Could a structural disconnect in the Democrat party cost Harris the elections?
by Gol Kalev; Reprint from the The Jerusalem post, October 31 2024
(photo credit: Adam J. Dewey/Anadolu via Getty Images)
As more and more experts speculate that Jewish Democrats in Pennsylvania and other swing states could decide the election, the opposing strategies of the two campaigns could be indicative of a rift within the liberal Jewish community.
While both campaigns talk about the threat to Jews and Judaism, Harris talks about Hitler, and Trump talks about Iran.
Answering a question about fighting antisemitism in a CNN town hall meeting in Philadelphia, Harris said, “If the president of the United States, the commander in chief, is saying to his generals in essence, ‘Why can’t you be more like Hitler’s generals’…This is a serious, serious issue.”
Harris contrasted this to her own commitment to fighting antisemitism: “As Attorney General, I actually published a hate-crime report on a regular basis, and antisemitism was amongst the highest forms of hate.”
The undecided voter asking the question, Beth Samberg, was disappointed by Harris’ answer. In an exclusive interview with the Jerusalem Post, Samberg, a lifelong Democrat, reflected: “She spoke about a report from 10 years ago, but did not address what is happening now.”
That now is an unprecedented dual assault on Judaism – a physical one in the Middle East and an ideological one in the West, which Samberg explains manifests itself in an intolerable environment on college campuses.
Democratic leaders, however, showcase the crafting of a nattional strategy to counter traditional antisemitism – the threat to Jews and Judaism of the 20th Century – which was led by Harris’ husband, Douglas Emhoff.
Democratic leaders, however, pitch to Jewish voters the role of Harris’s husband, Douglas Emhoff, in crafting a national strategy to counter traditional antisemitism – the threat to Jews and Judaism of the 20th Century.
In Georgia it was 50-50%. Markstein expects this discrepancy to be even bigger in 2024: “Pro-Israel Jewish voters in swing states were open to voting for Biden because he had a 50-year track record, dating back to meeting Golda Meir in Israel in the 1970s. Harris does not have a similar well of built-in support.”
Samberg, still undecided, said she sees a clear pattern among her Philadelphia Jewish Democratic friends, “We all agree on the issues. What we disagree on is how we prioritize them. Jewish friends who prioritize social justice issues vote for Harris. Jewish friends who prioritize antisemitism and Israel issues vote for Trump.” This, Samberg says, is a byproduct of October 7th.
Effect of Israel at war
Indeed, the rift within liberal Democrat Jews widened over the last year. There are the so-called “October 8th Jews” who reengaged with their Jewish identity through standing firm with Israel, while there are those who infuriated Israelis by arguing that the response to October 7th should be the establishment of a Palestinian State.
“Two-state solution Jews” resurrected this 1990s template, sacred in Democratic Jewish donors circles, but rejected by Israelis and Palestinians alike, as well as by experts such as Henry Kissinger.
I once tried to challenge the sacrilegious nature of the two-state solution by explaining that the world does not begin in West Hampton and end in East Hampton. I was corrected: “In an election year, it does.” And so, the 1990s two-state solution, along with 1940s Hitler, made it to the top of Harris’ talking points.
This might be too detached for actual 2024 Democratic Jewish voters. It both cheapens the magnitude of last century’s attempt to eradicate Judaism and ignores this century’s assault on Judaism. All in the name of the “balancing act conception” between being pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian.
This is why one of the policy recommendations in my new book, The Assault on Judaism, is to disassociate the Assault on Judaism from the Palestinian issue. While they are interdependent (war crimes indictments need a war), the existential threat to Judaism originates from the West and is a proxy for an Assault on America.
For this and other reasons, it should be treated by the National Security Council and not by an antisemitism committee or report. The South African foreign minister pledged: “America is next”.
Yet, Democratic donors in New York – some of them are my friends – remain in their old conception: They refuse to use their enormous leverage to pressure Harris to sanction the International Criminal Court as it lays the ground for the arrests of Israeli soldiers and political leaders.
They defend the administration sanctioning Israeli Jews, which instills Jewish insecurity on a national level, while they continue to fund US universities, which instills Jewish insecurity on a personal level.
Actual Jewish voters, on the other hand, like Samberg, view this insecurity as intolerable.
Safety for American Jews
This prompted a new initiative led by the Tzemach David Foundation, in partnership with Israeli university presidents and other donors, to prepare Israeli academic institutions for the possibility of a massive influx of American Jewish students who seek to study in a safe and inclusive environment.
