No doubt, American Jews aren't prepared for this exponential uptick of antisemitism. In fact, many of us are in serious denial; life here is just too good and it's hard for many not to just shrug off the occasional incidents or vile remarks of anti Jewish and/or anti Israel sentiments. We're busy trying to talmudically distinguish antisemitism and anti Zionism. We're busy trying to determine if the hate is coming from the left or the right. Also, American Jews aren't cohesive, particularly when we need to coalesce. 35% of NY Jews are voting Mamdani. Many claim that they hate Cuomo for various misdeeds during his governorship; unfortunately, Sliwa has little chance of trouncing Mamdani. So I tell them, you have a choice of voting for a bad candidate or a poisonous one. Your article gives British Jewry 10 years, I give American Jewry 25 years.
In light of your comments, let alone Ben's typically perceptive essay, I'm (alas - ironically) glad to know that I'm not the only person who's pondered the "Sinclair Lewis question" in terms of the future of the Jews of the United States.
Should the momentum of prevailing political and sociological trends continue unchanged, I, too, give the "place" of American Jews a more than uncertain future.
History never repeats itself congruently, but trends and patterns do.
I am trying to be practical. There have always been antisemites. But for the past 75 +/- years, it just wasn’t spoken about in polite society. Yes, we knew it existed, but frankly, it was very subsurface and we were busy getting on with our lives, improving ourselves, accomplishing wonderful things and setting good examples. Mamdani can make all the remarks he wants. The real real real problem is that there are thousands listening and given him credence. There have always been mamdanis. But they were essentially marginalized as nut jobs. We always thought they’d run out of steam. But today, he has a healthy, vibrant, and very receptive listenership. I don’t want to make an analogy, but the Nazis never ‘told’ the Eastern European countries that they conquered to start pogroms. They just planted seeds of the idea and they knew that crowds would form and do their dirty work for them. I am more concerned about mamdanis consiglieres and henchmen and those that are yelling bravo and kudos to
Him. They are very very dangerous. To our schools, to our shuls, to our institutions. Be assured that Mamdani would never publicly condone an antisemitic attack against our community. He’s too smart for that. I can’t speak for
If the experts are saying ten years, leave by year eight. In fact the math says exercise your put option on the United Kingdom as soon as it’s in the money which is now because options lose value over time and eventually expire.
I hope many of the British (and Australian, and Canadian) Jews come to America, so we can more effectively fight off the hatred from all of the left, and the far right, and keep up the American support for Israel.
I do not believe that the American situation resembles the British one in any way. Yes we have some nasty situations in major cities where the Red/Green alliance has taken root and the pathetic Democratic governments do nothing about it. But this is a gigantic nation with over 350 million people. The large majority continue to support American Jewry and for that matter Israel. Of course there is danger. The Democratic party seems to be irreversibly drifting towards the kind of hard leftism that is highly anti-semitic today. But less and less people identify with them. Of course we must fight back in conjunction with our conservative and Christian allies. But we must not despair. Europe is overrun with radical Islam. It is likely irreversible without a serious reckoning that probably won't come. Many cities in Western Europe have incredibly high Muslim populations. The City of Manchester is THIRTY PERCENT Muslim. London is 15 percent Muslim. Outside of maybe Dearborn, Minneapolis and Jersey City there is no place in the U.S. that even approaches that. So we have a good chance.
