the wrong tree.” I reminded the theater veterans of it—pointing out which party harbors enemies of the Jewish state and who defends Palestinian terrorism. But the audience and panelists were consumed by their anti-Trump obsession. I proposed a title for their next musical on the subject: “Useful Idiots.” The phrase has become commonplace, the material is abundant, and nothing could describe it more accurately.

Most of the ideological blindness in the Jewish community stems from liberals. Orthodox Jews and Hasidim preserve historical memory and are the primary targets of insults, attacks, and threats. But even among the Orthodox, some hold distorted moral and ideological views. Peter Beinart, a professor of journalism and political science—and, by his own admission, an Orthodox Jew—published a book titled “Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza.” Though cosmopolitanism and multiculturalism dominate over national identity in the American Jewish community, Beinart harshly criticizes its response to the events of October 7. In his view, Jews should see Palestinians as victims of Israeli policy and condemn Israel’s actions. “The horror perpetrated by Israel,” “The trauma, dehumanization, and fear experienced by Palestinians”—these, according to him, are the real causes of October 7.

Anti-Semites in Congress, the media, and universities don’t even need to exert themselves—enough American Jews are doing their work for them.

Naturally, Beinart has become a media star, appearing on Fareed Zakaria’s show on CNN and across major news outlets. His lectures on Israel, Jewish history, and free speech will not be disrupted, and he enjoys the full support of his superiors, colleagues, and students.

Given the current climate, the question of where Jewish organizations and leaders stand and what their role and position should be does not even arise. They have fully demonstrated their ineffectiveness and destructive influence. Most have suffered moral and political bankruptcy and are primarily concerned with publicly demonstrating their loyalty to the Democratic Party. Their arsenal consists of the same empty rhetoric about goodwill, unity, and building bridges. There are no fresh ideas—only a continuation of what has failed to deliver the necessary results and has led to the current state of affairs. There is no critical reassessment of what has caused the global wave of anti-Semitism, which ideas and directions should be abandoned, and which should be adopted.

There are a few exceptions. The Zionist Organization of America is a firm and reliable supporter of Israel, an uncompromising fighter against anti-Semitism, and a backer of the current administration’s policies. But it stands alone, and its membership has shrunk tenfold over the past few decades.

Today, the most effective defenders of Jews are among Republicans. There is much in the Republican agenda that may not appeal to everyone. But in the current circumstances, when Jews have so few friends and so many enemies, there is no more important task than ensuring their safety, rights, and freedoms—things they are rapidly losing under Democratic rule. Everything else is secondary right now.

P.S. Версия статьи на русском здесь.