A Jewish friend says: “When is the last time Eshman ever voted for any Republican running for President? The next thing I would expect him to do is attack Cruz because his last name translates to Cross, as in the Cross where Jesus was crucified and died for our sins. It is certainly true that the phrase “New York Jew” conjures up a stereotype, but I don’t think the term “New York values” evokes Jews. This is 2016. I really detest this Jewish paranoia.”
If Ted Cruz is not anti-Semitic, this op/ed may well turn him into a raging Jew-hater. If no matter how much you support Israel and promote other pro-Jewish stuff, you still get called an anti-semite on such a flimsy pretext, then it is irrational to care about Jews and Jewish concerns. If you are going to get called slurs for trivial things, you might as well dismiss the Jews in your mind (even if you take care with your public statements for pragmatic reasons).
What’s harder to forgive is the hate.
The language Cruz uses, the images he conjures, foment hate. By deriding New York values, he short-circuits argument and appeals straight to prejudice.
That prejudice shades into anti-Semitism. Because if there is one group that overwhelmingly stands for New York, it’s Jews. Seinfeld. Woody Allen. Bagels. I rest my case.
And if there is one group that supports “liberal New York values,” it is Jews. Abortion rights, gay rights, gun control, social safety nets, environmental protection, climate change action — Jews don’t just consistently poll in favor, they often (loudly) lead the way. Cruz wasn’t aware of that? Of course he was.
Cruz doesn’t shoot from the hip, unless it’s an AK-47 and he’s trying to look macho. So he knows that by saying “liberal New York values,” he is dog-whistling the anti-Semites.
And he thinks he can get away with it for one reason: Israel.
Cruz loves Israel.
“In my view, the United States of America should remain unshakably alongside our vital ally, the nation of Israel,” he said in a speech on Sept. 11, 2013. His Middle East foreign policy could be summed up as WWBD — What Would Bibi Do?
Do you follow? Cruz loves the Jewish State, but loathes the Jewish City. By professing such deep love for the Jews of Israel, Cruz assumes he can say whatever he wants about the Jews of America.
There is a certain political logic to this. Jews who share his views on Israel will likely shrug off his thinly veiled hate speech. Jews who prefer any Republican to any Democrat will accuse those who take offense of being too P.C. — even though these are the same Jews who still obsess over President Barack Obama’s choice of a Chicago preacher 20 years ago.
But what Cruz doesn’t understand is that you can’t have it both ways. Israel exists and thrives, at least in part, because it demonstrates many of the same liberal values as New York. In its embrace of universal health care, religious diversity, artistic expression, women’s rights, gay rights and social innovation, Israel is a Cruzian nightmare.
Those values are difficult to maintain and protect in a country surrounded by enemies and often prey to its own internal dark forces — some of which are also New York imports. But, even so, Israeli society has much more in common with Manhattan than with Midland. This makes me think Cruz loves Israel in theory, just not in fact.
As for Jews, Cruz is content to see how far he can go using a select few of us as donors, and the rest of us as piñatas.
