ANTISEMITES “PROTECTING” JEWS May 30, 2025
The Trump administration boasts about protecting American Jews from antisemitism and anti-Israel attacks. The truth is just the opposite.
Jews have been called “the canary in the coal mine.” Attacks on Jews warn that a society is giving way to ethnic autocracy. Other minorities soon will be assaulted.
This canary smells the scent emanating from Washington, and it’s foul.
Take Donald Trump’s offensive against elite universities like Harvard in the name of safeguarding Jewish students. Yes, Harvard and other top universities have indulged in—or enabled—antisemitic polices. They’ve allowed pro-Palestinian faculty, students and campus outsiders to target Jewish students, often physically. This goes beyond legitimate disagreement about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the war in Gaza. Across the nation, campus administrations have turned blind eyes to Jewish students being hounded and events featuring pro-Israel speakers disrupted or canceled.
Jews receive no protection when anyone’s First Amendment rights on campus, or anywhere, are threatened or curtailed. Students and faculty are entitled to their opinions, including opinions with which I vehemently disagree.
Calls for violence, however, cannot be allowed. The murders of two young Israeli-embassy staffers in Washington—Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim—demonstrate how some zealots stumble down the slippery slope of violence. In response, will the administration restore FEMA funds for securing religious institutions? So far, no.
Another disturbing case: A week ago, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hosted a Christian prayer service at the Pentagon. It was broadcast internally throughout the building.
The opening remarks by Hegseth, a supposed friend of Israel, put America’s Jews in their place. Translation: in the crosshairs. “This is precisely where I need to be, exactly where we need to be as a nation at this moment, in prayer, on bended knee, recognizing the providence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
Hegseth’s hometown pastor, Brooks Potteiger, piled on. Donald Trump had been “sovereignly appointed.” God, as perceived by most Jews, long ago stepped out of the history business. And with all due respect to Christians, Jews don’t recognize Jesus as the son of God.
Critically, are all DoD employees Christians? Do non-Christian employees occupy second-class status?
Hegseth added: “This is something we plan to do on a monthly basis, on a voluntary basis, here in the auditorium. I hope you’ll let those you work with know about it.”
Will services be led by a rabbi, Imam, Buddhist or Hindu pries, or other cleric? Must they acknowledge Jesus as their “Lord and Savior”? Theologically, that’s impossible.
As cnn.com reported, “While the Pentagon offers routine religious accommodations and services to personnel of different faiths, none of them are broadcast live internally, held in the auditorium or hosted by the secretary.”
The government recognizing one religion above all others represents an odious trampling of the First Amendment.
I hear echoes of a century ago in Europe, beginning with Mussolini’s Italy and leading to Hitler’s Germany. I also reflect on the United States. Antisemitism sounded loud and clear with the incredible popularity of the radio show of Father Coughlin, a vicious antisemite, the German-American Bund, the pro-Hitler remarks of the aviator-hero Charles Lindbergh and the America First movement.
Antisemitism hiding behind the claim of fighting antisemitism should serve as a clear wakeup call. I fear far too many Americans will fail to hear it.
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