Diverging from Jewish political orthodoxy

I am asking my fellow Jewish citizens to diverge from Jewish political orthodoxy and vote for the Republican candidate Joe Hathaway in the special congressional election on April 16. His opponent, Analilia Mejia, hates Israel and is a “Squad wannabe” with its far-left neo-socialist agenda. Hathaway is a pro-Israel moderate who will vote in the best interests of the 11th Congressional District, not MAGA doctrine.

It is understandable why many of you hesitate to do this, as you may bitterly dislike President Trump. You are also the heirs of Jewish pollical orthodoxy spanning several generations. Our grandparents hewed to that old Yiddish joke of the holy trinity of “this velt, yenneh velt and Roosevelt.” FDR was their darling as he dramatically changed the country for the better with the inauguration of Social Security, recognition of collective bargaining, and the like. He also thwarted Father Charles Couglin, whose antisemitic venom against the Jews he said were controlling the world hit the radio airways for his over 30 million listeners as well as America Firster Charles Lindbergh. He ably led us through the travails of World War II. Only later did we find out how little he helped European Jews during those perilous times.

And so, his “coattails” extended to Harry S. Truman and Democrats to this day. Jews together with Afro-Americans are the most reliable voters for the Democratic party compared to any other voting bloc.

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But times have changed with the rampant spread of antisemitism into the mainstream. I naively believed that after the Holocaust, antisemitism would be somewhat contained. But today we are witnessing its normalization in everyday discourse. We hear how the Jews are controlling the “throne,” lifted from the forged “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” Joe Kent even tells the world that Israel induced us into the war with Iran and is celebrated by right-wing podcasters everywhere.

Meanwhile, fueled by billions invested by Qatar, Chinese front organizations, and others, we have campus faculty and their acolytes demonizing Israel and Jews as white colonialists and oppressors with calls for a global intifada. The ancient blood libel is resurrected against Israel with claims of genocide, even as  the truly genocidal Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran try to eliminate the Jewish state.

The psychologist Daniel Winston explains this visceral hatred of Jews. “People don’t cling to bigotry and hatred,” he writes, “because they have not yet encountered the right educational brochure. They latch on to it because it offers moral simplification, group bonding, grievance and permission. It explains frustrations, sanctifies resentments and hands people a villain onto whom contradictions and frustrations may be projected.”

And increasingly that villain is the Jewish state of Israel. Two-thirds of Democrats now side with the Palestinians, according to a recent NBC poll, with two-thirds of Republicans siding with Israelis. It’s almost a litmus test for any Democratic running for office to accuse Israel of genocide. The usually reliable supporter of Israel Gavin Newsom had to twist out like a pretzel from his claim that Israel was an apartheid state.

And with Israel now facing a three-front war, the only  Democratic voice of support for the war in the Senate is John Fetterman.

So now we have the race to represent us in the 11th Congressional District. Analilia Mejia was national political director for Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential run, who is pushing resolutions in the Senate for an arms embargo against Israel. She calls for Medicare for All, which will be insolvent soon if Congress doesn’t act to repair its finances. As head of the Working Families Party, she called for defunding the police. Alone among her Democratic candidates she insisted that Israel committed genocide and, according to the New York Post, opposes giving it “even a penny.” She even has cast doubt on the right of Jewish self-determination.

On the other side, we have the moderate Republican Joe Hathaway, who has pragmatic solutions to control the high cost of living in New Jersey as manifested in property taxes, health insurance, student loans, and the like. I have met him, and he is firm in his conviction to implement the goals stated in his platform, not hewing to Republican orthodoxy. He supports military and security assistance for Israel as a bulwark against radical Islam and as our key democratic ally. He will push for acceptance by New Jersey of the IHRA definition of antisemitism already accepted by dozens of other states. He will be there for the Jewish community as he has  been in Randolph.

As we face unprecedented antisemitism, I am asked, what can one person do? We can’t stop the onslaught of antisemitism on a macro level. What we can do is address it on a micro level. We can diverge from Jewish political orthodoxy and vote for Joe Hathaway.

Max Kleinman of Fairfield was the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest from 1995 to 2014. He is the president of the Fifth Commandment Foundation and consultant for the Jewish Community Legacy Project.