I have been angry at Jews for the past year.

Some Jews have been on the liberal reservation so long that they openly celebrate people who punch them in the face — and expect the rest of us to do the same.

photo: Levi Meir Clancy

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This is a guest essay written by Karol Markowicz, a columnist and podcaster.

You can also listen to the podcast version of this essay on Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, YouTube, and Spotify.

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Tragedy unites.

I was in New York on 9/11 and despite the pain and fear, or because of it, there was so much warmth, care, and love. I know Israel had a similar occurrence, briefly, after October 7th. Buildings in Tel Aviv were lit up with the message “Together, we will win.” Israeli flags were everywhere.

In the Diaspora, Jews attempted the same. But in America, many Jews and their Jewish organizations had leaned so far into their leftist identity that this was difficult to accomplish, especially as October 7th brought the realization to many of them that their leftist friends were very much not on our side.

For those of us on the Right, we had to be patient and watch them figure out for themselves the serious mistakes they had made over the course of decades. Some are not quite there yet and it’s been hard to watch.

Some Jews, you cannot reach. Every Jewish society in history had people who lined up to help the enemy and ours is no different. Jewish Voice for Peace and other nonsense groups like that are Jews who use their Judaism only to harm other Jews with it. Their stupid tallit¹, meant to be worn only in prayer, suddenly a schmatta² they wear to choke other Jews. They cry out for peace only when it’s time for Jews to fight back and never when Jews are attacked. They are best shunned and forgotten.

Then there are Jews who do get the moment, understand what we are up against, but have spent so long in their “we’re progressives first” world that they don’t know how to adjust to our current time.

An important Jewish teen organization held a major conference in Florida in February and one of the speakers was anti-Israel U.S. Congressman Maxwell Frost. Frost had called for a ceasefire in October (just days after the October 7th massacres and kidnappings).

Yet he was invited to speak to Jewish youth at an organization that touts its connection to Israel. When I called the organization, with smoke coming out of my ears, they explained to me that yes, their event featured only Democratic (liberal) politicians and elected officials — but hey, they had Meghan McCain³ too.

I love Meghan McCain, this is in no way a shot at her. She is an incredible friend to Jews and I’m so grateful for her voice. But the event was in Florida and they couldn’t find a single pro-Israel Republican (conservative) elected official to speak? They actually had to work to locate an anti-Israel one, even among Democrats in Florida.

The problem is, if they could have the entire Democratic Party, even the squad who openly despise them, at their event to talk to the next generation, they would. They could have prominent Republicans, who actually support them, at their event but they don’t. They seemed shocked that anyone thought they did anything wrong. They have been on the Democratic reservation so long that they openly celebrate people who punch them in the face — and expect the rest of us to do the same.

Jews are traditionally liberals, that’s true, but we are not traditionally stupid. We can see with our eyes who is on our side and the lack of gratitude from Jewish organizations is abominable — because they still hope that their political team will someday take them back.

There were the galas, for example, thrown by many Jewish organizations. I don’t begrudge anyone in pretty dresses and rubber chicken or self-congratulating awards. It was a tough year and the people who helped us get through it, standing up for Jews in general and Israel in particular, should be recognized with praise.

But where were the invites and awards for the conservatives who had unwaveringly stood by us? Where was Megyn Kelly? Where were Clay Travis and Buck Sexton? Dan Bongino? Xavier DuRousseau? Erick Erickson? Dana Loesch? Glenn Beck? Guy Benson? Sohrab Ahmari? Stephen “RedSteeze” Miller? Kurt Schlichter? Mary Katharine Ham? Pretty much everyone on Fox News?

I only leave off Douglas Murray because he did get one from the country of Israel and one from the Manhattan Institute for his “unwavering defense of Western values,” which is for something even wider than just his defense of Israel and Jews, and Meghan McCain because she got one from the Right-leaning magazine Algemeiner Journal. They both deserve even more.

My list of well-known non-Jewish conservatives, with giant platforms, who spent the year standing up for Israel and for Jews in America, could go on and on. These people went above and beyond and got no official thank you from the American Jewish community at all; not a single Jewish organization celebrated them. It’s sickening.

These mensches didn’t benefit one iota from standing with Jews and with Israel. They took shots for us, they suffered abuse for us. They’ll say they don’t need the praise. They did it because it was the “right” thing to do. But how dare we not say thank you?

Throw your Tikkun Olam⁴ in the nearest trash can and learn Hakarat Hatov⁵. And then wonder: Where is the similar cadre of liberal writers and media personalities to defend you?

It does not exist. Face it.

And that’s before we get into the moguls and the politicians. If there was a non-Jewish leftist billionaire who went to Israel and wore the hostages dogtag, they would be headlining every major Jewish event. But it was Elon Musk, so that didn’t count?

