Did contributions by wealthy Jewish billionaires in the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) who gave Trump and his right-wing Christian nationalist supporters help fuel the current uptick in antisemitism?

By spending hundreds of millions to support Trump and his politically extreme associates, the RJC cannot be sure that its money did not help finance the Jan. 6, 2022, insurrection attempt. They also cannot be sure their money did not fund other right-wing hate groups, some of which were responsible for violent attacks against Jewish institutions and individuals.

This site has posted numerous articles on the dangers of the RJC, its goal to preserve their personal and corporate tax benefits, and how they have attempted to distort the role of American Jews and their historical links to the Democratic Party. This includes the fact that 77% of American Jews voted for Biden, a fact that Trump and the RJC cannot reconcile with their right-wing beliefs.

But financing and enabling Trump throughout his corrupt presidency created today’s volatile political environment. It also made fertile ground for Trump’s America First followers to unleash their old canard about how Jews control government, the media, and finance.

The latest development that will assure the rise in antisemitism is news that extreme right-wing social media outlets, like Parler and Twitter, will be bought by eccentrics Kanye West, Elon Musk, and the disgraced Trump.

The purchase of these outlets by billionaires raises the specter that hates messages will spread to other media platforms. Either way, these outlets will further pollute the national discussion.

The Role of Right-Wing Jewish Media Personalities

But to complicate matters, right-wing Jewish cable and online broadcasters like Mark Levin

and Ben Shapiro, aided by right-wing figures such as Caroline Glick, Steven Miller, Rabbi Mendel Kessin, and Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi, are also pushing right-wing ideas.

This is a tricky balancing act since their messages co-mingle with known white nationalist groups that all reside under the same Republican Christian nationalist tent. It’s only a matter of time before these needy political personalities will be asked to share a stage with the Proud Boys or other violent anti-Semitic groups. It will be interesting to see who accepts that invitation.

American Antisemitism, and Israel 

The rise in right-wing American Jewish activism has also spread to Israel. The hundreds of millions in donations from wealthy American Jews have served as a model to grow right-wing nationalist, pro-Netanyahu groups in Israel.

This includes the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), which supported Trump and in 2017 honored Steve Bannon at dinner, the far-right Religious Zionism party, and the right-wing Tikvah Fund, funded by the late-Israeli billionaire Zalman Chaim Bernstein.

Like their conservative counterparts in the U.S., the Israeli version of right-wingers focuses on “reform of the Israeli judicial system, anti-Chinese conspiracy theories, and adoption of “new immigration policies,” which includes an analysis of crime rates in the African asylum seeker community in Israel,” according to an article in 972Magazine, by Noam Sheizaf.

The goal of the Israeli right-wing/libertarians is copied from the U.S. model. This includes deregulation, the worship of free market capitalism, anti-union policies, limiting abortion access, annexing more territory, and “judicial restraint, individual liberty, and limited government.” This libertarian, anti-regulation, selfish tilt may come from Israel’s tech industry, just as it does in the U.S.

The only difference between the right-wingers in Israel and those in the U.S. is how they deal with antisemitism. The right-wingers in Israel fear a possible backlash from Palestinians. American Jews now face less violence but heightened rhetoric and vandalism from known sources, most of which are associated with Trump-supported groups.

Ungrateful Jews: Trump

Yet despite the hundreds of millions given by the RJC to Trump, the ex-president still says Jews are ungrateful to him.

In a social media post, Trump repeated the antisemitic myth that U.S. Jews have dual loyalties to the U.S. and Israel. Trump wrote, “No President has done more for Israel than I have,” a statement he repeats but is more hyperbole than fact.

Trump also praised “our wonderful Evangelicals (who) are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S.” This is not the first time Trump has attacked Jews for not being grateful to him. He did it in December 2021 when he was raising money. His criticisms of Jews who don’t worship him should resonate with the RJC, who wrote checks for hundreds of millions of dollars that Trump does not acknowledge today.

American Jews who follow Trump and embrace his right-wing causes and personalities should find it difficult to reconcile his white Christian American nationalism and Jewish values. But politics which is fueled by pursuing self-serving goals is a risky business.

American Jews who follow Trump down the road to Christian nationalism should not expect a friendly greeting at the journey’s end.

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