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Conservatives' Response to Anti-Israel Protests in Contrast with Anti-White Riots, by Robert Stark

3-5-2024 < UNZ 18 1862 words
 

Source: @KeithWoodsYT on X


Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, ordered the National Guard to arrest protesters at universities, and Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, and Senator Josh Hawley called for their expulsion. Even Trump praised the crackdown on the protesters. GOP House Leader, Mike Johnson, and most of the GOP are backing bipartisan legislation to crack down on antisemitism. However, a small handful of Republicans including Thomas Massie and Matt Gaetz opposed the bill, as did the Squad Democrats. Also, Red States like Florida and South Dakota have put forth bills to criminalize antisemitic hate speech, which blatantly violates the First Amendment.



Source: @ggreenwald on X


It is hard for the GOP to make the case that they are the party for free speech, and now come across more like post-9/11 Bush Republicans than crusaders against woke cancel culture. Conservatives often flip their stance on free speech when it comes to antisemitism and anti-Israel rhetoric. Not to mention that the antisemitism awareness act, that most Republicans backed, further strengthens the DEI/civil rights apparatus and will likely be used to target dissident opinions, on both the left and the right as hate speech.



Source: @wayotworld on X


While there has been a lot of inflammatory rhetoric, as well as chaos and vandalism, at university anti-Israel protests, they still do not come close to the level of violence and civil unrest of the Black Lives Matter Riots of 2020. The reason is that the recent anti-Israel protests are mostly bougie college students while the Black Lives Matter riots also involved those from the criminal proletariat. Not to mention that Jewish students are overrepresented among pro-Palestinian protesters. Regardless, Black Lives Matter/Antifa and the Palestinian cause heavily overlap in support. Thus former perpetrators of cancel culture are now finding themselves on the other side of it.



Source: @CalifornianSon on X



Source: @LeftyCrypto on X


While Black Lives Matter and Antifa had significant institutional and elite support and were shown leniency by the Police, law enforcement has come down fairly hard against the anti-Israel protesters, especially at the University of Texas, but even at Columbia in ultra-liberal New York City. Even if you hate the protesters as unhinged leftists or disagree with their narrative on Israel, the police crackdown and reaction from establishment politicians shows that they challenge those in power, much like the anti-Iraq War protests or Occupy Wall Street did. In contrast, BLM was nothing but useful idiots for the establishment.



Source: @moldbridge on X


Conservatives are now expressing what they were too cowardly to say about Black Lives Matter, about the Palestinians, and leftwing pro-Palestinian protesters. In response to ripping down posters of Israeli hostages, Fox News’s Jesse Waters said to Arabs and Arab Americans and the Muslim World “I am not going to hold your hand…..We’ve had it with them (Arabs),” and we can’t live in a country like that.” However, he would dare not say “I had it with Blacks” after the BLM rioters destroyed statues and burnt down businesses.



Source: @arctotherium42 on X



Source: @bronzeagemantis on X


A lot of conservatives are also quick to throw Whites under the bus, such as former Trump press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany virtue signaling that White nationalists should also not be allowed into Harvard. Another example is Ted Cruz justifying sending in the National Guard to how the National Guard was used to enforce desegregation, authoritarian tactics which set a legal precedent against White Americans having any self-determination. Trump at least said that Charlottesville was like Peanuts compared to the anti-Israel protests.



Source: @tedcruz on X


During the Black Lives Matter protests, conservatives were inept with Trump just tweeting “law and order” and some Red State governors failing to quell the riots. Conservatives preferred to talk about how Dems were the real racists and how Black Lives Matter was bad because it was holding Blacks back rather than calling BLM out for being anti-White. However, the problem is more with GOP politicians, as figures like Tucker Carlson, and increasingly Charlie Kirk, are outspoken against anti-Whiteness and are willing to question unconditional support for Israel.



