Paranoid Or Prescient? |
Paranoid Or Prescient?
The midterm elections may signal a disastrous turn toward antisemitism in America.
Susan Quinn | November 6, 2026
Conservatives are alarmed about the midterm election results, and they should be. They’re shocked by the election of socialists, particularly radical Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) members. The DSA’s demands for Medicare for All, tearing down our constitutional government, affordability, increasing the number of SCOTUS justices, and action on climate change will be front and center on its agenda. But one agenda item will be lurking nearby that few are discussing: targeting the Jews of America.
The DSA has already shown its stripes regarding antisemitism. Few know that Michael Harrington originally created it as a pro-Zionist organization. However, it has abandoned its roots. Although the organization has not officially endorsed antisemitism, it has embraced anti-Zionism, and a powerful faction has advocated for anti-Semitic positions.
The DSA and its defenders insist that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism. But hostility toward Israel has repeatedly spilled over into hostility toward Jews. Since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre, Jewish businesses have been vandalized with anti-Israel graffiti, Jewish students have been harassed and excluded from campus facilities, and Jewish religious institutions have been targeted by vandals invoking the Palestinian cause.
The DSA is no innocent bystander. Immediately after October 7, several DSA chapters defended or rationalized Hamas’s attack. In May 2026, Seattle’s DSA chapter co-sponsored a demonstration where Hamas and Hezbollah imagery appeared, and protesters called for the death of Zionists, by which they clearly meant Jews. In December 2025, Southern New Hampshire DSA organized a boycott intended to drive a Jewish-owned bakery out of business because its owner had served in the Israeli military.
Other examples show hostility spilling into attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions. In July 2024, vandals targeted Jewish institutions in Pittsburgh, spray-painting anti-Israel messages and an inverted red triangle associated with Hamas imagery. In Los Angeles, a violent confrontation outside the Adas Torah Synagogue in June 2024 led to federal hate-crime charges against a protester accused of assaulting a Jewish man. At UCLA, a federal court........