In the wake of the October 7th atrocities, the Harvard/Harris Poll asked, “In general in this conflict do you side more with Israel or Hamas?” Among American voters aged 65 years or older, 95 percent sided with Israel over Hamas. But 48 percent of the much less white 18- to 24-year-old cohort backed Hamas.
A majority of young people answered the question “Do you think the Hamas killing of 1,200 Israeli civilians in Israel can be justified by the grievances of Palestinians or is it not justified?” that the October 7th slaughter was justified by Palestinian grievances, compared to only 10 percent of voters 55 or over.
Other polls found much the same generation gap: In the NPR/Marist survey, 83 percent of baby boomers (1946–64) said the U.S. should support Israel vs. 48 percent of those born from 1981 to 2005. And,
“An Oct. 17 Generation Lab poll of 978 college students found that 48% of them do not blame the Oct. 7 attacks on Hamas.”
An obvious reason for declining support for Israel among American voters is because the U.S. isn’t as white Christian as it used to be. In 2019, the Pew Research Center reported that “for white Americans, the most common [modal] age was 58.” And, as we see in the polls, white Christians tend to love Jews and Israel. In contrast,
“The most common age was 11 for Hispanics, 27 for blacks and 29 for Asians as of last July, the latest estimates available. Americans of two or more races were by far the youngest racial or ethnic group in the Census Bureau data, with a most common age of just 3 years old. Among all racial and ethnic minorities, the most common age was 27.”
…It’s quite possible, unfortunately, that October 7th will lead to Jews doubling down on wokeness as long as Jews get to be at the top of the totem pole of sacred classes.
On the other hand, it’s also possible that more Jews will recognize that they will never be conceded the top spot and the other contenders for most sacred minority are not their friends. Instead, what’s actually good for the Jews is America’s pre-woke culture of free speech and open debate.
Here are some comments at Steve Sailer’s blog:
* “Diversity” has always been a code word for affirmative action. Its purpose has always been to benefit the Oppressed at the expense of the Oppressor. The reason the word has been so wildly popular on the left is that it allows you to obscure the fact that you are taking away from one group and giving to another — something the losers might feel they had a right to object to — and frame it instead as everyone winning.
* Who could have foreseen that Muslim immigrants would prioritize Muslim priorities?! This was unforeseeable!
* The Kevin MacDonald-ist idea that “diversity makes it safer for minorities” never made any sense. Liberal Jews and others who supported that idea were basically just rationalizing the Democratic party agenda to themselves. Their enemies on the far right have been confusing these partisan delusions for an ingenious master plan (“evolutionary strategy”).
There is no master plan, no conspiracy. Just a bunch of morons who have made party politics their cult.
* The American public’s reaction to October 7th is a shock to the American Establishment on par with unexpected election of Donald Trump in 2016. I think many Jews over 50 are genuinely perplexed by the open hostility online and on the streets. When did this dramatic policy shift happen? It is like we are now in a different dimension. You would think that there would be more pro-Israel protests, but they have not materialized for some reason. Not even in New York, where Jews have the numbers to put up a street presence. It does not help things that Israel’s rhetoric sounds very foreign to American ears.
* [Paul Kessler’s] obit in the Forward reported that he was very anti-Trump. No doubt he was thrilled that Antifa was hitting Trump supporters over the head with bike locks and getting away with it. Now he got hit over the head.
* It seems he didn’t get hit in the head by the other protestor. It’s not totally clear yet, but it looks like he attacked the pro-Palestinian guy to try to get his megaphone from him, and the guy pushed Kessler off of him, and then Kessler fell back on his head. The Pro-Palestinian protestor was the one who called 911.
* I wonder if sexual liberation has meant that the US is worse at empire-running than previous empires … My vague impression is that a lot of the geniuses of the British Empire were gay: Lawrence of Arabia, Cecil Rhodes, perhaps Chinese Gordon, or raging heterosexuals like Sir Richard Burton. They seemed to want to get abroad for private reasons, then proved impressive there.
* My sense of it is that older* Americans – white or otherwise – tend to view Israel more favorably through the lens of the reportage of the 1960’s and 70’s – that of a heroic Israeli fighter pilot, in the context of the supposed Israeli David versus the Arab Goliath. Outnumbered, but plucky Jews fighting desperately against the masses of Arabs, if you will. Meanwhile those born after that period were raised with images of the regional strong power Israel bombing weaker Arabs, starting with the invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the Palestinian uprisings in the 1990’s and so on.
