The Shoe Is On The Other Foot

Jews, Where Left Meets Right

As I write this, Operation Rising Lion, Israel’s valiant attempt to destroy Iran’s nuclear program . Personally, I am just old enough to clearly remember the Iranian revolution of 1979, and the taking of hostages who worked in our embassy in Tehran. It was a different America, one in which taking Americans hostage united the population in a way that that would only happen again in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Virtually all Americans seemed to seethe in anger about our people being taken by a barbaric, backwards, barbarian regime.

It was also a time when moral clarity (which I wrote about last month) was in abundant supply. Americans’ rage was apparent, and there was no sense that we owed Iranians any unearned sympathy.

So for many of us, this was a long time coming. Obviously, as a Jew, my sense that Iran was an existential threat has been growing in parallel with its burgeoning status as a nuclear power.

I watched in horror as (too many) people defended the “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action” (the “JCPOA,” or more commonly, “The Iran Deal”). Most, but not all, of them were Democrats.

After all, this was under Barack Obama, and they seemed incapable of accepting that when Obama (ludicrously) claimed that the agreement would prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, he was lying. It didn’t matter that Obama himself admitted that the deal was the gateway to legalizing, under “international law,” Iran as a nuclear power.

The details of the “deal” allowed Iran to have as many centrifuges as it wanted by 2026 (now next year), and after fifteen years (six years from now) it lifted all restrictions on how much enriched uranium Iran could possess. Enriched uranium is used for only ONE PURPOSE: making nuclear weapons.

In the meantime, sanctions against Iran were also lifted. Almost two billion dollars were sent on pallets to Iran, the world’s largest state sponsor or terror, and a regime that solemnly swore to wipe the lone Jewish state, and half the Jews on the planet, off the Earth (G-d forbid).

Guess how that money is being used RIGHT NOW?

All of that is in addition to the fact that Iran, like every other despotic regime in history, lies continually, and was never going to abide by the restrictions of the deal. An agreement that also had bizarrely ineffectual provisions for enforcement. It was always clear to even the most minimal skeptics of unhinged, dictatorial, Islamic death cults, that Iran was going to cheat (humor intended).

During his first term, Donald Trump did the sane thing and pulled the United States out of the deal.

Again: the agreement that was supposedly going to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, allowed them to develop nuclear weapons, and because of the “deal,” destroying their nuclear program after the allotted terms of the agreement would itself be a violation of international law.

Think about that: destroying Iran’s nuclear stockpiles and development program after the allotted time, would have been made illegal under a deal that people were claiming supposedly stopped Iran from getting nukes. Sheer insanity.

It was like saying that you’re going be thrown into a swimming pool to keep you dry, and, apex “Emperor’s New Clothes” style, everyone who supported the deal claimed that it would stop Iran from getting nukes.

Not only did many of us know that the deal was insane, and that it was absurd that a President of the United States was totally ok with a nuclear Iran, we knew that it had to be Israel who would end Iran’s nuclear aspirations no matter what.

That day came last week.

G-d willing, by the time you are reading this, the operation was 100% successful and the mullahs and their 46 year reign of Islamic terror are now over.

But right now, there are a few things that are striking.

Antisemitism has raged across the planet since 10/7, and it should come as no surprise that antisemites are using the pre-emptive strike against Iran as an excuse for more antisemitic behavior.

It demonstrated, once again, how deeply antisemitism is embedded in our society. This time it exposed that the problem is not remotely limited to the Left. The Right has an increasing number of prominent people who find it socially acceptable to be open about their disdain for Jews.

We all know, and I’ve written extensively about garbage people like Rashida Tlaib, Ilham Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jasmine Crockett, the very long list of prominent leftists who have never been forced to suffer any consequences at all for their blatant Jew hatred. On the contrary they are continually rewarded for it by being re-elected. Despite losing the White House and the Senate in 2024 – the tolerance for antisemitism on the Left seems not to have been corrected – at all.