There are places in Texas where radical Muslims are settling. America is very much like Britain. The radical anti-semitic, anti-American ideology has infiltrated our schools, K-12 and universities. This is indoctrination. This means our future, this means armies (if you want to think of it that way), who have been indoctrinated to hate American and Jewish values. These indoctrinated young people write for the NY Times, and work in the media. Already they rewrite Wikipedia. They are literally rewriting history, what would have been considered historical fact. The real threat of a Mamdani victory is that it will be a major foothold of Islamic ideology in government. Mayors control the police - that alone should be terrifying Jews. He has already said NYC will remain a sanctuary city (for illegals and criminals, not law abiding citizens, and definitely not Jews). That means illegal migrants will be welcomed here, including those with Islamic ideology, including jihadists (by whatever name). Jew hatred will be more and more normalized. That foothold in the city with the second largest population of Jews in the world will be a jewel in the crown of Islamic settlement in America. It has already begun (even, perhaps especially, in NYC). Because the Islamist apologists and deniers now controlling media, education and the internet refuse to see, let alone report what's been happening in the new Islamic republic of Britain, or Canada, or Australia, citizens here, and even American Jews won't recognize the threat (btw, how are all these parents not noticing the radicalization of their youth in our schools??). The NYT will continue to write articles to demoralize Jews, to make them feel weak and ashamed and American Jews will still renew their subscriptions to the paper, and others will cite the information it spews as fact. These activists posting as journalists and our now radicalized Democratic party will continue to bury or re-frame antisemitic and all radical Left violence as justified, so the violence will get worse. You're right, I believe, that this is most egregious ln our big cities, but we have generations of indoctrinated who are and will be controlling information in the ether, everywhere. We have to break that stronghold. Then we'll have a chance. The fact that 35% of NY Jews are staggeringly stupid enough to vote for Mamdani, that he had Jews working on his campaign, makes me want to scream, and to give up. Point is, America is going just the same way as UK. The differences, for now, are great and life-saving: we have an Administration that is not afraid to call out anti-semitism and to do something about it, among other things. And as far as we know, they are not importing large populations of mostly fighting-age Muslim men into our towns, as Starmer et al have done with villages in UK, changing the populations overnight. Also, I do not believe there are freedom of speech protections there, as exemplified by the arrests of people who post anything that may be construed as criticism of it online (and not the "mostly peaceful" mobs spewing hatred, intimidation and chaos in the streets). But the settlement, the intent to change our values especially as regards Jews and American patriotism for now, the single-minded push is already well under way; and the perpetrators, I can imagine, cannot believe how spectacularly successful they've been. Sorry for the ramble (and thanks if you've made it through).
We only have ten years maximum, also. The reasons why are multiple.
First, there are only a handful of politicians we can still trust. While most of them are on the Republican side, unless Trump repeats in 2028, we might get someone who is not supportive of the Jewish community. The Democrats will not support a presidential candidate who supports Israel or the Jewish community, so if they win, we need to leave.
If the economy turns, all bets are off. People vote their pocketbooks, and promises made, especially by parties not in power, lead to their obtaining power, and imposing whatever ideas they believe in on the masses. While the Democrats accuse Trump of being an authoritarian, every game the Left has played comes directly from the Hitler/Stalin playbook. The creation of a victim class, and the creation of an oppressor class which will be destroyed by the new party in power, control of the mainstream media, cancel culture which defines the political culture within the party and further defines the true enemies of the victorious party, and the destruction of the enemies at victory.
The universities have poisoned the minds of the students, and the k-12 educational system is imposing the Red-Green alliance ideology on them. School systems throughout the country face discrimination charges by the Dept of Education and DOJ; not only is it playing out in the coastal states, but also in conservative areas like Plano, Texas. Once a child mind has been indoctrinated, it takes extreme interventions to change them. This is the same indoctrination my German-Catholic uncle experienced. He was born in Wurzburg, Bavaria in 1928, and was raised within the Nazi education system. Just as the USSR and China used/use party members to spy on those who speak the truth, the Nazis rounded up the parents of my uncle's classmates if they were discovered to oppose government policy. They are extremists, and we need to fight them by destroying their power and their ideology. Unfortunately, this is the mindset of much of the youth of our country, and the upper and middle classes have bought into this ideology.
