My mother is a child Holocaust survivor. She’s angry about what’s happening in American politics right now, particularly on the Left. So am I.
She’s repeatedly warned me that history can repeat itself, but I’ve never really taken her seriously. Until now.
As a former DC-based Fox News national correspondent, I’m used to the political undulations in our country. I covered them closely. But what’s happening now appears to be a seismic and defining shift in the political paradigm.
There’s a reason more Jewish Americans than ever before are fleeing the Democratic Party. According to exit polls in the 2020 presidential election, 77% of Jewish voters chose President Joe Biden. Before announcing his departure from the race, Biden was already seeing a precipitous drop from Jewish voters. The Jewish Electoral Institute found he had already lost 10 points on his lead against former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump.
With Vice President Kamala Harris now the Democratic nominee, I fear things could get uglier for Jewish Americans and the State of Israel. Sure, she’s married to Doug Emhoff, a Jewish man. But, as my dad, a retired psychiatrist always taught me, “it’s all about how you act.”
Waldman points out Harris's actions in regards to Israel
Recently Harris’s action, perhaps more aptly described as inaction, spoke volumes about her disdain for the Jewish people and Israel itself. She was notably absent for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s joint address to Congress. You may recall that she was in attendance – even holding a Ukrainian flag – for President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Capitol Hill speech.
Where were you, Madam Vice President? We didn’t necessarily need you there. But it sure would’ve been nice if you showed up. You know, to support us.
And, just three weeks after the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel, Vice President Harris announced that the Biden administration would develop “the first ever US National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia” to assuage rising levels of antisemitism in the United States. Huh? It’s these actions we must pay attention to. During that formidable and eloquent speech by Netanyahu, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib made sure she was in attendance so she could wave her pathetic little signs which read, “War Criminal” and “Guilty of Genocide.” She was told by officials to put them away.
But Tlaib isn’t the only problem for American Jews and Israel. Some 70 Democrats refused to attend Netanyahu’s speech in an act of defiance or cowardice – I’m not sure which – maybe both.
Outside the Capitol, pro-Hamas demonstrators swarmed Union Station and removed American flags which were replaced by Palestinian flags, albeit temporarily. Protesters even spray-painted “Hamas is coming!”
Maybe it’s not just Jewish Americans who need to be worried about what’s happening politically but all Americans.
As a nation, have we collectively forgotten that terrorists tried to kill us all on 9/11? My Holocaust survivor mother hasn’t forgotten.
Make no mistake: Hamas is a terrorist organization that showed no hesitation when it came to burning babies and raping Israeli women on October 7. This was Israel’s 9/11, but much worse by per capita standards. 101 hostages remain in Gaza, including seven dual American Israeli citizens. Where is the outrage? My Holocaust survivor mother is outraged.
Have we forgotten what transpired on college campuses this past academic year? My mother hasn’t forgotten. And neither has Netanyahu.
Israeli leaders comment on the far-left pro-Palestinian activism
While addressing Congress, he took verbal jabs at these far-left college-aged buffoons, calling them Iran’s “useful idiots.” I prefer “buffoon,” but to each his own.
“You have officially become Iran’s useful idiots,” Netanyahu rightfully mocked the undergrads, saying they should be “ashamed of themselves” for siding with Hamas. Have they no shame? Apparently not.
Israel’s leader went on to say, “Many anti-Israel protesters choose to stand with evil; they stand with Hamas, they stand with rapists and murderers.”
Some of those protesters, as I outlined above, are members of our American Congress. Let that sink in.
My grandfather was gassed in Auschwitz because he was an optimist. He never believed things could get so bad in his own homeland that one day, he’d wind up being incinerated simply for being Jewish.
This is why my mom proudly proclaims herself to be a realist. She knows what happens when you turn a blind eye to hatred and terror.
In my new book about my mother titled Surviving the Survivor, I open with a quote she often tells me, which is taken from an old Serbian proverb: “The dogs bark, and the caravan passes.”
When I’d take criticism as a news correspondent, she used to share this as a message to keep moving forward despite the ambient noise.
But now it might be time to listen to all this noise very carefully. It’s filled with a lot of hatred and animus directed squarely at American Jews and Israel.
Is the caravan still safe with all those dogs barking and surrounding it? I’m not so sure, and neither is my mother. And we’re both angry about it.