Should Jews Jexit from the Democratic party?

American Jews who cannot bring themselves to vote Republican have three options.

The last few weeks of tension between the Biden administration and the Netanyahu government have been unpleasant and disturbing ones. Personally, I’ve long thought that the only thing that can deny Israel victory in this war is the White House. If Biden “goes wobbly,” as Margaret Thatcher would have put it, this will have serious and potentially disastrous implications.

These implications are particularly dire for American Jews. The only reason for the administration to turn against Israel at this moment is pressure from the antisemitic wing of the Democratic party. At the moment, Muslim and progressive antisemites are doing everything in their power to save Hamas and destroy the American Jewish community. A Biden capitulation to this satanic movement would be an inflection point in American Jewish history, a sign that—like so many times before—a golden age of Jewish life is over.

Amid the current tensions with Iran, which may be finally about to come out of the closet as the supervillain behind all this mayhem, the administration seems to have ended some of its ambivalence and gotten back in Israel’s corner. But there is no guarantee this will continue. The electoral pressures will remain and there is every reason to think that the Democrats’ antisemitic wing will go full suicide bomber if it doesn’t get its way. For example, it is likely planning riots both inside and outside the upcoming Democratic National Convention. It is not impossible that it will turn to outright terrorism.

To a certain extent, I believe, the administration doesn’t know quite what to do about this. I very much doubt that it anticipated the dilemma. It knew the antisemitic wing was there, but the administration did not expect that it would take to the streets in its thousands to call for a second Holocaust, openly support a genocidal terrorist organization, throw all morality and principle to the wind, and prove perfectly willing to engineer its party’s defeat and Donald Trump’s election in service of its goals. As a result, Biden and his people are reeling.

At the moment, the administration appears to be trying to split the difference, to somehow win both the Jewish and the antisemitic vote. As a result, it’s concentrating on distancing itself from Israel on the humanitarian issue and from Benjamin Netanyahu personally in order to appease the antisemitic wing. At the same time, it’s trying to retain the Jewish vote by taking Israel’s side militarily.

I very much doubt this is going to work. The antisemitic wing is not appeasable. They are a movement of absolute nihilism, beyond good and evil, and they will do anything to get what they want. They care about nothing but their fantasies of mass murder. I don’t how the administration intends to deal with this and I doubt the administration does either.

If Biden and his people choose the antisemitic vote, however, then American Jews will face a very serious dilemma. The party to which they and their ancestors devoted their absolute loyalty and all their efforts over a lifetime will have betrayed them at the moment of truth. Historically, this is par for the course, but it will be new for American Jews to the extent that on Oct. 6 it was inconceivable—though it shouldn’t have been.

Some are already advocating what they call a “Jexit” or “Jexodus” from the Democratic party in response. Most of those doing so want American Jews to defect and join the Republican party, but I think this is unlikely to happen. American Jews support too many policies that are anathema to Republicans and I doubt generations of political prejudice can be overcome overnight.

Nonetheless, if the Democrats betray the Jews, then a) the Democrats are too morally bankrupt to deserve support from anyone, b) they must be punished for their betrayal, and c) supporting the Democrats will only aid and abet powerful politicians like Elizabeth Warren who spew blood libels that constitute an existential danger to American Jews. Support for the Democrats would be not just immoral but suicidal.

It seems to me, then, that American Jews have three options:

1. A write-in. Pick the most pro-Jewish and pro-Israel politician, whether it’s Nikki Haley on the right or Ritchie Torres on the left, and vote for them personally regardless of party.

2. Abstain. There is power in simply not voting. American Jews usually turn out in large numbers. If they do not, it makes a statement that they are willing to flex their political power without compromising their principles. Moreover, in swing states like Arizona and Pennsylvania, Jewish abstention would threaten a Democratic victory as surely as the antisemitic vote in Michigan or the college towns.

3. Vote for a third party. This is probably the least attractive option. The most moderate third party, No Labels, is not running a national candidate; Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a repulsive nutcase; and the other third parties are mostly pure crankery. Nonetheless, it would be a viable option for those who feel that they have a moral obligation to vote but cannot bring themselves to support either of the major parties.

Many American Jews may be deterred from all three options out of fear that a vote for anyone but Biden will result in the enactment of policies anathema to them, such as a nationwide abortion ban. But policies can be reversed and laws can be repealed. Handing power to those like Warren, AOC, Rashida Tlaib, etc. who seek to destroy the American Jewish community cannot. In an existential situation, American Jews should understand that nothing matters but survival.

In the long-term, however, American Jews have an amenable strategic option: Push moderate Democrats to adopt those specific progressive policies American Jews passionately support while also demanding that the moderates oppose the antisemitic wing of the party. I believe there are many moderate Democrats who would gladly do this for both principled and pragmatic reasons. For liberal and progressive American Jews, this would be a ray of hope in the face of monstrous betrayal.