Dateline Washington — An anti-Semitic libel that has haunted Jews since the state of Israel was founded in May 1948 — that the first loyalty of prominent American Jews is to Israel — has lurched from the shadows again from left-wing critics.
Days after announcing his opposition to the Iranian nuclear deal, Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York is facing an onslaught of allegations from progressive critics who resorted to classically anti-Semitic allegations of disloyalty and treason. The Anti-Defamation League criticized the accusations Monday, telling The Times of Israel that such accusations are a “slap in the face” to Mr. Schumer’s long years of service to the United States.
Mr. Schumer announced last Thursday that he would oppose the nuclear deal with Iran when it faces a crucial vote in Congress next month. His defection from the Obama administration’s side on the issue was a blow to White House efforts to prevent the two-thirds majority in Congress against the deal that might overcome a presidential veto — but was hardly unexpected from a legislator who had already indicated his discomfort with the agreement.
Since Mr. Schumer’s announcement, a Twitter hashtag #dumpschumer has become the focal point for much of the vitriol. Nominally devoted to a drive to prevent Mr. Schumer from taking the reins of Senate Democratic leadership after Minority Leader Harry Reid leaves the position, anti-Schumer campaigners refer to him repeatedly as a “traitor,” suggest that his loyalty lies only with Israel and not the United States, and accuse him of receiving his “real paycheck” from nefarious sources — which they characterize as Israel, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (or other pro-Israel bodies.
But the notoriously provocative twitterverse is not the only outlet for such accusations.
The progressive website Daily Kos ran a cartoon in which an imaginary television host called a woodchuck version of Mr. Schumer a “traitor” and switched the American flag at Mr. Schumer’s side to an Israeli flag.
“The reactions are a sad example of how some individuals buy into the kind of thesis promoted by [John] Mearsheimer and [Stephen] Walt that US Jews and other supporters of Israel put Israel’s interests ahead of US interests,” said Anti-Defamation League National Director Jonathan Greenblatt.
Messrs. Walt and Mearsheimer co-authored a paper and later a 2008 book in which they claimed that the “Israel lobby,” a loosely defined cross-section of American Jewish groups and others, works against U.S. interests. They said it was characterized by “a core consisting of organizations whose declared purpose is to encourage the U.S. government and the American public to provide material aid to Israel and to support its government’s policies, as well as influential individuals for whom these goals are also a top priority.”
Critics complained that Messrs. Mearsheimer and Walt essentially reinvigorated classical anti-Semitic tropes accusing Jews of acting as a “nation within a nation” and possessing dual and conflicting loyalties.
Mr. Walt, in fact, was one of those who tweeted and retweeted responses to the current back-and-forth over whether the rhetoric concerning the Iran deal constituted anti-Semitism. The Harvard professor called Mr. Schumer a “sellout,” and retweeted an opinion article in the Huffington Post that called the deal’s opponents “Netanyahu’s marionettes.”
That article cited Mr. Schumer’s 2010 comments in which he reportedly said “I am a shomer [guardian] for Israel and I will continue to be that with every bone in my body” as evidence of his unpatriotic interests.
“Hurling accusations of disloyalty are a slap in the face to his [Schumer’s] lifelong record of public service,” Mr. Greenblatt complained in a written response to the rhetoric. “There is room for a legitimate debate on the Iran deal, however charges against Sen. Schumer — and any other members who articulate on fact-based but alternative views — are beyond inappropriate.”
Proponents of the Iran deal — including President Obama himself — have been criticized in recent weeks for what some see as criticism of their opponents that ply on historical stereotypes of Jews.
Over the weekend, the Jewish magazine Tablet’s editors penned an unusually strident editorial condemning what editors — including both supporters and opponents of the deal — describe as “the use of Jew-baiting and other blatant and retrograde forms of racial and ethnic prejudice as tools to sell a political deal, or to smear those who oppose it.”
This story appeared in this morning’s edition of The Times of Israel (timesofisrael.com)