With Republicans recently blaming the rise of antisemitic attacks on progressives’ criticism of Israel, one GOP congresswoman took it to a whole new level on Thursday night.
According to Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), if you happen to be a socialist or communist, then you are, by default, anti-Jewish.
Amid an alarming rise in antisemitic attacks, especially in the wake of the 11-day Hamas-Israel war, Vox writer Zack Beauchamp wrote an in-depth piece looking into the causes behind the increase in violence against American Jews. Though the article—written by a Jew—was incredibly nuanced and balanced, it was relentlessly mocked by conservatives over its sub-headline: “Violent anti-Semitism spiked in America during the Israel-Hamas war. And we don’t know why.”
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During Thursday’s broadcast of Fox News Primetime, guest host Ben Domenech continued the network’s mockery over the piece and brought on Salazar to discuss it at length. At the same time, it appears neither party got past the article’s secondary title.
“In the past month, we have seen a surge in antisemitism across America. Some might conclude that the conflict between Israel and Palestine is the root cause,” Domenech declared. “If you check Twitter, the folks at Vox can’t seem to figure it out. They posted this headline: ‘Violent anti-Semitism spiked in America during the Israel-Hamas war. And we don’t know why.’”
Turning to Salazar, who he noted was a former journalist, the Federalist co-founder asked her what can be done to combat the rise of antisemitism. And the conservative lawmaker let loose.
“Right now, at the Holocaust Memorial, we’re having an event with thousands of people that are denouncing specifically what you just said, the antisemitism that is rising in this country,” she stated. “And Vox may not know what it is but I have the answer—the answer is socialism.”
Salazar added: “We have an immense problem in this country with this democratic socialism that some people within the Democratic Party are peddling to our youth. When you say socialism, you are talking about antisemitism in the same phrase, even though it might not be mentioned!”
The Florida lawmaker went on to reach even further and label which political ideologies were supposedly antisemitic.
“You see it in Cuba, in Iran, in Venezuela, you see North Korea—everybody that is a socialist or a communist is anti-Jew,” she exclaimed. “And at least, in my area, we are not going to tolerate that.”
Domenech, who like Salazar is not Jewish, said he had heard “from Jewish friends across the country” that they were concerned that support for Israel would soon “become a mono-partisan affair,” essentially equating criticism of Israel’s policies with antisemitism.
Notably, Pew Research recently found that 71 percent of American Jews identify as Democrats and more than half describe themselves as liberal. In the last presidential election, 76 percent of the Jewish vote went to Joe Biden compared to only 22 percent for Donald Trump.
Furthermore, according to Pew, over half of American Jews feel the Democratic Party is friendly towards Jewish Americans while only 29 percent feel the same way about the Republican Party.
