Attack on Texas synagogue shows danger posed by Jew-hatred today – The Militant

[....] antisemitism is growing amid the heightened class tensions of today’s capitalist crisis.

A central element of Jew-hatred is the assertion that Jews secretly control governments, banks, corporations and economic life around the world. This takes the blame off the real source of the exploitation and oppression working people face — the normal functioning of capitalism and the rulers’ drive to maximize profits. Such conspiracy theories have been the stock-in-trade of ultra-rightist and fascist forces — mortal enemies of the working class and its allies — as well as growing numbers of antisemites on the left.

Noting the FBI and most of the press initially refused to call the attack for what it was, Bret Stephens, in the New York Times, pointed out this was “not just a matter of a journalistic lapse,” but “profoundly worrisome.” Many Jews in the U.S. think they are doing well, Stephens noted. But “anyone with a long view of Jewish history should know” how quickly that “can turn to political and personal ruin even — or especially — in countries where it might seem unthinkable.” He noted that the singling out of Israel under the banner of anti-Zionism has come “a more acceptable way” of promoting antisemitism.

“Working people and our unions must speak out against Jew-hatred, wherever it comes from the left or from the right,” said Alyson Kennedy, Socialist Workers Party spokesperson in Texas. “The insidious lies that Jews control the government or are responsible for the evils bred by capitalism must be answered.

“This is a question of life or death for the union movement and the working class. No major section of the ruling class is financing antisemitic groups today,” Kennedy said. “But that will change when the crisis heats up, struggles by workers and farmers accelerate and sections of the ruling class come to fear that growing numbers of working people will seek ways to end capitalist rule. Workers and our unions will have to combat Jew-hatred on the road to bringing to power a government of workers and farmers.”

Attack on Texas synagogue shows danger posed by Jew-hatred today – The Militant