The toxic combination of fallout from the 2008 financial crisis and radical reinterpretation of history led to the “very painful” growth of anti-Semitism in “part of the American left.”
“As Jews noticed a rekindling of anti-Semitism on the right in the wake of the financial crisis, we have begun to see some signs on the left that for many years, natural homes are no longer immune to poison.
“The financial crisis has deepened many on the left's existing distrust of financial institutions, financial operators, banking systems and bankers,” he adds. “None of these ideas are inherently anti-Semitism, but intersect with historical stereotypes about Jews and finance. One anti-Semitism conspiracy
The theory floating on the internet in the fall of 2008 claimed that the Lehman brothers and other investment banks secretly transferred $400 billion to Israeli banks before secretly transferring $400 billion to Israeli banks. ”
But Schumer continues, “signs of future leftist resentment towards Israel were present over 50 years ago.”
“The intellectual framework was built on the political left, where Israel was caught up in the wrong side of the historical struggle between oppressors and oppressed,” he writes. “… Our own (or rather dense) history of oppressed and persecuted is no longer considered to be associated with radical fringes.”
“In this new world order, some Jews have been doing so well in America, so Israel has grown stronger over the past few decades, so it may seem that Jews are strong enough to overcome prejudice and prejudice on their own.
Elsewhere, Schumer is the best elected Jewish official in American history – admitting that he “struggles to come up with the right response” to anti-Semitism growth on the left.
“To be honest, it's much harder to tackle than anti-Semitism on the right. Jews know that distant movements tend to cast us as villains,” he writes. “We were hoping for it and had no close ties with anti-Semuseums where hatred towards Jews was obvious.”
Schumer also suggests that “mostly anti-Semitism on the left, but harmful, but unintentional, is unlike the anti-Semitism on the left.”
However, he also admits that “several leftists in politics and government have gone too far using the anti-Semitism ratio while criticizing Israel and its supporters.”
Schumer specifically called on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) after tweeting in February 2019 that US Congressional support for Israel was “everything about Benjamin.”
“For the first time in decades, Jews have begun to hear and listen to stereotypes and slanderous things about Jews being secretly powerful, dominant, racist oppressors, exerting excessive influence in politics and the media, and having our money and privilege,” he writes. “And those things were said by what we thought were our allies on the left.”
Schumer turns his eyes to the current fuss on both sides over Israeli military action against Hamas in Gaza.
The senator mentions that “the river to sea, the river to Palestine, the chant to Palestine will be free,” and that “multicultural societies tend to come together to condemn the use of whis of those dogs.
“Many words and phrases that were commonly used decades ago are no longer used properly, even in polite society. They have problematic origins and have caused major attacks on certain groups. I think the same criteria should apply to slogans like “from river to sea.” ”
Minority leaders close by urging the left to “become too complacent or tolerant about people who exhibit anti-Semitism within their class.”
“Be careful,” he warns. “Don't let your passion overwhelm your better instincts. Don't let your desire for justice in the world lead you to bring a little more injustice to the world.”
