JUSTICE - No. 65

40 No. 65 JUSTICE individual Jew; contemporary antisemitism demonizes the collective Jew, embodied in the Jewish state. The chapter on the antisemitic right does not add much to existing knowledge. But Weiss offers a critical analysis of President Donald Trump's exploitation of the extreme right for political purposes, his association with known antisemites, such as Steve Bannon, and the resulting increase in this brand of antisemitism. The extreme right, the white supremacy groups, the neo-Nazis or the Christian Identitarians supported Trump because they thought he well represented their vision of white America (pp. 61-62). Trump failed to condemn these groups and reject their support. In August 2017, the Unite the Right racist movement organized a hate march in CharlottesvilleVirginia, chanting“Jews will not replace us.”When Trump responded by saying, “You also had some very fine people on both sides,” it became clear that he wanted to keep the extreme right on his side. The antisemitic right became more aggressive and less marginal and has intensively employed the social media to create larger communities of hate mongers (p. 70). American liberals, including most American Jews, tend to focus on the antisemitic right and brush aside the antisemitic left. Weiss, however, rejects the notion that the antisemitic left is significantly different from the antisemitic right. “They are mirror images of the same derangement,” she writes,“and each one reaches the same conclusion, though perhaps at slightly different speeds: Eliminate the Jew” (p. 85). Hitler wanted to physically eliminate the Jewish people; Stalin wanted to eliminate their Jewish identity. Today, the antisemitic left wants to change the identity of American Jews. Much of the antisemitic left is connected to Israel and Zionism. Weiss argues that anti-Zionism is antisemitism. “Anti-Zionism is not about criticizing Israeli policies or expressing concern about the direction in which Israel is heading. It is about the demonization and the delegitimization”and ultimately, the elimination of Israel (p. 120). 4 She and others have severely criticized the so-called progressives who often express antisemitic slurs in connection with Israel. Indeed, as Wilf and Gross argued, “there is no question that professed and vocal anti-Zionism has become the price of entry of Jews into progressive spaces.” 5 Weiss provides ample evidence on left antisemitism, especially in top American universities. She gives examples from incidents at Columbia University (pp. 94-96) and NewYork University (pp. 96-99). In a recent article, she documented additional disturbing antisemitic incidents. 6 The pattern has become familiar: Jewish students, including leaders of student unions, complained about antisemitism, threats, intimidation and vandalism, and resigned from their positions. Presidents of universities were shocked and issued apologies and condemnations, as recently did the presidents of Columbia University and the University of Southern California. 7 Too little, too late. Muslim antisemitism is not new but seems to have intensified in recent years. 8 Weiss restricted her analysis to the antisemitism of “radical Islam.” In the Muslim and the Arab world, this type comes openly from leaders, Imams, Islamic movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood, and both traditional mass media (newspapers, radio and television) and digital media (pp. 139-140). Weiss cites many examples of Muslim antisemitism in the U.S. and Europe. Research and surveys have shown that Muslims across Europe are far more antisemitic than the general European population (pp. 145-151). Weiss especially criticizes not only the antisemitism of the Muslim Democratic Representative, Ilhan Omar, but also the timid defense she received from her colleagues and the leadership of her party (pp. 159- 163). The same criticism applies to her Muslim colleague and another member of the “Squad,” Representative Rashida Tlaib. Any legitimate criticism of Muslim 4. Michael Walzer, “Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism,” F ATHOM , Oct. 2019, available at http://fathomjournal.org/ anti-zionism-and-anti-semitism/ 5. Einat Wilf & Oren Gross, “Jews Without Israel,”T ABLET M AGAZINE , Aug. 18, 2020, available at https://www. tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/ american-jews-zionism-wilf-gross 6. Bari Weiss,“Stop Being Shocked,”T ABLET M AGAZINE , Oct. 15, 2020, available at https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/ news/articles/stop-being-shocked 7. Office of the President, “President Bollinger Condemns Anti-Semitism in a Statement Before the Senate Plenary,” C OLUMBIA U NIVERSITY , March 6, 2020, available at https:// president.columbia.edu/news/president-bollinger- condemns-anti-semitism-statement-senate-plenary; Carol L. Folt,“A Message to the USC Community from President Folt,”USC, Aug. 6, 2020, available at https://www.president . usc.edu/a-message-to-the-community-from-president-folt/ 8. Robert Wistrich, M USLIM A NTI -S EMITISM : A C LEAR AND P RESENT D ANGER (N.Y.: American Jewish Committee, 2002); Neil Kressel, T HE S ONS OF P IGS AND A PES : M USLIM A NTISEMITISM ANDTHE C ONSPIRACY OF S ILENCE (Lincoln, NE: Potomac Books, 2012).