By Michael L. Wise , PhD
It is an unpleasant task to sound the alert that there are Jews who seek to destroy the State of Israel and harm its supporters. We brand Jews who try to harm Israel and the Jewish people as FAKE JEWS. They advocate boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel (BDS) and vilify Israel as a genocidal apartheid state, occupier and violator of human rights. Many FAKE JEWS deny their Jewish parentage and go out of their way to hurt the Jewish people. These Jews provide legitimacy to the assault against Israel. Not surprisingly, U.S. President Donald Trump says “Some American Jews don’t love Israel enough.”
Historically there have been Jews who acted to the detriment of the Jewish people. In 1936, Zionist leader Berel Katznelson asked: “Is there another people on earth whose sons are so emotionally twisted that they consider everything their nation does despicable and hateful, while every murder, rape and robbery committed by their enemies fills their hearts with admiration and awe?” During pogroms and holocausts there were Jews who aided the enemies of the Jewish people. From Torquemada, the renegade Jew, during the Spanish inquisition to kapos and collaborators with the Nazis during the Holocaust, Jews have been besieged by people who betrayed their brethren and sought favor with the enemies of the Jewish people.
The Zionist dream of the return of the Jewish people to Israel and the creation of a sovereign Jewish State was realized after almost 2000 years. Jewish antisemites and Jewish anti-Zionists, are a vociferous minority who denigrate Israel, while applauding Palestinian Arab outrages against Jews.
The spectrum of FAKE JEWS who vilify the State of Israel varies from those caught up in intersectionality with little or no background knowledge or interest in Jewish history, tradition, or the Bible, to those who have suffered traumatic experiences and/or have deep seated animosity and even hatred for their Jewish brethren and Israel.
They vote for candidates who champion anti-Zionist and anti-Israel positions. FAKE JEWS support hatred of Israel on college campuses and condemn the Trump administration for trying to quash it. They make huge donations to universities where dishonest anti-Israeli propaganda proliferates, and they fund BDS activities which if successful would result in the end of Israel.
According to Kabbalistic thought, in every generation, FAKE JEWS (Erev Rav) cause many of the problems affecting the Jewish people. A daily prayer is said every day for such Jews: “May the slanderous internal enemies have no hope (HEBREW: Lamalshinim al tehi tikva)”. Alan Dershowitz explains that “people who use their credibility as Jews to destroy the Jewish people, shall not have any hope.”
The Jewish people owe a debt of gratitude to the American people. The Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, approved by the Senate (93–5) and the House (374–37), was implemented by President Trump when the United States moved its embassy to Jerusalem. President Trump withdrew the United States from UNESCO over its long-standing anti-Israel bias, closed the Palestinian mission in D.C., stopped funding UNRWA, withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, and declared that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are not inconsistent with international law. A global array of those who seek to harm Israel, condemned these decisions. FAKE JEWS slander the most pro-Jewish and pro-Israel president in history. It is not surprising to hear Trump say that they are “very disloyal to the Jewish people and very disloyal to Israel.”
Jewish protesters from Bend the Arc were arrested when Trump visited Pittsburgh on the one-year anniversary of the Tree of Life synagogue massacre. Chants of “Trump endangers Jews” were heard, and signs read “Our solidarity will defeat White Nationalists”.
FAKE JEWS collaborate with the enemies of Israel in colleges, think tanks, and mass media outlets. They attract global sympathy by claiming that Israel is anti-democratic, anti-free speech, anti-LGBTQ, an occupier, and violates the rights of migrant workers, children, Negev Bedouins, refugees, asylum seekers, Arabs, women, fair housing and almost every other intersectionality mantra.
Dr. Michael L. Wise, a physicist, is a founding member of the American Israel Demographic Research Group. He can be reached at mlwise@gmail.com.
