[llm_nerd]

But they are spot on. The performative declaration of war on so-called antisemitism by this administration is 100% just a façade to target Muslims.

Anyone who truly believes this administration, or the American right wing in general, cares about antisemitism suffers from extraordinary levels of gullibility. The incantation of George Soros as the master manipulator behind everything "the left" does in the US is a pretty transparent placeholder for "The Jews Control Everything". White replacement theory is predicated on the belief that "The Jews" are for some reason trying to water down every white nation with masses of immigrants by sneaking in and sneakily changing immigration to open borders. Virtually every crazed conspiracy among the US right somehow ends up at "The Jews".

But it is utterly perverse that questions or criticism of the actions of a pretty vile sovereign can be dismissed as antisemitism. Many if not most American Jewish people are deeply critical of the things the Israeli government is doing (all under the cover of "to question it is antisemitism"). Israelis, though....polling of Israelis is extraordinarily uncomfortable, to such a degree that I would hardly consider the country "Western" as it is often called.

[somenameforme]

Trump's daughter is married to an Orthodox Jew and also converted to Judaism herself. That's something that's not like other religions where you can just say you're a Christian (of this denominator or that) - it's an official, tested, and very extended affair, particularly in the Orthodox tradition. In other words, it's "real." And Trump has always been deferent, come obsequious, to Israel, like many US politicians. In fact he was the first sitting President to visit the Wailing Wall back in his first term - traditionally US Presidents do that before elections.

Evangelicals are also probably the most reliable base for the Republican party (though remain a minority within it), and they have an extremely positive relationship with Israel.* And then on top of this the Israel lobby is well funded and tends to shower pro-Israel politicians in money in public, and I doubt the support ends there.

This is a somewhat long-winded way to say that - yes I do believe this administration is completely and sincerely focused on Israel and the interests of Israel, and I think there are a million reasons to think this is the case. And I also don't think this is a good thing, because the Israeli government seems to have lost their minds, and I think the world was already far closer to WW3 (and has been for a number of years now) than most appreciate.

What would be billions dead because of a nutter government and US politicians love affair with Israel would make just about as much sense as Brits killing Germans because a Bosnian Serb assassinated an Austro-Hungarian royalty.

----

* - that's actually changing with younger generations, but it still remains mostly true.

[llm_nerd]

>yes I do believe this administration is completely and sincerely focused on Israel and the interests of Israel

100%, and I completely agree with you. This administration seems positively subservient to Israel.

But they don't care an iota about antisemitism. Many in Trump's circle are infamous antisemites. It has long been an observation that Trump is pro-Israel yet paradoxically simultaneously an antisemite. Trump himself seems to view Jewishness as being loyal only to Israel -- he has quite literally stated this -- and that those that aren't loyal to Israel are not actually Jews. Trump has frequently repeated stereotypes and caricatures about Jews.

I don't for a moment think Trump cares an iota about antisemitism, even though I think he's a strong ally of Israel. Which is fair because it's possible to be critical of Israel without being an antisemite. The simple conflation of the two -- as this administration does -- is itself antisemitism. I conflates Jews worldwide as mere vassals of Israel.

[somenameforme]

Antisemitism is largely becoming an irrelevant word because of how it's weaponized to prevent criticism of Israel. At this point in time many Jews would be considered antisemitic with how it's used, especially Ultra Orthodox who tend to view the existence of Israel (the current political entity) as blasphemous for reasons outside the scope of this post. It's also somewhat a dumb term given that e.g. Palestinians are Semites.

In any case I think Trump cares about things like preventing violence/intimidation against Jews. And I do think that's a reasonable concern. A certain political orientation in the US has become increasingly violent over the years and as Jews (which are distinct from the Israeli government) fall out of fashion with them, concerns of a progression towards violence are not entirely unfounded. By contrast, I do not think he cares about things like memes of long nosed bankers rubbing their hands or claims Jews are more loyal to Israel than the US.