No doubt, American Jews aren't prepared for this exponential uptick of antisemitism. In fact, many of us are in serious denial; life here is just too good and it's hard for many not to just shrug off the occasional incidents or vile remarks of anti Jewish and/or anti Israel sentiments. We're busy trying to talmudically distinguish antisemitism and anti Zionism. We're busy trying to determine if the hate is coming from the left or the right. Also, American Jews aren't cohesive, particularly when we need to coalesce. 35% of NY Jews are voting Mamdani. Many claim that they hate Cuomo for various misdeeds during his governorship; unfortunately, Sliwa has little chance of trouncing Mamdani. So I tell them, you have a choice of voting for a bad candidate or a poisonous one. Your article gives British Jewry 10 years, I give American Jewry 25 years.
Gerald, thanks for articulating these thoughts.
In light of your comments, let alone Ben's typically perceptive essay, I'm (alas - ironically) glad to know that I'm not the only person who's pondered the "Sinclair Lewis question" in terms of the future of the Jews of the United States.
Should the momentum of prevailing political and sociological trends continue unchanged, I, too, give the "place" of American Jews a more than uncertain future.
History never repeats itself congruently, but trends and patterns do.
I am trying to be practical. There have always been antisemites. But for the past 75 +/- years, it just wasn’t spoken about in polite society. Yes, we knew it existed, but frankly, it was very subsurface and we were busy getting on with our lives, improving ourselves, accomplishing wonderful things and setting good examples. Mamdani can make all the remarks he wants. The real real real problem is that there are thousands listening and given him credence. There have always been mamdanis. But they were essentially marginalized as nut jobs. We always thought they’d run out of steam. But today, he has a healthy, vibrant, and very receptive listenership. I don’t want to make an analogy, but the Nazis never ‘told’ the Eastern European countries that they conquered to start pogroms. They just planted seeds of the idea and they knew that crowds would form and do their dirty work for them. I am more concerned about mamdanis consiglieres and henchmen and those that are yelling bravo and kudos to
Him. They are very very dangerous. To our schools, to our shuls, to our institutions. Be assured that Mamdani would never publicly condone an antisemitic attack against our community. He’s too smart for that. I can’t speak for
His listenership.
Anti-semitism is sweeping the globe as fast as the COVID virus. The number of phony Faucis is exploding.
If the experts are saying ten years, leave by year eight. In fact the math says exercise your put option on the United Kingdom as soon as it’s in the money which is now because options lose value over time and eventually expire.
I hope many of the British (and Australian, and Canadian) Jews come to America, so we can more effectively fight off the hatred from all of the left, and the far right, and keep up the American support for Israel.
I do not believe that the American situation resembles the British one in any way. Yes we have some nasty situations in major cities where the Red/Green alliance has taken root and the pathetic Democratic governments do nothing about it. But this is a gigantic nation with over 350 million people. The large majority continue to support American Jewry and for that matter Israel. Of course there is danger. The Democratic party seems to be irreversibly drifting towards the kind of hard leftism that is highly anti-semitic today. But less and less people identify with them. Of course we must fight back in conjunction with our conservative and Christian allies. But we must not despair. Europe is overrun with radical Islam. It is likely irreversible without a serious reckoning that probably won't come. Many cities in Western Europe have incredibly high Muslim populations. The City of Manchester is THIRTY PERCENT Muslim. London is 15 percent Muslim. Outside of maybe Dearborn, Minneapolis and Jersey City there is no place in the U.S. that even approaches that. So we have a good chance.
