Conor Cruise O’Brien, the Irish politician, writer, historian, and academic, once said, “Antisemitism is a light sleeper.” The phrase is often invoked to explain sudden, violent resurgences of antisemitic sentiment in modern times. It has now awakened with gale-force winds, and Jewish political clout and influence have disappeared.
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Many Jewish organizations, some of which are political powerhouses ostensibly created to protect Jews and provide bipartisan support for Israel, have allied themselves with the “progressive” left. This is odd, as I searched all the Psalms and the “shalt not” commandments, and there is absolutely nothing about abortion rights, global warming, or transgender ideology. Furthermore, “woke” is a verb, not a Jewish mandate.
This is not the first time a single-issue political organization has picked a side in America and lost all its clout. An excellent example from the past is the old “China Lobby,” which went to the extreme right—and embraced antisemitism.
When John F. Kennedy was running for president in 1960, he had to contend with a hegemonic institution: the powerful “China Lobby,” an influential bipartisan coalition of voters who adamantly advocated for U.S. recognition and protection of Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist government in Taiwan, and fiercely opposed diplomatic recognition of the People’s Republic of China.
The lobby successfully influenced foreign policy, securing the U.S. commitment to defend Taiwan through legislation like the Formosa Resolution of 1955.
To say the lobby was a political powerhouse is an understatement. The group forced the cancellation of Ross Y. Koen’s The China Lobby in American Politics. Macmillan had already started printing copies, but the book was withdrawn from publication in response to the political pressure. Only a few copies survived.
What happened to the China Lobby, which originated as a focused bipartisan group?
The group moved sharply to the right, collaborating with far-right isolationist and anti-communist coalitions, including early ties to militant grassroots organizations such as the John Birch Society. Among its protagonists were Senators William Knowland and Joseph McCarthy, alongside publisher Henry Luce and academic organizations like the Committee of One Million, a political pressure group that operated from 1953 to 1971.
The lobby actively allied with militant right-wing politicians to push an aggressive, pro-Nationalist foreign policy, attacking moderate U.S. diplomats and attempting to purge government officials who were deemed “soft on communism.”
Influential conservatives like J.B. Stoner advocated for radical antisemitism and segregation.
This was not the premise of the original lobby, which was concerned only with protecting Taiwan’s international status. Because it became embroiled in other political issues, it effectively came to be seen as a conservative fringe group and lost members, influence, and political clout.
For the past many years, Jewish organizations have made the same mistake. They were once political powerhouses ostensibly created to protect Jews and provide bipartisan support for Israel. Now, though, they’ve allied themselves with the “progressive” left. (Not all have done this, thankfully. Two outstanding organizations that continue to support Jews and Israel are the ZOA (Zionist Organization of America) and AFSI (Americans for a Safe Israel).)
One example of a venerable Jewish organization that suddenly turned left is Hadassah. This is from its 2019 Policy Statement:
Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc. (HWZOA), reaffirms its unwavering support for full and complete access to reproductive health services and a woman’s right to make health decisions according to her own religious, moral, and ethical values. Hadassah affirms support for women’s access to contraception as an essential component of their preventive health and recognizes the role that reproductive freedom plays in women’s empowerment, economic equity, and security. Hadassah also acknowledges the full spectrum of people, including transgender and nonbinary people, who also need reproductive health care and respect for their bodily autonomy.
Why did Hadassah, the largest women’s organization in the world, ally itself with abortion rights?
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Likewise, on February 7, 2025, the Union for Reform Judaism (which dates back to 1873 and was actually pretty traditional), was joined by several Jewish organizations to issue the following mandate:
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is about creating a culture that is welcoming to and reflective of people of all ages, races, religions or no religion, genders, sexual orientations, dis/abilities, socio-economic backgrounds, and any systemically marginalized group.
Huh? What does this agenda have to do with protecting Jews?
When did sustainability and climate control become a Jewish issue touted in sermons and Jewish coalitions? Here are some examples in New York City:
Central Synagogue: Climate Justice through their Climate Covenant campaign, focusing on joint action across faith and class lines to end fossil fuel dependence.
Stephen Wise Free Synagogue: This congregation regularly integrates environmental action with social justice, providing volunteer and advocacy opportunities for members.
The New York branch of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism represents nearly 100 congregations statewide. They run the ongoing Climate Covenant campaign, organizing local Jews to advocate for environmental legislation, such as the NY HEAT Act and packaging reduction bills.
This is replicated throughout the country.
Individual Jews can have any opinion on those issues, but their organizations were created for the “sustainability” of Jewish rights and traditions and Zionism, and not for ending fossil fuels.
And hatred of Donald Trump and Netanyahu can be an individual choice, but why did the once mighty Anti-Defamation League attack Trump as a raging racist and declare endless rants about Netanyahu and severe criticism of Israel?
And this headline from The Times of Israel: “US Jewish groups denounce Trump’s threat that a ‘whole civilization will die’ in Iran.”
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) got in the act, too, after Trump threatened to destroy a whole civilization, which reasonable people understood to mean the mullah’s tyranny, not the nation of Iran (which has frequently threatened to extinguish Israel with a nuclear strike), with an overwrought response:
There are simply no words to describe the danger of a U.S. President openly threatening to erase an entire civilization.
Make no mistake: the President’s threats are deeply reprehensible to us as Jews and as Americans, and must be condemned by all leaders — regardless of their stance on the war with Iran.
Other progressive Jewish groups and leaders accused Trump of promoting genocide, including Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, which wrote in a post on Instagram, “This is not strength. This is not safety. This is a call for genocide.”
How dare they speak on behalf of Jews who may disagree?
While they wring their hands about galloping antisemitism, they have allied themselves with the progressive left of the Democrat party and, in doing so, have abandoned their mandate and lost all former political influence, just like the China/Formosa lobby.
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At our hour of greatest need, our institutions have failed us.
Image created using AI.