Billionaires, imperialists, and antisemites: The forces behind the assault on opposition to Gaza genocide
More than 80 days into Israel’s genocidal war against the people of Gaza, the ruling class is bitterly attacking democratic rights in the major capitalist countries in order to suppress and isolate mass protest against the genocide.
by Gabriel Black
Part 3 - Zionists, antisemites and ethno-nationalists
Complementing this group of billionaires are a series of ethno-nationalists, both Zionists and MAGA Trumpers, who are more closely coordinating the effort to censor outrage against Israel’s genocide.
A recent, 2023 film, Israelism, made by two Jewish filmmakers, provides a window into the mechanisms used to promote Zionism in American culture and equate it with Judaism. One central figure in the film is Abe Foxman, an American lawyer and multi-millionaire who was the national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) from 1987 to 2015. Foxman and the ADL are major fixtures in the American Zionist lobby, heavily promoting organizations such as Birthright.
A recent, 2023 film, Israelism, made by two Jewish filmmakers, provides a window into the mechanisms used to promote Zionism in American culture and equate it with Judaism. One central figure in the film is Abe Foxman, an American lawyer and multi-millionaire who was the national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) from 1987 to 2015. Foxman and the ADL are major fixtures in the American Zionist lobby, heavily promoting organizations such as Birthright.
The ADL characterizes all Jewish organizations opposed to the policies of the state of Israel as “hate groups.” Jonathan Greenblatt, the current ADL chief, described organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace as the “photo inverse of white supremacists,” on Twitter. “We long have said that these are hate groups,” he stated.
The comparison of left-wing Jewish activists opposed to an apartheid ethno-nationalist state with white supremacists is as slanderous as it is ignorantly absurd. It is precisely these types of comparisons that are being used as ammunition in the effort to ban anti-Zionist groups like Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine from campuses.
Foxman previously provided political cover for the rise of Donald Trump, declaring in an interview, “I don’t think he’s a racist, I don’t think he’s an antisemite.”
The comparison of left-wing Jewish activists opposed to an apartheid ethno-nationalist state with white supremacists is as slanderous as it is ignorantly absurd. It is precisely these types of comparisons that are being used as ammunition in the effort to ban anti-Zionist groups like Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine from campuses.
Foxman previously provided political cover for the rise of Donald Trump, declaring in an interview, “I don’t think he’s a racist, I don’t think he’s an antisemite.”
The marriage between the Zionist lobby—many of whom are Democrats, like Foxman and Ackman—and the fascistic right-wing must be underscored.
Henry Schwartz, an executive committee member of one of the main US Zionist lobbies, the Zionist Organization of America, stated that Jews were “blessed by heaven with Donald Trump being elected president of the United States.”
To these wealthy layers, indifferent to the social crisis, who solidarize themselves not with the plight of millions of working-class Jews but rather the capitalist elite, Trump’s openly fascistic ethno-nationalism is warmly greeted. When, in 2017, fascists, neo-Nazis, and white supremacists took up torches and marched through Charlottesville, Virginia, chanting “Jews will not replace us,” Trump commented that they were “very fine people.” But this was no problem for these donors, who by antisemitism simply mean opposition to the government of Israel.
Henry Schwartz, an executive committee member of one of the main US Zionist lobbies, the Zionist Organization of America, stated that Jews were “blessed by heaven with Donald Trump being elected president of the United States.”
To these wealthy layers, indifferent to the social crisis, who solidarize themselves not with the plight of millions of working-class Jews but rather the capitalist elite, Trump’s openly fascistic ethno-nationalism is warmly greeted. When, in 2017, fascists, neo-Nazis, and white supremacists took up torches and marched through Charlottesville, Virginia, chanting “Jews will not replace us,” Trump commented that they were “very fine people.” But this was no problem for these donors, who by antisemitism simply mean opposition to the government of Israel.
The lead “prosecutor” in the December 6 McCarthyite hearing for the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and Penn was Republican Representative Elise Stefanik (New York). Stefanik is a close ally of Donald Trump, who has expressed support for the so-called “Great Replacement Theory,” an openly fascistic and anti-Semitic theory, which holds that a conspiracy of elite Jewish liberals is trying to “poison the blood”—in the words of Trump—of white Western Christian nations through mass immigration. She supported Trump’s attempt to overturn the presidential election through the coup of January 6, 2021.
