American antisemitism: An oxymoron?

OPINION:

I am a Jew, but I am not an insecure Jew. I don’t crave other people’s approval. If people hate me for my ethnicity or religion, that’s their problem, not mine. I did nothing wrong, and I won’t beg or demand that anyone like me.

As a proud conservative, though, I’m disturbed by the virtual explosion of right-wing antisemitism on social media over the past few years. Independent voices such as Nicholas Fuentes, Dan Bilzerian and Candace Owens now regularly denounce “Jewish influence” to their millions of followers, and a growing number of young conservatives find their rhetoric appealing.

I don’t entirely blame them. I understand the allure of entertaining “forbidden” ideas in defiance of cancel culture. I would remind these young conservatives, however, that American conservatism cannot be antisemitic, almost by definition. For a conservative cherishes the traditions of the past, and America, unlike Europe, has always been friendly toward Jews.

As President Coolidge said, “From earliest Colonial times, America has been a new land of promise to this long-persecuted race.” At the end of the Revolutionary War, America was the only country in the world where Jews could run for national office, serve as officers in the Army and become full-fledged lawyers.

In 1790, this country’s first president, George Washington, wrote to a synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, that the United States government “gives to bigotry no sanction.” He wished tranquility for “the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land,” envisioning a society where “every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

In 1808, John Adams heaped praise on the Jewish people: “They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. … They have given religion to three quarters of the Globe and have influenced the affairs of Mankind more, and more happily, than any other Nation ancient or modern.” He even wanted to see the creation of a Jewish state in the Holy Land. “I really wish the Jews again in Judea an independent nation,” he wrote in 1819.

Washington and Adams were not outliers. Benjamin Franklin proposed that the national seal of the United States depict Moses lifting his staff to drown the Egyptians in the Red Sea after having successfully led the Israelites through it. Thomas Jefferson suggested it show God guiding the Israelites through the wilderness to the Land of Canaan.

Some influential members of the founding generation even toyed with making Hebrew the national language of the United States. The proposal didn’t go anywhere, but universities such as Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Brown and Harvard all taught Hebrew, and Harvard even featured an annual commencement address in Hebrew until 1817.

This country also welcomed millions of Jewish immigrants in the late 1800s and early 1900s, people who integrated into society so fully that one can hardly speak of American culture in the 20th century without reference to Jews.

Many of America’s greatest films, including “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “Casablanca” and “The Wizard of Oz,” were made by Jewish-owned movie houses.

Some of America’s greatest comedic acts and personalities — including the Marx Brothers, The Three Stooges, Danny Kaye, Jerry Lewis and Jerry Seinfeld — were Jewish.

If you wax nostalgic when you hear “White Christmas” or place your hand on your heart when you hear “God Bless America,” you’re admiring a song composed by a Jew: Irving Berlin.

Are you intellectually stimulated by Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman, Allan Bloom, Richard Feynman, Daniel Boorstin or Bernard Lewis? All of them were Jewish.

Do you appreciate the musical genius of Simon and Garfunkel, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Jascha Heifetz or George Gershwin? All were Jewish.

Are you happy America won World War II without losing hundreds of thousands of soldiers in an invasion of Japan? Thank two Jews for that: Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer.

Other Jews who made vital contributions to America include Felix Frankfurter, Louis Brandeis, Joseph Pulitzer, Harry Houdini, Al Jolson, Sandy Koufax, Isaac Asimov, Emma Lazarus, Hannah Arendt, Jackie Mason, Joan Rivers, Steven Spielberg, Estee Lauder, Calvin Klein, Michael Savage, Ben Shapiro, David Horowitz, Dennis Prager and Abigail Shrier.

In many regards, therefore, to be an antisemite in America is to be a self-hating American. You have to reject your own history and culture.

So I would urge my fellow conservatives, especially younger conservatives who distrust “the establishment” and the orthodoxies of the past: Think long and hard before embracing the antisemitic vitriol of right-wing podcasters and influencers. Certainly, individual Jews can and have caused harm to this country, as have individuals from every race and religion, but to spout hatred of “the Jews” is un-American. It didn’t become un-American in the politically correct culture of 2025. It has been un-American ever since 1776.

• Elliot Resnick is the former chief editor of The Jewish Press, a podcast host and the author and/or editor of 10 books, including “In a World Gone Mad: An Appeal for Sane Thinking on Israel, Trump, War & More.” Follow him on X at @ResnickElliot.