Jonathan Chait: Republican Jews are Racists (Corrected)

Jonathan Chait at New York magazine [corrected – see below], about “Why Bibi Hates Obama“:

Netanyahu thinks a lot like a Jewish-American Republican….What’s more, Republican Jews tend to have an overdeveloped sense of black anti-Semitism. Indeed, they generally regard traditional (i.e., white) anti-Semitism as having disappeared long ago, replaced by black anti-Semitism, which they consider largely pervasive. Their unstated assumption is that any left-of-center black politician is an anti-Semite unless proven otherwise…

Chait admits he has no basis for the claim above, “other than every conversation about anti-Semitism and Israel I’ve had with any Jewish Republican over my entire life.”

Which could be many, or just a handful, for all we know. What we do know is that Chait probably wasn’t listening.

Here’s my counter-proof, which is just as valid as Chait’s — probably more so, since I speak to Republican Jews on a regular basis (and not just to the delightful one to whom I’m married).

No Jewish Republican–not one–considers “traditional (i.e., white) anti-Semitism” to have “disappeared long ago.” And no Jewish Republican–not one–considers “any left-of-center black politician” to be “an anti-Semite unless proven otherwise.”

By contrast, Jewish Democrats do often label right-of-center white politicians as anti-Semites even after proven otherwise. Exhibit A is Sarah Palin, whom then-Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) falsely described as someone who had endorsed “Nazi sympathizer” Pat Buchanan for president in 2000, and whom the left more recently smeared as an anti-Semite for her legitimate use of the term “blood libel.”

I challenge Chait to name one “left-of-center black politician”–not many, but just one–who has been treated in like manner by Jewish Republicans without some basis for the charge.

He can’t. He should apologize.

Correction: Chait left The New Republic several days ago, and published the post referenced above at New York magazine, not at TNR, as originally indicated. I apologize to TNR for the oversight.