There are places in Texas where radical Muslims are settling. America is very much like Britain. The radical anti-semitic, anti-American ideology has infiltrated our schools, K-12 and universities. This is indoctrination. This means our future, this means armies (if you want to think of it that way), who have been indoctrinated to hate American and Jewish values. These indoctrinated young people write for the NY Times, and work in the media. Already they rewrite Wikipedia. They are literally rewriting history, what would have been considered historical fact. The real threat of a Mamdani victory is that it will be a major foothold of Islamic ideology in government. Mayors control the police - that alone should be terrifying Jews. He has already said NYC will remain a sanctuary city (for illegals and criminals, not law abiding citizens, and definitely not Jews). That means illegal migrants will be welcomed here, including those with Islamic ideology, including jihadists (by whatever name). Jew hatred will be more and more normalized. That foothold in the city with the second largest population of Jews in the world will be a jewel in the crown of Islamic settlement in America. It has already begun (even, perhaps especially, in NYC). Because the Islamist apologists and deniers now controlling media, education and the internet refuse to see, let alone report what's been happening in the new Islamic republic of Britain, or Canada, or Australia, citizens here, and even American Jews won't recognize the threat (btw, how are all these parents not noticing the radicalization of their youth in our schools??). The NYT will continue to write articles to demoralize Jews, to make them feel weak and ashamed and American Jews will still renew their subscriptions to the paper, and others will cite the information it spews as fact. These activists posting as journalists and our now radicalized Democratic party will continue to bury or re-frame antisemitic and all radical Left violence as justified, so the violence will get worse. You're right, I believe, that this is most egregious ln our big cities, but we have generations of indoctrinated who are and will be controlling information in the ether, everywhere. We have to break that stronghold. Then we'll have a chance. The fact that 35% of NY Jews are staggeringly stupid enough to vote for Mamdani, that he had Jews working on his campaign, makes me want to scream, and to give up. Point is, America is going just the same way as UK. The differences, for now, are great and life-saving: we have an Administration that is not afraid to call out anti-semitism and to do something about it, among other things. And as far as we know, they are not importing large populations of mostly fighting-age Muslim men into our towns, as Starmer et al have done with villages in UK, changing the populations overnight. Also, I do not believe there are freedom of speech protections there, as exemplified by the arrests of people who post anything that may be construed as criticism of it online (and not the "mostly peaceful" mobs spewing hatred, intimidation and chaos in the streets). But the settlement, the intent to change our values especially as regards Jews and American patriotism for now, the single-minded push is already well under way; and the perpetrators, I can imagine, cannot believe how spectacularly successful they've been. Sorry for the ramble (and thanks if you've made it through).
Courage Media is always worth reading:
https://courage.media/2025/01/02/islamism-ruined-britain-dont-let-it-ruin-america/
We only have ten years maximum, also. The reasons why are multiple.
First, there are only a handful of politicians we can still trust. While most of them are on the Republican side, unless Trump repeats in 2028, we might get someone who is not supportive of the Jewish community. The Democrats will not support a presidential candidate who supports Israel or the Jewish community, so if they win, we need to leave.
If the economy turns, all bets are off. People vote their pocketbooks, and promises made, especially by parties not in power, lead to their obtaining power, and imposing whatever ideas they believe in on the masses. While the Democrats accuse Trump of being an authoritarian, every game the Left has played comes directly from the Hitler/Stalin playbook. The creation of a victim class, and the creation of an oppressor class which will be destroyed by the new party in power, control of the mainstream media, cancel culture which defines the political culture within the party and further defines the true enemies of the victorious party, and the destruction of the enemies at victory.
The universities have poisoned the minds of the students, and the k-12 educational system is imposing the Red-Green alliance ideology on them. School systems throughout the country face discrimination charges by the Dept of Education and DOJ; not only is it playing out in the coastal states, but also in conservative areas like Plano, Texas. Once a child mind has been indoctrinated, it takes extreme interventions to change them. This is the same indoctrination my German-Catholic uncle experienced. He was born in Wurzburg, Bavaria in 1928, and was raised within the Nazi education system. Just as the USSR and China used/use party members to spy on those who speak the truth, the Nazis rounded up the parents of my uncle's classmates if they were discovered to oppose government policy. They are extremists, and we need to fight them by destroying their power and their ideology. Unfortunately, this is the mindset of much of the youth of our country, and the upper and middle classes have bought into this ideology.
Excellent comment - thank you.