Jonathan P. Baird

Inside the American Jewish community, there has been a major conflict going on about how to see the source of antisemitism in the United States. On one side are the mainstream Jewish organizations like the Anti-Defamation League and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations who are focused on activists on the left who have opposed Israel’s war in Gaza. They conflate opposition to the Israeli state and its Gaza war with antisemitism.

On the other side are large numbers of unaffiliated Jews, especially progressive young Jews, who are far more worried about fascism and antisemitism emanating from the Republican right. Many of these Jews actively oppose Israel’s actions in Gaza but they are not antisemitic. These Jews have more universalist values and oppose human rights violations wherever they happen.

Events have vindicated those who see the major threat as coming from the Republican right. As a Jewish person, I would go back to the events at Charlottesville in the first Trump term. Hearing Nazis and their sympathizers chanting “Jews will not replace us” was sobering. Then we saw the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh by a right wing extremist who believed in the great replacement theory.

Since then, the growth of the fascist and antisemitic threat coming from the Republicans has become so much more apparent. There is an internal war inside the Republican Party between Jew-hating neo-nazis, the groypers, and old-line Republicans. An entire generation of young Republicans appear to be infected by the antisemitic and racist virus.

Back in October, Politico published an article about the leaked Telegram chat conducted by leaders of young Republican groups throughout the country. In 2,900 pages of chats, many millennial and Gen Z Republicans spoke of their love of Nazis and Hitler, their hatred for Blacks, gays and women and their desire to put Jews in gas chambers. They always dress up the hate in ironical transgressiveness but the underlying world view is clear.

These were Republican leaders, not rank-and-filers. Although they were reported as being young, they ranged up to age 40. They included a state senator and a member of the Trump administration. The Jew-hating showed up in many of the 28,000 exchanges from January to August 2025 among leaders of Young Republican chapters in Arizona, Vermont, Kansas and New York.

The danger from the right has been highlighted by Tucker Carlson’s recent interview with Nick Fuentes. Why was Carlson, an important right wing podcaster, giving such prominence to someone who regularly trafficks in the belief that “organized Jewry” is responsible for society’s problems? Fuentes has called Hitler “really fucking cool”.

I think the interview reflects Carlson’s knowledge that the Republican Party has been flooded by extremists and he is attempting to maintain his relevance by speaking to this growing faction. Rod Dreher has estimated that 30%-40% of all Republican staffers under age 30 are followers of Nick Fuentes. And Carlson is not the only right wing podcaster indulging antisemitism. Candace Owens also deserves mention. With a huge audience, like Fuentes, she blames George Soros and Jews for every imaginable social ill.

Trump is old and it remains an open question what comes next in Republican politics. It is legitimate to ask if the Republicans will become an explicitly racist and antisemitic, pro-nazi political party. A major part of their base, especially their youth, has those politics.

Many of the antisemites on the Republican right have latched onto Gaza as an issue they can exploit. They criticize U.S. support for Israel from an America First perspective. That perspective is at odds with the evangelical Christian Zionist faction of the Republicans but it connects to an earlier isolationist tradition in the party.

The groypers realize that there is massive worldwide opposition to Isreal’s Gaza campaign because of its brutality and its war crimes. Their opposition is sheer opportunism. They want to recruit from those who are legitimately horrified.

The mainstream Jewish organizations have minimized the antisemitic threat from the right because their highest priority has been defense of Israel. They are happy Trump has not interfered with Netanyahu. They play to Trump to keep the money and weapons to Israel flowing. That is also why they give a pass to Elon Musk when he makes nazi salutes. Not seeing Israel’s war crimes is a willful blindness to keep the money spigot on.

The October 7 attack on Israel was criminal and murderous but Israel’s response has been disproportionate and even more murderous. An estimated 67,000 Palestinians have died since October 7, 2023 with nearly a third of the dead under age 18.

Israel’s far right government, led by Jewish racists and fascists like Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, has been credibly accused of ethnic cleansing and genocide. It is not antisemitic to criticize the actions of the Israeli state but the mainstream Jewish organizations see it that way. Of course, there have been isolated examples where criticism of Israel from the left has been antisemitic but these examples are the exception. Overwhelmingly, the criticisms of Netanyahu’s government have been entirely justified.

The Anti-Defamation League has gone completely off the rails with its assertion that New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has promoted antisemitic narratives. Any close observer of Mamdani knows that charge is baseless, even laughable.

Sadly, it is Israel’s own actions in Gaza that are doing more to create antisemitism than anything else. If the mainstream Jewish organizations would take their blinders off, they could see that.

One of our two major political parties is at risk of being captured by explicit racists and antisemites. Drawing on the lessons of history, fascism and antisemitism need to be stopped before they gain more traction. We face a moment like Germany experienced in 1932 when people failed to speak out enough. We all know the consequences of that.