The antisemitic Horseshoe Theory - it's happening in real time

Is Israel to blame?

Since October 7, 2023 - when Hamas and Gazans attacked Israel, slaughtered 1,200 people, and kidnapped hundreds - the Jewish state has been the target of a malevolent and evil campaign. It’s been a global and wildly-successful antisemitic information war.

I’ve written a book about the subject. Overwhelmingly, we have all seen how the Jew hatred has been coming from the self-described progressive Left: trade unions, academia, university students and cultural figures. It has been a depressing and dangerous time for Jews.

For the most part, those found on the conservative side of the spectrum have been among Israel’s strongest allies.  Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has been at the forefront in this country, alongside a (too-small) number of provincial and municipal leaders on the conservative side of the spectrum.

But what if that is changing?

Take a look at U.S. President Donald Trump’s extraordinary and disturbing interview with CBS News’ Ross Douthat in the past week. In it, Trump does not condemn the anti-Israelism emerging on the Right. In some ways, he seems to embrace it.

Asked by Douthat why American voters handed Trump’s Republican party an historic defeat in last week’s midterms, Trump said: “They didn't like the war. They didn't like the fact that gasoline went up, 'cause I had it down at a low, and there’s - a great dislike, incredibly, for Israel.”

Douthat, a media veteran, seemed surprised by those final words. He pressed Trump on the earlier anti-Israel statement Vice-President J.D. Vance had issued on social media, after the magnitude of the GOP’s losses became clear. Said Douthat: “Couple days ago your Vice President, JD Vance, wrote a social media post where he says, ‘The reason we lost is the war,’ meaning Iran. And he said things in that post…about Israel. [Do] you agree with his analysis?”

Trump almost shrugged: “I don't disagree with it.” Then he went on: “This whole thing, those countries that we've protected, [they] are going to pay us back any and all costs that we've had for the war, 'cause without us, they wouldn't exist. Without us, Israel would not exist. Let me tell you…Israel would not exist except for Donald Trump.”

Vance, for his part, was just as direct. In a lengthy post he showed to Trump in advance, the U.S. Vice-President listed the things he believed America needed to do: end the war with Iran, address inflation, put America first and “change our relationship to Israel.” Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., chimed in immediately online, writing “100 per cent” three times.

So, if the Trump administration means what it says - always a big “if” with that mercurial bunch - Jews and the Jewish state may soon be facing hostility on the Right as well as the Left. If it were to come to pass, it would mark an astonishing change in U.S. foreign and domestic policy.

The warning signs have been there for a long time. Luminaries on the American Right, within and without the GOP’s ranks, have been clamouring for a change for years. Some of them have been unambiguously antisemitic as they demanded change.

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