The October 7 physical attack on the Jewish state was soon followed by an unprecedented ideological attack coming from the West. A year later, we are in the midst of a rapidly expanding attempt to negate the idea of the Jewish state and, through it, the idea of Judaism.
Yet, the assault on Judaism from the West is not just a threat to Judaism, but also to US national security.
For example, the infrastructure being set up by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for the arrest of Israeli soldiers and political leaders can also serve as a template to arrest American soldiers and political leaders for “war crimes” in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.
This is not hypothetical; the ICC previously targeted the United States in 2020. President-elect Donald Trump blocked its efforts by imposing sweeping sanctions against its prosecutors and employees.
Now that the assault on Judaism has become mainstream in Western culture, the ICC can attack the US through a two-step process. Indeed, in the physical assault on Judaism, Iran views the Jewish state as “little Satan” and attacks it in part as a proxy to attacking America, the “big Satan.” Similarly, in the ideological assault on Judaism, the ICC attacks Israel, the “little war criminal,” in part as a proxy for attacking the “big war criminal.”
The assault on Judaism is no longer just a Jewish issue
South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, who is at the forefront of the ICC’s efforts, has confirmed that this is the plan.
Responding to US House Speaker Mike Johnson’s warning that “if the ICC is allowed to threaten Israel’s leaders, then we know America will be next,” she replied: “Of course.”
The assault on Judaism has already spread to multiple arenas in which America has national security interests.
In many anti-Israel demonstrations, right next to the “From the river to the sea” banner is the “Globalize the intifada” banner. One can do the simple math of what could come next: “From the Atlantic to the Black Sea, Eurostan will be free.” The destabilization of Europe as “collateral damage” in the Western assault on Judaism is not merely an issue of antisemitism; it is an issue of US national security.
Similarly, the assault on Judaism has triggered various other “global” conversations that have nothing to do with Israel or Judaism and have now arrived on the doorsteps of the United States itself.
While funding violent riots in the US under the anti-America banner would not be tolerated, funding violent protests against Israel and then “globalizing” them is considered legitimate. Indeed, when rioters burned American flags, vandalized national monuments, and defamed the streets of the nation’s capital this past summer, they did so in the disguise of “legitimate” pro-Palestinian protests.
In thinking through it strategically, it is important to note that the assault on Judaism does not stem from the Palestinian issue, the Gaza war, or October 7. While it is stimulated by it – after all, war crime indictments need a war – it is deeply rooted in 2,300 years of European opposition to Judaism, the failure to psychologically fully accept the concept of a Jewish state, and the growing 21st-century philosophical divide between Europeanism and Americanism. (There’s more on this in my book, The Assault on Judaism: The Existential Threat is coming from the West.)
A national security strategy
As the new administration assesses the litany of national security threats to the United States, the assault on Judaism may not be an obvious one, but it is an imminent one. Hence, it needs to be countered with a national security strategy, not via an antisemitism strategy.
Responding to the assault on Judaism through an “antisemitism envoy” is akin to responding to an incoming category 5 hurricane through a weather scientist. Yes, hurricanes relate to weather, but as they are about to hit the shores of the US, it is no longer a weather issue; it is a homeland security issue. Similarly, the assault on Judaism is, of course, related to antisemitism, but it is no longer merely a “Jewish issue”; it is an American national security issue.
Once the assault on Judaism is recognized as a national security matter, the US can use its enormous leverage with allies who are implicated in this Western assault on Judaism, such as those that fund the ICC, the UN Human Rights Council, and various NGOs that lead the assault. It can also hold accountable those European countries that pledge to collaborate with those organizations’ malignant initiatives.
Indeed, France’s advance pledge to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, should he be within its borders were the ICC to issue an arrest warrant against him, compromises US national security on several levels, including placing complications on current and former American presidents’ and officials’ visits to France, fearing arrest.
Once treated as a national security issue, the US would also have the proper tools to deter Western leaders from fueling the assault on Judaism through incitement.
For example, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau certifying that Jews in Israel kill women, children, and babies puts the Jews in Canada, the US, and all around the world in great personal danger, but his incitement has much graver national security implications; it lends legitimacy to the actions of the ICC; the destabilization of Europe; the riots in Washington; and various other fronts in the West’s assault on Judaism.
A strongly worded letter from an antisemitism envoy to a world leader might check a feel-good box but will be nearly irrelevant in stopping this threat. The assault on Judaism is not just a threat to the Judeo-Christian foundations of the United States; it also threatens US national security and, therefore, should be treated as a national security matter.
The writer is the author of a new book, The Assault on Judaism: The Existential Threat Is Coming from the West. He is chairman of the Judaism 3.0 Think Tank and author of Judaism 3.0: Judaism’s Transformation to Zionism https://judaism-zionism.comYou can find his geopolitical articles at https://europeandjerusalem.com