anti-semitism

-by Alex Campbell

Yesterday, NY Times reporters Jeremy Peters and David Kuhn were busy defending Trump voters by insisting they’re not all racists. OK, they’re not all racists and let's forget that Carl Paladino was a Trump campaign co-chair. Did anyone ever say they all were?

There are 4 Jews among the House freshmen, Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Brad Schneider (D-IL) and two who left, Alan Grayson (D-FL) and Steve Israel (D-NY). That means the 115th Congress will have 21 Jews in the House (20 Democrats and one Republican) and, with Barbara Boxer's retirement, 9 in the Senate.

Activists carry signs in solidarity with the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) movement which targets Israeli apartheid.
A network of campaigners has warned of a chilling effect posed by a definition of anti-Semitism recently adopted by the British government.

Former Israeli President Shimon Peres watches as British Prime Minister David Cameron signs a visitors book in Jerusalem Wednesday, March 12, 2014. Cameron was visiting Israel to vow support in rejecting boycott attempts against the Jewish state. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)
Britain has announced plans to adopt a controversial new definition of anti-Semitism, which includes criticism of Israel, in a bid to counter the rise in hate crime against Jewish people.

I feel as if we should congratulate voters in Austria for – on the balance – refusing to vote the Far-Right ‘Freedom Party’ to power. In what was a very closely and nervously watched election in Austria yesterday, the Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer (who had won the first round of the election, with 35% […]

Students tape their mouths shut in support for Steve Salaita, a professor who lost a job offer from the University of Illinois over dozens of Twitter messages critical of Israel. during a rally at the University of Illinois campus Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014, in Champaign Ill. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)

Stephen Bannon, campaign CEO for President-elect Donald Trump, leaves Trump Tower in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The cat is out of the bag: Israel is comfortable associating with people suspected of holding anti-Semitic and extremist right-wing views as long as they support it.

What do today’s right wing Quebec and Israeli nationalists share in common? A claim to victimhood that enables them to deny their role in oppressing others.
This commonality became clear when a prominent right-wing Québec nationalist politician cited the French language and Jewish sensibilities to criticize immigration and the veil. It also reflected a historic reversal in Québecois/Jewish relations. More significantly, it highlighted the dangers of an ‘empowered sense of vulnerability’, a psychological state many Quebeckers and Jews seem to share.

There are plenty of reasons-- both real and concotted out of the thin air between the ears of your typical GOP hate monger-- to be repulsed at the idea of voting for Hillary Clinton.