Source: @JasonSCampbell on X


White Americans who opposed BLM were expected to keep their heads down when under siege. Many people got canceled and intimidated with doxing or violence just for making rather innocuous critiques of Black Lives Matter. While it is one thing to oppose both anti-White and anti-Israel activism consistently, anyone on the Right who comes down hard on the latter but did not with the former deserves nothing but contempt. The pro-Israel conservatives, especially those older, should not be asked why they support Israel but rather why they don’t support their own people with the same enthusiasm.



Source: @RichardBSpencer on X


The Overton Window says that you can hate Israel if you are on the Left, but if you are on the Right you must overcompensate by being hyper-philosemitic. I also see parallels with today’s GOP to the Bush era, when it was generally bad to be pro-White but an exception was made for being racist against Arabs if it fulfilled US foreign policy objectives.



Source: @BlueBoxDave on X


Even though Jews are White, there are parallels to White conservatives opposing affirmative action on the grounds that it harms Asians without the courage to stand up against anti-White discrimination. The GOP decided to make antisemitism their identity politics priority in the way that Black issues are for Democrats. Ron DeSantis went as far as to call for affirmative action for Jewish students.



Source: @poetoflight on X


While linking antisemitism to anti-Whiteness could be a Machiavellian strategy, the GOP is placing antisemitism as the greatest evil while downplaying anti-Whiteness. Cracking down on anti-Israel protests while not anti-Whiteness sends a clear message to non-Whites that they will be punished for antisemitism or anti-Israel views but that it is still ok to attack Whites more broadly. It is hard to say how much this stance will help get the GOP more Jewish support. If Jews are granted special DEI-like protections, there is less incentive for Jews to work with non-Jewish Whites against anti-White discrimination, which also harms Jewish Whites.



Source: @GovRonDeSantis on X


There is also a case that White gentile conservatives are using Jews as a moral shield for nationalism. For instance, Trump made the case that mass migration causes a spike in antisemitism and other Republicans have exploited the Israel/Palestine conflict to push for a hardline anti-migrant stance. Certainly, Jewish liberals resent being used as shields for what they perceive as White grievance culture. However, for conservatives, everything is about moral victories rather than winning politically.



Source: @martyrmade on X


MAGA Republicans are more isolationist when it comes to Russia and Ukraine but sound more like Neocons when it comes to protecting Israel. For instance, Josh Hawley said that any funding for Ukraine should be diverted directly to Israel. However, Trump is probably bitter about being snubbed by Netanyahu and if re-elected is a wildcard on Mideast policy. Regardless, right-wingers who “support Israel” as a proxy for their disdain of left-wing protesters are the functional equivalent of Libs who “support Ukraine” as a proxy for their disdain of Trump/MAGA.



Source: @mattgaetz on X


While there are legitimate reasons to oppose US military aid to Ukraine, American conservatives care more about Israel for Biblical reasons while having an element of Europhobia. Conservatives who are quick to defend Israel as a righteous Western nation are quick to parrot Kremlin talking points that Ukrainians are all Nazis. Breitbart’s Joel Pollack said that “Israel is not Ukraine. Israel is a much closer ally. It is a democracy, and has been for far longer than Ukraine,” and that “Ukraine has a choice: it can negotiate for peace with Russia, albeit accepting territorial losses. Israel cannot negotiate with Hamas or its Iranian backers; it is fighting for survival.”



Source: @RichardBSpencer on X


The anti-Israel protests are causing divisions among Democratic constituencies, so the GOP cracking down on them is a gift to the Democratic establishment. While conservatives hate the Left and just see this as an opportunity to punish their enemies, they fail to think strategically. It is a smarter strategy for conservatives to just let left-wing protesters go crazy while putting it upon the Democrats to crack down on them, which could cause tremendous harm to the Democratic Party electorally. While it is easy to dismiss the protesters as kooky Leftists with purple hair, who demand free dental dams and diva cups, they have the potential to be an impactful and long-lasting political movement. Basically, it is a civil war and open revolt from the young newly elevated, more ethnic, managerial elite strivers, against the old guard power elite.


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