These forces are closely connected to the right-wing evangelical movement, with its billionaire and multi-millionaire pastors, who enthusiastically support Israel’s bloodbath. Figures such as John Hagee, the influential Texan evangelist, preach that war in Israel and Palestine is a heralding of the “end times,” during which armies will come against Israel from China, Russia, Iran, and various Arab countries. “God will wipe them out,” he stated in October. Hagee joins a larger group of Christian Zionists, many of whom orbit the Trinity Broadcasting Network, one of the largest Christian evangelical media companies, with significant influence and connection to the Republican party.
Beyond the evangelicals, the close connections between the Zionist lobby and the far right are well documented.
Beyond the evangelicals, the close connections between the Zionist lobby and the far right are well documented.
One of Trump’s largest donors was the late Sheldon Adelson, who in 2015 had amassed $28 billion through the addictive and exploitative casino industry. According to Forbes he was the 18th richest person in the world a few years before his death in 2021. Adelson was a major figure in the Israeli American Council, acting both on its executive board and as a lead donor.
Adelson was introduced to Trump through Michael Steinhardt, an American hedge fund manager and billionaire, who co-founded the Birthright Israel program. Steinhardt was also a major donor to Trump, and also to New York University, where he was a member of the board before resigning over accusations of illegally trafficking in antiquities.
It is notable that one of the founders of Birthright is a major Trump supporter.
Adelson was introduced to Trump through Michael Steinhardt, an American hedge fund manager and billionaire, who co-founded the Birthright Israel program. Steinhardt was also a major donor to Trump, and also to New York University, where he was a member of the board before resigning over accusations of illegally trafficking in antiquities.
It is notable that one of the founders of Birthright is a major Trump supporter.
Birthright is a critical institution both in garnering political support for Israel within the US and in facilitating migration to Israel, especially its illegal settlements on the West Bank. About one in every six Israeli settlers in the West Bank are American citizens. Some 800,000 young people have gone on free trips to Israel sponsored by the Birthright Israel Foundation, described by the New York Times as a “rite of passage” for many young American Jews. Rabbi Bennet Miller, the national chair of the Association of Reform Zionists of America, is interviewed in the film Israelism, insisting, “Every one of our kids should be going over, not for ten days, but for a semester or a year.” In recent years, thousands of young people have been protesting on the trips, walking off in the middle to visit Palestinian settlements in opposition to the program’s guided tour.
This intertwining of the fascistic right, US imperialism, and Zionist forces can also be seen in the lawsuits underway in the US right now claiming rampant antisemitism on US campuses. An investigation by Grayzone notes that all of the lawsuits are being filed by one firm, Kasowitz Benson Torres. David Friedman was also one of the principal lawyers at the firm until 2017, when he became the US Ambassador to Israel under Trump. Friedman is currently campaigning for NYU to begin a crackdown against pro-Palestinian protest.
The firm has been described by Eric Garland, a geopolitical analyst and influencer, as “Netanyahu’s guys in the Trump White House.” The law firm was founded by a Big Tobacco lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, a long-time donor to both the Republican and Democratic parties, including to Trump, Biden and Obama. The firm was previously registered as a foreign agent, representing Israel, with the US Justice Department. Another of its clients was the Ukrainian-Israeli billionaire Ikor Kolomoisky, a major early donor for the fascist Azov battalion, who is now in prison for fraud.
The presence of this firm, and the larger Zionist lobby, in driving the attack on democratic rights testifies to the direct involvement of the state of Israel. The Netanyahu’s “guys in the White House” are leading the lawsuits which the congressional hearings were partially based on. It is no secret that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) operates as a direct arm of Tel Aviv in American politics, a kind of nexus for American imperialism’s bipartisan support of Israel. The organization founded by Isaiah Kenen, a former member of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on candidates for office in the US. Most recently, AIPAC has spent a whopping $100 million as part of a campaign to put pressure on “progressive” Democrats to support Israel or face a well-funded primary or general election opponent.
The Grayzone report also notes that the “witnesses” who have launched lawsuits through this firm have all been semi-employed, despite being students, by Israeli lobby organizations, particularly the Alliance for Israel, Israel Alliance, and Students Supporting Israel. While these paid employees of these groups have claimed instances of hate, such as being told, “You’re a dirty little Jew and you deserve to die,” their lawsuits do not provide any specific examples or references to such moments of antisemitism, just confrontations with pro-Palestinian activists, shouting matches, and the use of the supposedly antisemitic slogan, “from the river to the sea.”
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