* Arabs in Israel are not at all, as you imagine, “obsequious”. (Where did you get that idea anyway?) They drive like maniacs. They’re free with their opinions (just give the slightest hint you’re interested). They confidently go anywhere they please in Jewish areas (knowing they’re perfectly safe where, reversing the situation, a Jew would be torn limb from limb). Their representatives in the Parliament rant and heckle and harass. They flout every law be it about tax, land use, auto registration, waste runoff.
Uri S. Segelman writes for the Times of Israel Dec. 20, 2015:
Of course Israel is the Jewish State, and affirming such may be among the least controversial things one could possibly say to a group of American Jews. [And when I say “Jews,” I mean people affiliated, to some degree, with the faith, even if they are not Orthodox.] To these people, Israel being the Jewish State is simply taken for granted. So if one told this same group that the United States ought to support Israel, the Jewish State, and recognize her as such, he would be as equally uncontroversial.
Why is it then that when I raise my voice in support of nationalism and self-determination for the peoples of Europe, I am met with skepticism, if not downright contempt? Why is it that when I praise the nationalist parties of Europe (many of whom are actually Zionistic), I am questioned with unease?
It appears to me that the same people who so vehemently call for Israel to be Jewish lack that same vigor when calling for France to be French, Germany to be German, or Sweden to be Swedish. Indeed, a lack of vigor would actually be satisfactory. In fact, it’s not even that: those same Zionists, by and large, fight against the nationalist sentiments in Europe. The establishment Jewish groups in the US, all of whom lock arms for Israel and lobby the American government to categorically support her at every turn, are the same groups that consistently call for open borders in Europe, increased immigration from the Middle East, a full-out embracing of multiculturalism, a weakened national culture, and a diminished Church. They are the same groups that slander and defame leaders like Le Pen in France and Wilders in the Netherlands. They are the same groups that push for the death of Europe and her people.
Quite plainly, any Jew in the US who calls for American support for the Jewish state but condemns the nationalists in Europe is a hypocrite. He is a hypocrite for the very simple reason that he wants national self-determination for a people in one part of the world but not for another in a different part of the world. He is a hypocrite because he wants his country, the US, to protect the nationalist and ethno-centric aspirations of Israel, his homeland, but not those of Europe.
But it’s even more nuanced than this. The peculiar position of these Jews is not so much in their exclusive nationalist desires for one state. It is in their exclusive denial of such nationalist rights to the peoples of Europe. For some strange reason, there is a hate for the European race, and that hate translates into a desire for its ultimate destruction. After all, what better way to crumble Europe than to replace its volk? As it is said, “demography is destiny.” Every other country on the planet, especially including the Jewish State of Israel, is entitled to national self-determination—to an ethnic nation-state. Why must Europe be left out?
The hypocrisy is glaring, and all those who praise Netanyahu and scorn Le Pen are guilty.
One common response, however, is that the nationalist Right in Europe is “anti-Semitic.” (Of course, this term has lost so much of its substance. As Joseph Sobran, an accused anti-Semite, wrote: “an anti-Semite used to mean a man who hated Jews. Now it means a man who is hated by Jews.”). First off, the Jew should not be all that confused when the European he’s trying to destroy distrusts him. But secondly, the hard truth is that Europe is becoming less safe for Jews, regardless of who is in charge. And in fact, the perpetrators of day-to-day anti-Semitic attacks are Muslims. Leftist rule has only ensured a growth in the Muslim population in Europe, which, as we have seen when Israel conducts operations against the Palestinians, spells doom for Europe’s Jews. The Muslims in Europe are the ones who have brought back the pogroms of old. At least the Right has pledged to stem immigration from the Middle East.
In short, I do not think the “who’s better for the Jews” question is relevant here. The short answer is: probably no one. [However, the majority of the far-Right parties in Europe have rooted out all traces of Nazism and anti-Semitism, and are often vigorously pro-Israel, unlike their Leftist counterparts who criticism Israel at every turn].
That being said, with the Jewish question set aside, why don’t Jews about the European civilization and people as an issue in it of itself? The displacement of a people is no small exploit, especially a people that has played such a critical role in human history in the creation of Western civilization. With Europeans’ dwindling birthrates, the necessity to preserve the national identity of the European peoples becomes ever more important. Jews, whose homeland is the world’s shining example of the ethno-nation state, should be at the forefront of this fight. Jews, who understand better than most people the importance of continuation and preservation, should be at the forefront of the fight for Europe. It is selfish to stay out, and hypocritical to counter.
Unfortunately, the Jews seem to be on the wrong side. Again.
