Just as COVID had certain features associated with it, so does antisemitism. None is more pronounced than a person harming his own interests because his hatred of Jews (or Israel in their place) trumps whatever would actually be best for him. The Palestinians and the Nazis are both examples of this phenomenon. Think of all of those genius scientists who left Europe because of the rise of antisemitism. Enrico Fermi was one of the pillars of the Manhattan Project. When he received his Nobel Prize, he simply never returned to Italy and made his way instead to the U.S. His wife was Jewish. The Palestinians could be living in paradise if they could get over the hump of Jew hatred and allow themselves to make peace and build a future. Not happening. Antisemitism is like a black hole that sucks all rational thinking and leaves a person worse off—and happier that he is hating the Jews.
There is a movement on the "woke right" in the U.S. that accuses people who are worried about Israel's safety and well-being of being "Israel First." The argument is that people like Sen. Ted Cruz are more concerned with Israel's well-being than that of the U.S. It's a tough argument to make because those who support Israel are also generally patriots who love the U.S. and work for its betterment. So, how can one be Israel First? The argument would be that by supporting the $3.8 billion that Israel receives from the U.S. ($3 billion spent in the U.S. to buy U.S. weapons platforms), one is putting Israel's interests over those of the U.S. When one has a $4 trillion budget, that amount of money seems like pocket change. Also, other countries receive billions, but these anti- "Israel First" people never talk about them. Just as there is BDS only for Israel, those so concerned about aid and support for Israel never mention Egypt or other countries that receive massive amounts of U.S. largesse. Why would that be?
While I am always leery of claims that Israel returns to the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars in equivalents, there is no question that the U.S. also benefits from its relationship with its ally. Israel provides weapons that only she has and produces intelligence that makes the U.S. and the world safer. She gives Lockheed, Boeing, and others data that they could not invent, even if they tried. One can make an F-35. But only Israel can send reams of data on its performance during hours of combat use and activity in highly contested airspace. That information is gold, and the woke right will never admit that being a pal with Israel actually benefits the U.S. in many ways. They want the next party head to be "America First," which is code for: dump Israel. The question is whether that is a really good idea?
In order to complete the claim that people like Cruz are "Israel First," the Groypers and their ilk repeat that Israel attacks Christians and commits genocide. I, once again, saw such claims from a young fellow at a TPUSA event. I believe that he said what he did in good faith—that's what he has been fed, so he is just spitting back what they taught him. Those on the stage chose not to address his claims but rather go on about President Trump being a great president of peace and then listing all of his peace accomplishments, which now includes Azerbaijan in the Abraham Accords. The core claim that Israel attacks Christians, which is wildly false, was not touched. The student dragged out the 60-year-old USS Liberty claim, which has been addressed by scholars who have come to different conclusions as to what happened. Let's just say that the woke right does push a completely anti-Israel agenda for 2028, and the Republican nominee swears by it. What happens next?
To answer that question, one can look to Egypt. Since the Camp David Accords, Egypt has been a client of the U.S. and has received billions in military and financial aid. Did you know that the only place in the world other than Lima, Ohio, where you can make an M1 Abrams Tank is Egypt? When President Obama curtailed aid because he did not like President al-Sisi, who replaced his more favored Muslim Brotherhood guy, Morsi, Egypt went to the Russians to get fighters. Do you think that it was a good idea to have Russian advisors poking around Egyptian F-16s and the like? All small countries are client states of somebody. If the mother ship leaves, they don't roll over and drop dead: they look for a new sugar daddy. And Israel would be no different.
Let's imagine that our new president of 2028 is a Groyper-Approved America First guy whose first acts in 2029 are to end all aid to Israel, remove the ambassador, and stop eating falafel. What would the Israeli prime minister do? At the door to the presidential plane, "Wings of Zion," he would thank the U.S. for its decades of support and profess his continued love for the country. He would then get on board and fly to either Moscow or Beijing. Let's imagine Israel, dumped by the Fuentes wing of the Republican Party, becoming a client of China. New jets are not F-35s but Chinese models. Chinese advisors, of course, sit in Israel's F-35s and other American planes, just to get an idea of their capabilities. China strengthens its position in the Middle East and actually uses its clout as boss of both Israel and Iran to foster some type of nonaggression between the two countries. Israeli products go to Shanghai instead of Peoria. Israel will not commit suicide to please younger Republicans who fantasize that Jews beat Christians all day long in the streets of Jerusalem. Life will go on. China currently owns the Haifa Port and the largest milk conglomerate. A buying spree will make everything Chinese.
So, how does pushing Israel into the arms of America's biggest peer rival help America? This is again the ultimate sign of antisemitism: there will be a great feeling that not another penny goes to those evil Zionists. Job well done. But those evil Zionists will now become closer to America's #1 enemy. Israel's sharing high-tech military gadgets with China is a win for the U.S.? Chinese investment in Israeli startups with massive future exits is a win for the U.S.? China becoming the dominant power in the region is a win for the U.S.? No, it's the classic antisemitism: we hate Jews so much—but we can't say it—that we take it out on Israel, and voila, we're worse off for it. Are all the countries that kicked out or lost their Jews intellectually, socially, and economically better today than when they had healthy Jewish populations? Iraq in the 1940s was much more successful than 2025 Iraq.
So, if the woke right wants to push the Republican Party toward an anti-Israel platform, they had better realize that the ones who will be most hurt will be Americans. Israel will have to scramble to get up to speed on Chinese jets and missile systems. But they'll do it. The U.S. will be bereft of the data and markets that really do serve U.S. interests. Those $3 billion in military aid are spent well in excess of 95 percent inside the U.S. Losing $3 billion in salaries for defense workers is an America First success?
Jew hatred always hurts the hater more than the Jews. The same is true with the faux "America First" wing of the Republican Party.