Opinion: Progressives Fracture Historic Black-Jewish Alliance with AIPAC Attacks

For nearly a century, the alliance between Black and Jewish communities formed the bedrock of America's moral center, a covenant forged in the Civil Rights Movement and cemented with shared blood on Jim Crow South roads. Today, radical progressives are dismantling that bond with toxic tropes and us-versus-them identity politics instead of history.

Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., a Squad member, pulled the first detonator shortly after the October 7, 2023, terror attacks in Israel. Rather than a standard policy critique of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Lee used a private Facebook post to accuse the nonpartisan group of 'textbook anti-blackness,' according to Politico. She called the organization, and its mission to strengthen the U.S.-Israel bond, an 'existential threat to the Black community and its right to self-determination.'

In August, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., spoke at the People’s Conference for Palestine and supported a campaign to remove AIPAC from U.S. politics. The campaign’s website states AIPAC 'threatens free speech, devastates workers' economic interests, advocates for endless wars and sabotages international diplomacy — all at the cost, and against the will, of the American people.'

When the Squad and allies target AIPAC, they revive antisemitic dark money smears. They portray Jewish political participation as foreign intrusion or a nefarious force subverting Black and American interests, ignoring a century of shared struggle.

This alliance took root on 1930s Historically Black Colleges and Universities campuses. When elite Ivy League schools shut out Jewish scholars fleeing Nazi Germany, HBCUs welcomed them. These professors worked alongside Black students against racial segregation.

Dana's parents saw this at Howard University in the 1960s. They viewed Jewish and Black leaders as brothers-in-arms pursuing the American promise. Modern politicians framing Jewish advocacy as antagonistic to Black communities insults every freedom rider.

The issue spreads beyond fringes. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have reportedly distanced themselves from AIPAC-bundled funds. This shows the fringe smear campaign has reached the top, rebranding Israel support as a problematic liability.

By calling AIPAC an existential threat, Rep. Lee and colleagues hinder coalition-building that led from the back of the bus to the Civil Rights Act. They trade progress for news cycles and likes from anti-Israel extremes.

This risks replacing solidarity with suspicion. Israel recently marked Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, for millions murdered by Nazis. Undermining Israel's legitimacy and Jewish advocacy, aided by media lies, facilitates elimination wars.

Daniel Goldhagen’s 'Hitler’s Willing Executioners' argues the Holocaust involved ordinary Germans conditioned by hate culture. Today, digital echo chambers produce similar conditioning, dehumanizing Jews in places like Hebron, Gaza, Pittsburgh and Australia.

Over the past year and a half, the Trump Administration addressed antisemitism, especially in higher education since October 2023, where Jewish students faced targeting and assaults. Leo Terrell, Chair of the DOJ Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, expanded focus to elementary and high schools with real actions.

Ordinary people must act too, rejecting the woke wedge between Blacks and Jews, and America and its Jewish community. The silent majority should stand politically and publicly against these tropes, or extremists will divide the country.

Remember the history that built America, for all.