On May 13, 1939, the MS St. Louis set sail from Hamburg carrying 937 passengers, almost all of them Jews fleeing Nazi persecution. Cuba refused to let the ship land. The United States and Canada were unwilling to admit the passengers. Temporary refuge was eventually arranged in Western Europe, but after Nazi Germany conquered much of the continent, 254 of those passengers were murdered in the Holocaust.

That story has become a symbol of Jewish helplessness: Jews begging for refuge, Jewish organizations pleading for mercy, democratic governments finding reasons to say no.

It is worth remembering that American Jews were not indifferent. They raised money, lobbied officials, negotiated, and tried to save lives. But they were operating from a position of limited power in a country shaped by isolationism, restrictive immigration laws, Depression-era fear, and antisemitism.

They could appeal. They could argue. They could weep. But they could not compel.

That is the difference between helplessness and agency.

When Participation Becomes Suspicious

Today, American Jews are in a very different position. We vote. We organize. We donate. We build institutions. We challenge candidates. We support allies. We oppose those who minimize antisemitism, excuse terrorism, abandon Israel, or treat Jewish safety as a negotiable inconvenience.

In other words, we do what every serious community in American democracy does: we participate.

And yet, from both the left and the right, Jewish political agency is increasingly treated not as citizenship, but as scandal.

This is where the conversation often becomes distorted. Not every pro-Israel donor is Jewish. Not every Jew agrees with every pro-Israel organization. Jewish political agency is not reducible to one PAC, one party, one candidate, or one strategy. American Jews argue with each other constantly, often passionately, about Israel, foreign policy, campaign spending, American democracy, and the moral responsibilities of power.

But when Jewish or pro-Israel participation is treated as uniquely suspect, something older and uglier enters the room.

The Massie Race and a Moral Bright Line

That tension was visible this week in Kentucky’s Fourth Congressional District, where Republican incumbent Thomas Massie was defeated in the GOP primary by Ed Gallrein, a Trump-backed challenger supported by pro-Israel forces. The race was widely described as one of the most expensive House primaries in American history, with reporting putting total spending at roughly $32 million to $33 million.........

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