Markstein thinks this is the key issue for Jewish voters: “They ask who is keeping us safe as Jews here in America? And they ask who will be there for Israel when it needs America…Harris supported an embargo.”
While Harris was trying to retain Jewish voters in Pennsylvania by talking about Hitler, Trump was in a town hall in Georgia, scolding Biden’s preventing Israel from attacking Iran’s nuclear and oil facilities.
This was in response to a question from a young non-Jewish voter, Jack Hogan, “How do you plan to support and protect Israel and the Jewish community?” which Ayer, a small-town mayor in rural Georgia, defined as “one of the most pressing things on a global scale.”
In the early 20th Century, the Jewish masses rebelled against their adamantly anti-Zionist Jewish leadership and instead aligned themselves with the non-Jewish Americans in steadfast support for Zionism.
Are we on the eve of another populous Jewish revolt against its leadership – this time within the Democratic party? November 5th could give an indication of that.
Gol Kalev is the author of the new book The Assault on Judaism: The Existential Threat Is Coming from the West. He is chairman of the Judaism 3.0 Think Tank and author of Judaism 3.0: Judaism’s Transformation to Zionism.
This article appeared in the Jerusalem Post on November 1st, 2024
Europe and Jerusalem has been featuring Gol Kalev’s geopolitical analysis since 2015: Europe and Jerusalem
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Tough Choices in Munich 130 years apart – Blinken and Herzl (Jerusalem Post, February 23, 2024)
Related video: Israeli soldiers are not dying for the State of Palestine (Washington Times video-cast, February 15, 2024)
The Big Picture: Gol Kalev argues that Judaism is going through a historic transformation and Zionism is becoming the anchor of Judaism (Judaism 3.0).
Therefore, age-old opposition to Judaism is now expressed through anti-Zionism and Israel-bashing
Read summary of the Judaism 3.0 Thesis (2022): Zionism is the anchor of Judaism
Watch the September 2023 Judaism 3.0 discussion: Anti-Zionism as the new Anti-Semitism
Related: A revolutionary approach to countering Israel-bashing unveiled at the Judaism 3.0 book launch (March 2022)
Watch more of Gol Kalev’s strategic analysis:
including
The unintended conversation: Two-state solution in Europe?
A shift in America’s counter-terrorism strategy
Another Oslo? Another withdrawal? Israelis united not to make the same mistakes
The Media is an actor in this war:
Related Article: The Day After: The ideological assault on Israel
The Jerusalem Post, January 5, 2023
Abstract: Israel must take into account new interrelated geopolitical realities that will likely emerge from the war.
Post-two-state solution: The Gaza war put a decisive end to the two-state solution. This is not due to Hamas’s attack nor to its 72% support rate among Palestinians. It is also not due to Israeli and Palestinian rejection of the template. The two-state solution died due to Western reaction to Oct. 7.
The two-state solution was based on the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state with various restrictions to accommodate Israel’s security needs, such as Israel controlling the Palestinian state’s airspace and border crossings.
The UN, the media, and Western politicians killed the two-state solution when they placed Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks in the context of the occupation of Gaza. They indoctrinated the world that Gaza was under occupation, in spite of the fact that Israel fully withdrew from Gaza in 2005. If Gaza was under occupation, then certainly the future state of Palestine would be under occupation:
There would be Israeli military presence, settlement blocks, and ample restrictions. Hence, global public opinion would utterly reject the idea of an “occupied” state of Palestine, which is the cornerstone of the two-state solution: Full Article
Scroll down for videos connecting Judaism 3.0 frameworks to today’s situation
Related: The ideological assault that fuels Hamas physical assault
Related: Anti-Zionism is a threat to Global Stability
Jerusalem Post Special Magazine: Are we in Judaism 3.0?:
Gol Kalev shows how anti-Zionism has turned into an existential threat to Judaism, in a Jerusalem Post article series (2022)
The implications of Judaism 3.0:
This generation’s existential threat to Judaism
Applying Herzl’s thinking to counter Israel-bashing
Occuptionalism: The new form of Colonialism is hijacking the Palestinian cause
Occupationalism is enabled by the Jerusalem-based “Conflict Industry,” known for its lavish parties, insularity, high turnover and its own social hierarchy
European blood libels continue, but now there is a solution
Recognizing that we are in Judaism 3.0 would address existential threats to Judaism, but it would also provide Jewish clarity that would advance humanity
Judaism 3.0: Turning threats to Judaism into enablers of its survival
Like antisemitism in Herzl’s time, today’s Israel-bashing and assimilation of American Jewry also have hidden assets in them
Passover to Shavuot and the American-European divide
How the transition affects today’s geopolitics, the flaws of democracies and the emerging rift: Americanism vs. Europeanism
Threat to Judaism through friends, influenced by Israel-bashing movement
Applying Herzl’s thinking, the threat to Judaism might come through our friends. Such Israel-bashing-light was showcased in the Basel Zionism celebrations in 2022
A broad recognition of Judaism 3.0 would release the Arabs of the Middle-east from debilitating European dogmas that have occupied their true character for the last 100 years
See in Link: Applying Judaism 3.0 to the countering Israel-Bashing
See also The Jerusaelm Report 2022 New Year Magazine: Judaism’s transformation to Zionism – Countering the Israel-bashing movement
Recognizing that Judaism has transformed would rob the Israel-bashers of their starting point: The premise that Judaism is merely a religion.