Nearly every conservative politician effusively stood up for Israel and demanded the protection of American Jews. Where is Ted Cruz’s award? Ron DeSantis’s? Tom Cotton’s? Where is Donald Trump’s?

We know why. Most Jewish organizations are dinosaurs, committed to leftist parties just as the leftist parties make clear they are not at all interested in them. That’s the problem with tying your religion to a political party. The political party can tell you that your enemies, who want to destroy you and murder your children, “have a point” and you’ll just accept it.

Then there are the Jews who do get it, who know what history has taught us about times like these, but think they can somehow duck this moment. They’ll never find out that you’re Jewish, Betsy Silverman [this is a generic Jewish-sounding name, not attacking anyone named Betsy Silverman in particular], or that you’re obviously a Zionist because that word means that you have faced the reality that Israel exists and will exist and should.

You’ll stay popular at your safe job in Hollywood or fashion. You’re one of the “good ones,” they’ll believe, because you’ll always highlight every single cause but your own. You couldn’t post about the hostages, because then they’d know you don’t want Jews killed or maimed and you can’t let them find out!

You also couldn’t laugh with us when crotches of Hezbollah fighters exploded in supermarkets. Oh no, serious face, this might lead to escalation. As if the 80,000 people evacuated from the north of Israel because Hezbollah was shooting rockets at their house daily isn’t already an escalation.

You couldn’t celebrate the hostages being rescued, the fist bump between the IDF guy and Almog Meir Jan, even though you know what you felt in that moment. You have to performatively hate Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, and celebrating the successes of Israel would place you on the “wrong side.” Your politics have separated you from your people. It’s pathetic. I feel sorry for you for having to live your lie.

Or the actual Hollywood stars who are super Jewish when they can profit off of it, but mute when it matters. Jews control Hollywood? I wish. Hollywood controls Jews and makes sure they stay quiet.

Even groups I should like, formed to combat antisemitism, are leftist first and foremost. They post about Pride month, they celebrate the almost entirely mute Barbra Streisand. What is the point of you, I want to yell at these groups. But instead I Google what they’re up to, hoping it’s something more than the nothing I see on social media, and see they’ve gotten another $100 million for their … what, exactly? Ads with silly blue boxes and a hashtag that makes it sound like they’re fighting hateful Jews?

I’ve never been to a therapist. I know it’s the Jewish thing to do, but I always felt I could ask myself the questions a therapist might. What are you mad at, really? What’s at the root of this anger?

For me, it is this: It was not hard to be a Jewish conservative my entire life because my Soviet Jewish community in Brooklyn got it. They understood what the world was really like. When I met liberal American Jews, they seemed to live in a land of make-believe, but I never held it against them. They were the luckiest Jews in history. I understood why they prioritized other issues ahead of the Jewish People’s collective interest. They had known nothing but security. They were unbelievably naive. I understood.

I no longer have that space in my heart to understand. I don’t even mean just voting right, though why not talk about the election: Donald Trump was the most pro-Israel president in my lifetime and it’s not particularly close. Other presidents said the right words, he had the actual right deeds. The American Embassy is now in the capital of Israel, in Jerusalem, where it should be, because of Donald Trump.

You don’t care about that? You’re into peace? The Abraham Accords normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. There hadn’t been a peace agreement in nearly 30 years, but Donald Trump got one done. Democrats see Israel as a problem to solve. Donald Trump sees Israel’s enemies as the problem. They are not the same.

But forget about Israel. You’re an American Jew and, ahem, it’s America first. Think about your kids on college campuses, think about where your family is safe and where it is not, think about the side that lets you fight back and doesn’t want you to just take it. It is not the side you’re desperately trying to find your way back to.

Even before October 7th, I wrote that Jews are changing for the better. But what if I’m wrong? What if they don’t? What if they put all of us in peril because they have chosen a side the way a child might choose a football team and they will support that side to our collective demise?

Antisemitism thrives when Jews are weak. There’s a reason the glee on streets around the world was on October 8th and not when Israel killed longtime Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, not when Israel shrugged off Iranian ballistic missiles, not when Israel went into Gaza and saved hostages. People are drawn to the strong. When we cower and fear, we lose. When we’re begging to be loved, that’s when we will be most hated.

“Chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek!”⁶ we say on Shabbat mornings when we finish a book of the Torah. Be strong, be strong, and let us strengthen each other. When the safest Jews in the world don’t speak up, don’t fight back, don’t care enough about each other, it harms us all.

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1. A fringed garment worn as a prayer shawl by religious Jews

2. Yiddish for a small piece of thick cloth, smaller than a hand towel but larger than a washcloth

3. A famous blogger and the daughter of former U.S. Senator John McCain

4. In modern Jewish circles, tikkun olam has become synonymous with the notion of social action and the pursuit of social justice.

5. A Jewish value that emphasizes recognizing the good in the world and being grateful for what one has

6. Hebrew for “Be strong, be strong and may we be strengthened!”