Whether they know it or not, the largest and best-funded Jewish groups in America have opened the contentious and toxic argument about whether American Jews have a loyalty to the US or Israel. In the process, they have further divided the American Jewish community.
Like the Catholics before, the contention that certain religious groups are loyal to Rome (the Catholic Church) or Israel (the Jewish homeland) has severely damaged the respective religions’ ability to determine whether they would be loyal US citizens or traitors to their respective faiths. The belief is that a person cannot serve two masters: one in Rome and Washington, DC, or one in Jerusalem and Washington, DC.
In a country already divided by political animosity, driven by the most corrupt presidential administration in US history, American Jewish groups–led by AIPAC, the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), JEXIT, wealthy Jews, and other blindly pro-Israel groups—have confused the national discussion over whether the Trump administration must support Israel and its current war aims, or fight domestic anti-Semitism. 
In the process, Jewish groups are forcing Jews to decide which path they choose or whether they must adopt some mental gymnastics to support Israel and its right-wing, hawkish administration led by the most unpopular president in Israel’s history, plus accept the policies of the most corrupt president in US history.
This is the devil’s choice. The majority of American Jews disdain Netanyahu and Trump. Polls in Israel find that 73% of Israelis want Netanyahu to resign. In the US, about 80% of American Jews are Democrats and oppose Trump’s policies.
But the wildly pro Democrat power is diluted by wealthy American Jews in the RJC, Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, and in AIPAC, who have contributed close to $1 billion to Trump’s last two presidential campaigns. In exchange, they have pushed for a pro-Israel foreign policy, and more tax breaks and lower taxes for their businesses and personal incomes.
The recent murders of the young couple who worked at the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC have again raised these issues to the national level. Halie Soifer, the president of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, correctly said in a May 23, 2024, post that “This attack was a hate crime motivated by anti-Israeli sentiment that manifested as antisemitic violence. This was an act of political violence, cynically done in the name of the Palestinian cause.” This statement is mainly correct, but was not “cynically done.” The shooter hoped it would accomplish something.
Soifer then said that it has caused many Jews to have “a sense of dread and anger,” but who should those emotions be directed at?
Was it the pro-Palestinian groups in the US? Or, the wealthy American Jews who were the most prominent Trump supporters, who thought their contributions would buy a pan-Arab peace deal, accompanied by more domestic tax breaks?
Both, they thought. Instead, their largesse enabled this corrupt administration to bypass Israel and meet Netanyahu in Trump’s latest Middle East tour, negotiate a separate peace with the Houthis, and avoid discussing any plans to attack Iran.
Soiffer, who represents liberal pro-Israel Democrats, then said the shooting was partially the result of the security at this Washington, DC event. She asks: “How do we fortify our Jewish institutions to make sure something like this tragedy doesn’t occur again, and is that even possible?” The answer is no. No amount of security will help.
But what will end the 29-month-long war in Gaza?
Similarly, Trump’s big push on fighting anti-Semitism is being used as a cloud to push his anti-immigrant agenda, and to silence anyone who disagrees with his policies and program.
Anti-Semitism Has Been Around for Over 2,000 Years. It Will Never Go Away
Anti-Semitism has been around for over 2,000 years, and it will never go away.
This realization is hard for many people and organizations, but history bears it out.
Jews will have to live with it. No amount of protection, security, screening, or education can eliminate it. For whatever reasons–political, economic, class, religious, environmental, parental, habit, culture–anti-Semitism is the hate that keeps on giving.
All the educational campaigns and fundraising to fight anti-Semitism will not change that.
The same fundraising messages to Jews to raise money could have been used for the past 2,000 years to combat anti-Semitism in empires run by the Egyptians, Babylonians, Neo-Babylonians, Romans, Greeks, Anglo-Saxons, Austro-Hungarians, Russians, Poles, Byzantines, Neo-Assyrians, Ottomans, Spaniards, and Nazis. Too little has changed except the severity, level of violence and murders, participation level, and public display of dislike for Jews.
Soifer correctly laments these murders, but she’s wrong when she says they are” a senseless act of hate.” The murders made sense to the murderer and his supporters.
Some Jews may be afraid, but they should also look to the national Jewish organizations that support the current Netanyahu government, its policies, and Trump’s anti-democratic agenda at home.