So what is happening on the Right is surprising. There was a time when the stereotype of an antisemite was a rich white, or poor white, conservative. Always either an ignorant hick, or a privileged blueblood. While there was some truth to that, antisemitism was never limited exclusively to those stereotypes. However, it was true that people who openly hated Jews tended to find a more accepting home on the right (I’m not saying democrat/republican here, because most of the Southern Jew hating racists were Democrats, and no, the two parties never “switched sides” – that is a myth).

In fact – far left and far right intersect at the point when antisemitism becomes a possibility. Which brings me to “horseshoe theory.” Simply put, it is the idea that politics isn’t a straight line which moves left/right, but an arch that bends, and at the extremes, the sides bend toward each other like a horseshoe. That theory has always made sense to me.

We are seeing it in action as far right lunatics spew antisemitic nonsense that is identical to the ongoing nonsense spewed by leftists. On the Left, they claim that they don’t hate Jews, they “just” hate Zionists, and on the right, they claim that they don’t hate Jews or Israel, they are just isolationists (long a bastion for antisemites), or are “merely” placing “America first.”

The most obvious example is Tucker Carlson. While I pegged him as an antisemite a decade ago (as I did another far right imbecile– Candace Owens), his dislike of Jews has become increasingly obvious.

Bizarrely, we live in a world where Tucker Carlson sounds more like Rashida Tlaib than like Donald Trump. In fact, to Donald Trump’s credit, he has been publicly rebuking Carlson for his unhinged views.

Then there is Marjorie Taylor Greene. Unlike many of the right-wing antisemites who now feel more emboldened to express their bigotry, Greene has always been a Jew hater. I used to argue that her brand of antisemitism was more innocuous than Omar, Tlaib, Ocasio-Cortez, etc. because while the latter were open about wanting a genocide against the Jewish people (G-d forbid), Greene spouted nonsense that was so crazy only dimwits would believe her. The best example was her amazingly ludicrous claim that “Jewish space lasers” were responsible for a fire in 2015.

After Israel attacked Iran, Greene was at it again claiming (echoing Tucker Carlson) that Israel was setting off a potential global conflict, and that the U.S. should not be involved in any way. Mosty pointedly, like Carlson, she denied that Iran is anywhere near developing nukes (as did the despicable Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard).

Her post was shared by Doug Stafford, who is the chief strategist for Sen. Rand Paul, the Republican Senator from Kentucky.

Mollie Hemingway, prominent conservative and editor in chief of “The Federalist” claimed that by “allowing” Israel to attack Iran, Trump was “betraying” millions of MAGA minded Americans.

Prominent conservative Charlie Kirk made a similar assertion.

I can go on, because there are many other examples.

The far left agreed with their assertions. Proving that the “Horseshoe Theory” is valid. What that means is that on the right, hating Jews has become popular enough that hypocrites are more than willing than ever to relinquish their ideologies to shake hands with evil.

The most galling part: Israel is doing a huge favor for America (Iran was developing ballistic missiles, another thing that was allowed by the JCPOA), which were intended for Europe and the America.

Israel will get no thanks from Jew haters on the right or the left as a population of less than 10 million people, takes on Iran, a nation of 91 million people, possibly literally saving Western Civilization.

The lesson for us as Jews is, we have to finally come to terms with the reality that our ancestors all understood, the only people we can really depend on are other Jews.

Lastly, all Americans should have learned from World War II that, when evil rears its head, “peace through strength” is the only way of truly “putting America first.”

This is not about parties - antisemitism is a strong drug for these people - we need to remember who we are and put ourselves first. Always.

Never be afraid. Never give up.

Am Yisrael Chai.

This article appeared originally in Orange County Jewish Life.

Joshua Namm is a longtime Jewish community pro, passionate Israel advocate, and co-founder/co-CEO of Moptu, a unique social platform designed specifically for article sharing, and dedicated to the principle of free speech.