Trumpism has energized the racist, Jew-hating underbelly of American society.
And yet paradoxically, the Trump administration has also been
the most pro-Israel government since Harry Truman.
I'm Matt-triple parentheses-Lieb
and I’m going to explain how we’re now somehow living in a world
where people can love Israel and hate Jews
at the exact same time.
If you've been paying attention to the American political landscape for the last two years,
you've probably noticed it's been a bit...
Hitler-y.
Hail Trump, Hail our people, Hail victory!
Trump repeatedly deflected when asked to disavow
former KKK leader David Duke.
Last week, headstones were toppled
at a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis, MO.
Police are investigating a slew of bomb threats
targeting Jewish community centers all across the country today.
Jesus.
That clip would actually be less disturbing
if he ended it by drinking a cup of German blood.
You’d think someone who ran a campaign so rife with anti-Semitism
and supported by Nazis and the KKK
would be heavily criticized by the Prime Minister of the Jewish state.
I mean, surely Benjamin Netanyahu will have some strong words for Donald Trump.
There is no greater supporter of the Jewish people and the Jewish state
than President Donald Trump.
Daaaaaaamn, he --
what?
Also, you might remember after the Charlottesville march,
Trump famously said there are some very fine Nazi-adjacent marchers.
Well surely THAT caused the PM of Israel to condemn Trump.
I mean ... he had to.
Netanyahu has been notably quiet.
Ohhh, giving Trump the old silent treatment.
Oh, I see you.
Netanyahu’s silence actually speaks volumes, especially when you consider that in 2015
he literally made a plea directly to American Jews to speak out against Obama's Iran deal.
The days when the Jewish people could not or would not speak up for themselves, those days are over.
Oh, oh, oh, I see, OK, so,
you’re only a friend to American Jews when you want something,
but as soon as the Nazis show up, you just ghost on us.
Man, Netanyahu is a classic f*ckboi.
But how can someone be both pro-Jewish state and anti-Jewish person?
How can a president’s two biggest fans be the heads of Israel and the KKK?
For the last few decades in America,
right-wing pundits, politicians and Christian leadership have changed the conversation
around what constitutes anti-Semitism and shifted the definition
from bashing Jews to “bashing Israel.”
Anti-Israeli and antisemitic protests.
Anti-israeli, antisemitic cesspool.
Today antisemitism hides behind the label of anti-Israel.
The new antisemitism.
Yup, this ain't my Bubbe's anti-Semitism –
you know, the one that displaced my Bubbe
and killed her Bubbe
and her Bubbe's Bubbe
and enslaved her Great Grand Bubbe--
No. This is the "new antisemitism."
The one that boycotts my Bubbe's third favorite brand of hummus.
Now, this is not to say that criticism of Israel can’t be antisemitic.
It absolutely can be.
Calling someone a “Zionist” as a code word for “Jew,”
or just generally conflating “Jews” and “Israel” as if they are interchangeable,
is antisemitic.
Because it implies all Jews are secretly loyal to Israel, which makes no sense.
But the weird thing about conflating “Jew” and “Israel”
is that it’s actually constantly being perpetuated by American conservatives,
evangelical Christians and Israeli politicians. Usually in the same sentence.
... lifelong friend of Israel and the Jewish people.
pro-Israel, pro-Jewish
the Jewish people, and the Jewish state.
Israel and to the Jewish people
State of Israel or the Jewish people themselves.
Israel and the Jewish people specifically.
They keep saying “Israel and the Jewish people”
as if they're one in the same.
Is the word - are you looking for "Israeli"? Is that the word you're looking for?
Becaaaause....
So why are conservatives constantly conflating “the Jewish people” and “Israel”?
Well, there's two reasons.
Reason number one: By making “support of Israel” synonymous with “support of Jews,”
they’re also making “opposition to Israel" look like “opposition to Jews.”
And reason number two: If any of your right-wing buddies lets a little bit of the old antisemitism slip,
like how Steve Bannon reportedly said
he didn’t want his daughters to go to school with Jews,
well, being pro-Israel is a convenient cover.
Are you giving him cover?
For antisemitism?
There’s no reason whatsoever to believe that Steve Bannon
is anything but a friend of the state of Israel.
