Israel’s military is now locked in a lethal battle to root out the Islamist terror group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In the US and around the world, anti-Semitic sentiment has surged, and one might have assumed that the Biden administration would announce some new initiative to curb attacks on Jews. Instead, it went the other way and, on Nov. 1, announced a plan to combat Islamophobia. The timing of this was, of course, shocking – or was it?
Joe Biden’s number two, Kamala Harris, posted a video to X, the social media platform previously called Twitter, touting “the country’s first National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia.” Spectator editor Stephen Miller wasted little time in pointing out the “stunning” choice to make the announcement “On the same day Hamas leadership goes on international TV and declares their goal is to erase Jews and Israel off the planet.” But it seems that Harris and Biden are far more concerned with the extreme left’s anger at them for publicly supporting Israel and the prospect of losing Muslim American votes than they are about offending Jews and Israel’s supporters.
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There already is, in fact, a “U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism.” It was launched on May 25 of this year. Clearly, it’s not working, though. Since the day Hamas attacked Israel, killing at least 1,400 – mostly civilians – a shocking wave of anti-Semitic hate has swept over college campuses and even city streets in the US. The administration has taken no concrete action to deal with what can only be described as pro-terrrorist, anti-Jewish zealotry. Never mind, though, let’s go after Islamophobia instead.
Islamophobia Claims a Distraction from Anti-Semitism?
“For years,” Harris says in the launch video for the new Islamophobia initiative, “Muslims in America, and those perceived to be Muslim, have endured a disproportionate number of hate-fueled attacks.” This is an entirely unqualified statement – and one that cannot be verified. When a Muslim becomes a victim of crime, it may or may not be possible to know for certain that the assault was “hate-fueled,” based on the victim’s religion. Further, how does one define “disproportionate”?
Even if this strategy had merit, the timing of its birth was entirely tone deaf. This was not the moment to announce such a measure. Something else is also worth remembering; Liberty Nation’s Editor-in-Chief Leesa K. Donner recently wrote: “New statistics from an FBI database reveal there is no parity regarding the frequency of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate crimes. For 2022, crimes against Jewish people were 4.5 times more likely to occur than those perpetrated against the Muslim/Arab community.”
The White House’s main concern is incurring the wrath of Muslim voters ahead of the 2024 election. There’s also the problem of the Democratic Party’s progressive wing, which has barely been able to conceal its disdain for Jews in recent years, even though most elected Democrats and their voters are repelled by Hamas sympathizers.
There is also the question of optics. For years, Democrats have tried to portray anti-Semitism as a right-wing problem. Since Israel declared war on Hamas, however, it has become indisputably clear that hatred of Jews and Israel is very much a left-wing thing. The college students protesting Israel’s retaliation against those who want to wipe it off the face of the map aren’t conservatives. The people posting vile threats against Jews online aren’t libertarians. The masked thugs rioting in New York, waving Palestinian flags, are not Republicans.
Thus, to deflect from the left’s anti-Semitism, the White House decided to distract everyone by launching a plan to fight Islamophobia, which they can much more easily pin on “right-wing extremists.” The danger is that the administration will in all likelihood conflate criticism of Islamist terrorism with Islamophobia. The two things are not at all the same.
While Jews across America and many other countries are now literally living in fear, the Biden administration takes no serious action. To deflect, it promises to tackle Islamophobia, which is by comparison a minor issue. It all fits in nicely with the progressive left’s increasing attacks upon western values; attacks that have been enabled by the Biden White House.
