Yesterday, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was very disappointed to learn that AIPAC activist Stephen Fiske revealed that AIPAC “is coming for” her, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar:
AIPAC activist tells NYT the lobby is coming for Congresswomen @AOC @RashidaTlaib and @IlhanMN
“They are three people who, in my opinion, will not be around in several years.”https://t.co/CiuU1zMu5Y
— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) March 5, 2019
This is disappointing to see.
Just last week there was all this hubbub over an untrue mischaracterization that I was threatening primaries based on pro-ICE votes.
Yet there seems to be no problem at all with a zero-tolerance stance for simply asking about US foreign policy. https://t.co/YoOIPDSpbU
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 5, 2019
Now, we could nitpick about what Fiske actually meant, given that the New York Times framed his remarks as a prediction rather than a threat:
And he offered a prediction: “They are three people who, in my opinion, will not be around in several years.”
But for now, let’s focus on where AOC is getting her disappointing information.
The guy @AOC is quoting.
If this is the direction of new progressive Dems trying to take over establishment Dems, count me out. Enjoy your "anti zionist" parties. I'm sure disenfranchising jews always worked well for any country. https://t.co/2M4FaYuFm2— Claire Voltaire (@Claire_Voltaire) March 6, 2019
If you’re not familiar with U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights executive director Yousef Munayyer’s body of work, here’s a taste just from today:
A lot of the conversation now around the smearing of @IlhanMN, allegations of antisemitism and the US-Israel relationship are something of a proxy for a bigger, tense divide among Jews in the US and Israel. Some thoughts on this will follow….
— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) March 6, 2019
The Jewish community in the United States and Israel are roughly equal sized populations and in many ways embody two different answers to “the Jewish question” and antisemitism – Zionism vs. Multiculturalism
— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) March 6, 2019
Don’t worry … we’ll come back to that one.
Zionism’s answer is that the only way to ensure the security of the Jewish people is through a Jewish state – a largely homogenous ethno-religious nationalism where Jews dominate the state, the laws and the security apparatus.
— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) March 6, 2019
Multiculturalism provides a different answer. It sees the security of Jews wound up in the security of other minorities, and responds by trying to build an inclusive society where people can be who they are in safety & security. I.e. civil rights, not ethnic nationalism is key.
— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) March 6, 2019
This is one reason why the Jewish community historically in the US has been at the forefront of the fight for civil rights and against racism and exclusion. But in Israel, exclusion has always been prioritized over civil rights.
— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) March 6, 2019
Equal rights, to American Jews, is viewed as a path to security. Equal rights, to Israeli Jews, is viewed as a path to insecurity.
— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) March 6, 2019
This tension has always been there, but in some moments it can be elevated or diminished. Right now it is very much elevated.
— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) March 6, 2019
On top of this you have another tension growing in recent years. More and more American Jews view what Israel is doing to Palestinians as fundamentally contrary to Jewish values. At the same time, the Israel govt has doubled down on its entrenchment of occupation and apartheid.
— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) March 6, 2019
But that is not the end of it. You also have the politicization of the US-Israel relationship, which has been driven by Netanayhu and Israel through a alliance with evangelicals that undergird the GOP. Most American Jews vote Democrat and voted for Obama, twice.
— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) March 6, 2019
This broke into the open with Netanyahu’s blatant political attack on President Obama,the first Black president, who himself embodied what a multicultural America could lead to.
— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) March 6, 2019
But, it became far worse with Trump. Trump secured the White House by using racism, sexism, antisemitism, islamophobia, xenophobia and so on. It emboldened White Nationalists and brought a rise in hate crimes.
— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) March 6, 2019
Then, Netanyahu, the head of the “Jewish State”, responded not by challenging Trump’s antisemitism, but legitimizing it. He said there “was no greater friend to the Jewish people” than the White Supremacist in Chief.
— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) March 6, 2019
Then you had Charlottesville. Then the Tree of Life, where a lunatic antisemite walked into a synagogue and murdered Jews because he believed Jews were helping to bring immigrants into the US.
— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) March 6, 2019
His anti-immigrant hatred reinforced his antisemitism and vice-versa, reminding us these evils can not be fought in isolation, as Zionism would suggest, but rather must be opposed together as Multiculturalism would counter.
— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) March 6, 2019
From longstanding structural realities to dynamics which have emerged over time and in recent years in particular, all this adds up to a perfect storm of growing Jewish American alienation from Israel and increasing criticism of Zionism altogether.
— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) March 6, 2019
This is a major challenge to Israel because a strong relationship with the American Jewish community is important to US-Israel relations.
— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) March 6, 2019
So how can you blunt the alienation of American Jews from a right-wing Israel, that has allied with right-wing governments and embraced antisemites in the US which have directly contributed to the insecurity of American Jews?
— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) March 6, 2019
Well, one way is to send a message to the American Jewish community that even if they might be appalled by the right, don’t think the left will welcome you either. This is done by elevating a narrative that creates a false equivalence between antisemitism on the left & the right
— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) March 6, 2019
It is a classic Zionist response to American Jews; you are not safe in multicultural society because you are Jews and the only answer is Zionism – both the right and the left have failed you – equally.
— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) March 6, 2019
Shorter Yousef Munayyer: Evil Zionists are trying to scare American Jews into supporting a homogenous ethno-religious nationalist state.
“Classic Zionist response; you are not safe in multicultural society”
You see, here’s an expert on Jewish issues (Palestinian guy) telling Jews how Zionism works & how when they are victims of Antisemitism it’s actually Zionist conspiracy.
Europe was so multicultural in the 30s pic.twitter.com/QyrlauzRqT— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) March 6, 2019
Now, if we could get back to that whole “Jewish Question” thing for a moment …
"The Jewish Question" ? pic.twitter.com/n9NvrCdmE2
— Mustelidae (@nerdery4thewin) March 6, 2019
"The Jewish Question" is the language you're going to go with here?
Really?
— (((robingillis))) (@sweepybuns) March 6, 2019
“The Jewish question”? What question would that be? https://t.co/dmRHHGgHIq
— The Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) March 6, 2019
The last time a “non Jew” mentioned the “Jewish question” the answer ended up being to push half my family into a gas chamber. https://t.co/dmRHHGgHIq
— The Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) March 6, 2019
Now, to be fair, AOC is not responsible for what Munayyer says. What she is responsible for is her decision to cite him as an authority on anything. She’s given us plenty of reasons to doubt her commitment to fighting anti-Semitism; this is just another one.