Holocaust-2 that broke out in Israel on October 7 may suddenly have a positive impact on many left-liberal American Jews. The recent tragic events will cause an upheaval in liberal heads and shift their political mindset to the right: the American Jews will wise up, move away from a liberal worldview, and become more conservative. I will try to explain this seemingly unexpected prediction.

From the 8th century B.C. to the middle of the last century, Jews have been persecuted and periodically expelled. Unlike many other peoples, who sometimes were also persecuted by their neighbors, the Jews until 1948 did not have their own country, where they could go, so they settled among strangers, practiced their own religion, and engaged in crafts that were allowed to them. And because of the religious differences, they resided inside their own isolated enclaves, known as ghettos. Jews, being the People of the Book, unlike the host population, were universally literate and therefore more successful in many trades, which invariably caused envy and anger in their neighbors, and, as we know, envy is the foundation of anti-Semitism. Not strange clothes, not shapes of the noses, nor the Jewish religion, but it was the success of Jews in their endeavors that led to anti-Semitism. To quote Einstein, "Anti-Semitism is the shadow of the Jewish people" and this very tangible "shadow" has been creating everlasting social and economic pressures on the People of Exile.

To succeed in hostile environments, Jews had to work harder than others, learn more intensively, adapt skillfully, and be more cunning. They learned to be successful where others failed. This produced many intelligent and active people with combative characters, striving to succeed in spite of anti-Semitism.

Jewish survival and success are the evolutionary result of three factors: exile, social isolation, and anti-Semitism. A vivid example of the role anti-Semitism plays in shaping the character of Jews is Israel's success in many fields. Being surrounded by an aggressive Muslim population forced the Israelis to achieve incredible results in everything necessary for survival, from agriculture to high technology. Without this external anti-Semitic pressure, it is likely that Israel would have become like a run-down shtetel, not irritating or embittering its neighbors.

Most American Jews belong to or support the Democrat party, although that party, especially its extremist left wing, is virulently anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli. In Congress, despite the fact that Trump was the most pro-Israel president in history, the fearsome anti-Trumpists are Jewish Democrats Schiff, Schumer, and Nadler.  In the 2020 election, 70 to 80% of American Jews voted for Democrats. American Jewish leftists are now at the forefront of the pro-Palestinian movement; figuratively speaking, they have become more Catholic than the Pope. The events of October 7 highlighted the vile face of these liberals as they openly supported Hamas in the vain hope of showing that their Jewish genes do not diminish their humane and noble feelings toward the “oppressed and disadvantaged”.

There are only two territories of mass Jewish habitation where anti-Semitism is weak or non-existent: North America and, for natural reasons, and inside Israel. Remarkably, it is in these territories that an overwhelming number of Jews have a left-liberal worldview. Here we can clearly see the cause-and-effect relationship: the absence of anti-Semitism is the source of the disease called “leftism”. The last two generations of American Jews have not experienced the hardships of anti-Semitism. In the United States, Jews feel no better or worse than other religious or ethnic groups.  Because of this, politically they have shifted to the left and literally stopped being Jewish, striving to become "like everyone else," even if on Jewish holidays they traditionally go to a Reform synagogue, which had essentially turned from a temple into a "social club."

At a time when American Jews are steeped in liberalism, we see the exact opposite trend in some other countries where Jews live. The most striking example of this is England. After the Labour Party became anti-Semitic, English Jews are leaving it and moving en masse to the Tory camp, i.e., the Conservatives. The reason for this phenomenon is the growing anti-Semitic pressure. Antisemitism shifts the Jews to the right. The weakness or intensity of anti-Semitism determines the outcome: whether Jews become liberals or conservatives, left or right. The only medicine that can cure Jews of the “leftism” disease is the bitter pill of anti-Semitism. It seems that History, the great pharmacist, has already prepared this medicine for them.

Incidentally, this explains the conservatism of Jews from the former USSR and Russia, where domestic anti-Semitism has always been strong, and state-supported anti-Semitism was only slightly inferior to Hitler's Germany. For this reason, the vast majority of the Russian-speaking Jews support Israel and the U.S. Republican Party.

But suddenly something unexpected happened: after October 7, domestic anti-Semitism erupted in America. This was especially evident at universities, which had been hotbeds of radical leftist ideas even before. Like two years ago, murky protests flowed through Democrat-run cities. Only this time not with the BLM slogans in support of the "oppressed black population”, but now in support of the "oppressed Palestinians" with slogans like "Palestine - from the river to the sea!" which is a euphemism for "Destroy Israel!"

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Overnight, it became unsafe for Jews around the world, including in America, to openly display their Jewishness. Attempts by leftist American Jews to disassociate themselves from Jewishness, to demonstrate their "open-mindedness" and show that they have nothing to do with Israel, did not help them at all. With surprise, these liberals have tasted the bitterness of anti-Semitism and felt with their own skin what their grandparents were too well familiar with.

What is happening in England and other European countries in the very near future will happen to American Jews — their liberalism will fade and in the political spectrum, they will shift to the right. I wouldn't be too surprised if a significant number of them leave the Democrat party and move to the Republicans. We may notice this shift as early as during the 2024 election. What percentage of American Jews will become wiser is hard to say — too little time has passed and the weight of tradition is still too strong, but unless the current situation changes radically, the number could be quite significant.

Author’s website: www.fraden.com