No one's talking about Israel, my dude!
All right, in no other instance would that line of reasoning be acceptable.
Whoa, whoa of course, Steve Bannon doesn’t hate Mexicans.
He has stated unequivocally that he
“quieros taco bell.”
And that’s just it: Being pro-Israel and getting Israel’s endorsement in return
gives a ton of leeway for these antisemites to do their whole not-liking-Jews thing.
But it still begs the question:
Why would someone who hates Jews support Israel?
Well, there's lots of reasons.
Let's start with Steve Bannon.
I’m proud to be a Christian Zionist.
That’s why I’m proud to be a partner to one of the greatest nations on Earth,
and the foundation of the Judeo-Christian West.
Ew, he really hit a hard "j" on "Judeo" didn't he.
You see, Bannon sees Israel as a natural ally
in his racist war between Islam and “the Judeo-Christian West,”
which is code for "white European society"
It’s not that Bannon loves the Jews,
it’s just that he doesn’t hate us as much as he hates the Muslims.
He's so sweet.
You know. Like the way anti-freeze is sweet.
Also, Evangelical Christians. They're some of the biggest supporters of Israel in the United States.
But not because they love Jews.
They support Israel because of a prophecy that says all Jews
must return to Israel in order for Christ to return and commence the end times.
Israel has been reborn as a country.
Jews are returning back to the holy land after centuries of exile.
That's exciting.
And those are end-time prophecies.
If you're a believer in Jesus, you will go up
in the rapture.
The Jewish people… it’s still a mystery how God’s gonna work all that…
Oooh, it seems like the fate of the Jews is within the mystery box!
Let's see what's in it!
Two thirds of them are gonna die, that one third that's left at the end
is gonna finally come to the end of themselves.
It’s not gonna be through a process of education,
it’s gonna be through a process of a horrible holocaust.
Tiiight. Tiiiight. Tight tight tight tight.
So basically Christian Zionism is a plot to get all Jews together in Israel
so that it triggers a Jewish genocide,
and the smattering of Jews left after that will get to choose between Christianity or hell.
It's a f*cking long con.
Christian Zionists are like the Keyser Soze of allies.
Even some white nationalists like Richard Spencer
have show perverse admiration for Israel.
You could say that I am a white zionist in the sense that I care about my people.
I want us to have a secure homeland.
You realize how f*cking insane this is, right?
What you have here is an actual Nazi using the state of Israel--
which was created in the wake of Nazi atrocities--
as a model for a white ethnostate.
Even though it's kinda funny that Richard Spencer is so fragile
that he thinks that seeing a black good guy in Star Wars is white oppression,
it’s still disturbing that a Jew-hater can look at Israel and think
“I like what you've done with the place.”
And that brings us finally to Donald Trump,
who is a much simpler racist.
You know, like the way a dog is racist.
He likes Israel because he likes walls and fascism.
You know, in Israel, they profile.
They've done an unbelievable job.
They see somebody that's suspicious, they will profile.
Walls work.
Just. Ask. Israel.
Oh.
My.
G--D.
The right has been trying to coax American Jews into the conservative fold for decades,
spreading the fear of a “new antisemitism infecting the hearts of the left,"
all the while claiming that conservatives and Christians are the Jews’ only real friends.
They’re gaslighting us. Oh, “don’t worry about the Nazis marching in the street
or sitting in the White House,
the real Nazis are boycotting hummus.”
It shouldn’t be all that surprising that the racist ethno-nationalist evangelical supporters of Israel
who hate everyone that's not exactly like them,
also hate the Jews.
Racists gonna racist. It's not that crazy.
But the fact that the Israeli government can only find their staunchest support
among the racist fringes of the radical far right
speaks volumes about the direction that Netanyahu is leading the State of Israel.
And you know what?
I don't want no part of it.
Hey everyone. It would be so rad if you jumped into the comment section
to join the discussion about the jew/Israel/antisemitism disconnect.
And it would be even more rad if you didn't jump into the comments and be antisemitic.
Thank you so much for watching, everyone.
My name is Matt Lieb
Follow me on Twitter
And please you know...don't send me a private message calling me a kike.