Summary of above articles:
Gol Kalev shows how Israel-bashing is today’s existential threat to Judaism, having both a populous dogmatic retail component – Occupationalism, and institutional destruction mechanisms that deploy modern-day blood-libels. In such circumstances, Hasbara (Israeli PR) is futile. Yet, a broad global recognition that Judaism has transformed to Judaism 3.0, and Zionism is now its anchor, would dramatically mitigate the threat.
Related. Jerusalem Post Magazine Cover-articles by Gol Kalev:: EUROPE & JERUSALEM
The resurfacing of European Colonialism
Hijacking the Palestinian cause
European opposition to the Jewish state
Time for a new European peace conference
Europe should benefit from Herzl’s vision
For inquiries/comments: info@europeandjerusalem.com
Judaism 3.0 launch: Revolutionary approach to coutnering Israel-bashing
Watch Gol discuss his new book in an i24 interview
Applying the frameworks of Theodor Herzl to today
Judaism 3.0 event: Applying Herzl to today’s strategic issues
Watch Gol Kalev address to the Jerusalem Leaders Summit
Related article: anti-Zionism is anti—humanity
Praise for Judaism 3.0
“A courageous thesis that must be part of any serious discussion of the future of Israel and the Jewish people.”
Michael Oren, historian, former ambassador of Israel to the United States
“Gol Kalev does not just know Theodor Herzl – he lives and breathes Theodor Herzl…This book should trigger the conversation the Jewish community needs about Israel, Zionism, Judaism and Identity. Bravo!”
Professor Gil Troy, author – The Zionist Ideas
ייA remarkable ideas book that is about much more than the state of Judaism…One of the most important books about Judaism, Zionism and global trends of our times.”
Catherine Carlton, former Mayor of Menlo Park, Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur
“This book should play an important role in the discussions about the future of world Jewry and its relations with Israel.”
Natan Sharansky, former Chairman of The Jewish Agency, former Deputy Prime Minister of Israel
“Gol Kalev’s book has the merit to transform the very essence of the State of Israel to becoming an objective expression of Jewish identity“
Dr. Georges Yitzhak Weisz, author – Theodor Herzl: A New Reading
“This book has sparked as much conversation as it has because the premise is so interesting, so counter-intuitive and demand of us that we think many thing anew. That is perhaps the greatest gift a book can give.”
Dr. Daniel Gordis, author – We Stand Divided
“Fresh new thinking about the relationship between Judaism and Israel. Kalev picks up where Herzl left off…A must read for people of all religious and political backgrounds who want to get a deeper understanding of the state of Zionism and Judaism today.”
Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem
About the Author: Gol Kalev is a former Wall Street investment banker who has been researching Herzl and Zionism. Growing up in Tel Aviv and serving in the Israeli army, he then lived in New York and now resides in Jerusalem. He also spent time in various European cities and has traveled through both the American and European countryside, learning about contrasting world-views.
He has been chairman of The AIFL Think Tank since 2011 (now the Judaism 3.0 think tank), which explores the state of Zionism and Judaism, and has been writing analysis articles about Zionism, Europe, global affairs and long-term geopolitical shifts for the Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem Report, Israel Hayom, The Daily Wire, The Media Line, Newsweek and Foreign Policy.
He has been praised for his unique understanding of Judaism by people throughout the political and religious spectrum. In this book, he delivers the state of Judaism as he sees it: Zionism as the anchor of Judaism.
Visit the Judaism 3.0 website: Judaism-Zionism.com
Visit the Assault on Judaism website
Europe and Jerusalem 