The well-funded AIPAC and the RJC have forced many Jews into the morally ambiguous corner of supporting the current Netanyahu government (even though, according to a Pew Research study, 70% of Israelis distrust the government, and 73% want him to resign when the war ends) or supporting the anti-democratic Trump domestic agenda.
As noted, 80% of American Jews are Democrats, so they are rightfully disgusted by Trump’s corrupt administration and his misuse of the anti-Semitism theme to attack the nation’s leading academic institutions, as well as individuals and agencies who oppose Israel’s wartime policies.
We Have Met the Enemy and They Are Us
Trump is not fighting anti-Semitism while he simultaneously encourages hatred against immigrants and minority groups, many of whom are US citizens. Trump’s anti-Semitism banner is being trivialized and misused by Trump and his allies to hide their white supremacist and anti-elitist agendas against people, programs, and institutions they want to destroy as part of their culture war.
American Jewish groups have fallen for this. Many others unwittingly support it. AIPAC and the RJC, meanwhile, demand pro-Israel political purity and financially support only pro-Israel candidates, regardless of their other domestic positions or political affiliations.
This has dragged many Jewish and pro-Israel groups into the quicksand that sucks them under when they try to separate anti-Semitism from anti-Israel feelings. This resurrects the dual-loyalty argument about whether Jews are loyal to Israel or the US government. This gets even more nuanced when Jews are asked whether they support the US government that is Trump- and MAGA-free, or the US government as it includes Trump?
Since 80% of Jews are Democrats, the answer is that US Jews support the Trump-free version, but most likely not the pro-Netanyahu Israeli government.
Lastly, anti-Semitic attacks in the US have to be broken down into the pre-October 7, 2023, period attacks in Israel and the post-October period. 7, 2023, attacks.
The number of attacks spiked dramatically after Israel launched its offensive and moved into Gaza and the West Bank. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), these are the statistics:
- There was a sharp rise in attacks after Oct. 7, 2023: The surge in antisemitism was particularly pronounced in the aftermath of the October 7th attack. For example, preliminary ADL data showed a tripling of threats to Jews in the US in the year following the attack, with more than 10,000 antisemitic incidents recorded.
- Sharp rise in the number of campus incidents: Antisemitic incidents on college campuses increased dramatically. The ADL recorded a staggering 84% increase in campus incidents between 2023 and 2024, accounting for 18% of all incidents.
- The attacks hit record highs: 2024 saw the highest number of antisemitic incidents in the United States since the ADL began tracking them in 1979.
These large numbers show that the number of anti-Semitic attacks is a result of the war in Gaza, which is not attributable to domestic events. While AIPAC, the RJC, and other Jewish groups find it offensive that US politicians have opposed Israel’s policies, they are not all vehemently anti-Semitic. AIPAC insists on ideological and voting purity when it comes to Israel, the same way Trump threatens Republicans who oppose any of his proposals or legislation with losing their seats to a less qualified, but rabidly loyal MAGA clone. There’s no difference between these two thug political tactics.
While the murders of the young Jewish couple in Washington, DC, are a tragedy, it should shed light on who and what the cause is. The reason is the war in Israel, not new domestic, anti-Jewish sentiment.
Homegrown American anti-Semites have existed since the first Jews arrived in Nieuw Amsterdam (later New York City) on May 11, 1647, with Peter Stuyvesant. The descendants of these veteran haters still believe American Jews control the media, banks, sports teams, the Home Shopping Network, the retail clothing industry, the Federal Reserve, the State Department, the Comedy Network, Hollywood, the Botox industry, and kosher food manufacturing. These are all the facts.
But back in the real world, Trump and Netanyahu were supported for years by wealthy American Jews who have varying personal, political, and financial interests in both men in both countries. These supporters are not all especially religious, nor do they believe Israel can summarily reclaim the Gaza Strip and the West Bank without encountering thundering international opposition that would make Israel a renegade state.
American Jews can be afraid now, but when the war in Israel ends, the anti-Semitic attacks will decrease, Netanyahu will leave office, and a new government will form. Reconstruction will take decades, but if the hostages are released, and the disturbing televised images of death, destruction, and starvation disappear, accompanied by establishing improved societal services and food supplies, it should reduce the vitriol on all sides.
Then, AIPAC, the RJC, and their ilk will have to decide whether they support a post-Netanyahu Israel or the MAGA-Trump USA. The other possibility is that both of these sociopaths and egomaniacs will be gone, making this choice redundant. This would be the best choice for all Americans.
