Antisemitism: Knowing It When You See It

Something Democrats Need to Overcome

Potter Stewart was a sensible, moderate Supreme Court justice who went on the bench in 1958 and voluntarily retired in 1981. He crafted a number of interesting opinions, but will be forever remembered for what he said about hard-core porn.

In a 1964 case in which he ruled that a film (Louis Malle’s The Lovers) was not pornographic, he wisely wrote that he wouldn’t attempt to define in words what hard-core pornography was, “and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so.” And then he added his deathless words, “But I know it when I see it.”

Well, I’ve been thinking of Potter’s famous words a lot lately in connection with the Democratic primary campaign for the U.S. Senate in Michigan this year.

Many of the attacks on Haley Stevens, now a member of Congress from Oakland County, have reeked of antisemitism. Stevens does take money from AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. And all I have ever heard her say was that Israel has the right to exist within secure borders, which a few years ago was totally uncontroversial. But her opponents, Mallory McMorrow and Abdul El-Sayed, and especially many of their supporters, would have you believe she was a shill for Benjamin Netanyahu’s worse atrocities in Gaza.

Stevens is in fact interested in finding ways to boost manufacturing in particular and business and the economy in general, and boost them in Michigan.

Remember Michigan? That’s where we all live. That’s what a member of either house of Congress from Michigan is supposed to be primarily concerned with.

Reality Check Time: I think Netanyahu is a war criminal, corrupt and a crook, and the Israeli government and people have disgraced themselves by keeping him in power. But I live in Michigan, and you probably do too, or certainly in America.

I am much more concerned with the fact that Donald Trump is physically destroying much of Washington, and is ruining our Constitution and government and so few people are doing anything meaningful to try to stop him. And oh yes, starting wars and destabilizing the world.

THAT’S my priority in this election. But beyond that, I am deeply concerned about antisemitism.

There are lots if antisemites saying, “oh, no, I’m not antisemitic, I’m just anti-Zionist.” Then listen to what they are actually saying. Zionism in its original form means the right of Jews to a homeland. Anti-zionism means you are against that.

Are you? Against the country that has been the United States’ one reliable ally in the Middle East, and has enriched lives immensely through its scientific and technical innovations.

I grew up naively thinking antisemitism was over for all time, at least in a serious way, and at least in the United States. I was born not long after the Holocaust, and I thought that nobody could ever seriously profess antisemitism again.

And I was totally wrong.

These midterm elections are, once again, about stopping Donald Trump from destroying this country, and perhaps the world. That’s what matters, whatever you think about Israelis and Palestinians. If you don’t see that, and especially if you are blinded by your hatred of Jews from doing so, you are yourself a danger to democracy.