From primary campaign through mid-August meteor showers, Maine Democrats and their once (Platner) and future (Jackson) Senate nominees have gone full antisemite, with the allied legacy press doing their best to ignore and/or minimize the outbreak of Jew hatred.
The Nazi Totenkopf tattoo was the first overt sign of antisemitism. The press and fellow Democrats made excuses, minimized and/or ignored it. High profile chameleon Democrats sidled up to, endorsed and defended the antisemitic Platner, including replacement Jackson, gubernatorial nominee Hannah Pingree, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and 2nd CD nominee Matt Dunlap.
The Nazi tattoo was not disqualifying because the Democratic Socialists (and now a majority of the Democrats) believe that Israel is an apartheid state engaged in a Gazan genocide. Jackson repeated those Platner charges while campaigning to become the replacement nominee. He then endorsed an end to US military aid to Israel, which almost every Democrat US Senator voted for. Evidence refuting the apartheid/genocide charge and references to the Hamas/Iranian pogrom and associated murder/rape/torture/kidnapping is ignored or downplayed in favor of blood libels and Marxist oppressor/settler colonizer charges. The antisemites claim that criticism of Israel, the Israeli government (particularly Bibi Netanyahu) and the genocide/apartheid charge are not antisemitism. It’s complete hypocritical/double standard/no standard BS. Haters gotta hate, and they don’t like being called out on it.
A group of Maine Jewish leaders has issued a statement condemning the genocide charge as dangerous and unhelpful, available at https://www.mainejewish.org/a-call-for-peace-and-responsible-rhetoric. An excerpt:
We call upon Maine’s leaders, and particularly its political leaders, to reject the irresponsible usage of the term “genocide” in describing the Israel-Hamas War. We also call upon Israeli and Palestinian leaders to end the cycle of violence and create a better world for both Palestinian and Israeli children. History teaches us to take our language seriously: when words lose their meaning and are instead repurposed to serve the current political trend, democracy suffers….
… But genocide is not a synonym for a terrible war, civilian casualties, or even alleged violations of the laws of war. It is the single gravest accusation that can be leveled against any nation or people. Using genocide as a political slogan does not advance peace in the Middle East. It erases essential moral and legal distinctions, diminishes the meaning of genocide, and inflames hatred for the local Jewish community. One can criticize the actions of the Israeli government without using the word “genocide.”
Words have consequences. Whether intended or not, the false charge of genocide against Israel is being used to justify—and even celebrate—the disturbing rise in violent terrorist attacks against Jewish communities worldwide. It has increasingly isolated many Jewish Mainers from civic spaces that once welcomed them. It has driven hatred and harassment towards Jewish schoolchildren here in Maine. Over the last year, fliers have been placed around the state that say Jewish people are “no longer welcome” in Maine; posters in Portland have called for a “D-Day” against local Jewish organizations; and many synagogues in Maine no longer feel safe gathering without an armed security guard present. While the Jewish community makes up just 2% of the US population, Jews are targeted in nearly 70% of all religiously motivated hate crimes.
The term “genocide” is a legal term created in part to describe the horror of the 1933-1945 Holocaust, when 6 million Jews, representing 67% of the entire European Jewish population, were systematically exterminated by the Nazis. Millions of Soviets, Poles, Romani, people with disabilities, and others were also tragically killed. The worldwide Jewish population still has not recovered to its pre-Holocaust levels; over the last 25 years, the population of Gaza has more than doubled. Every civilian death is a tragedy, and the word genocide should not be used carelessly or as a political bludgeon against the very group that experienced it. The most recent Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, has stated that current evidence does not support filing genocide charges in Gaza, emphasizing that the charge of “genocide” requires strict proof of specific intent rather than public pressure.
When polio appeared in Gaza in 2024, Israel coordinated with the WHO to provide over 1 million vaccination doses to Palestinian children. During the war, Israel set up humanitarian corridors for Gazans to leave combat zones before beginning operations against Hamas—a group whose recognized strategy is to embed within the civilian population to deliberately increase civilian casualties. Israel currently maintains a ceasefire while facilitating food and medicine into Gaza. While many of us feel Israel can and should do even more to protect civilians, these actions are not consistent with a country carrying out genocide.
The legacy press has largely ignored the rabbis. I hope Senator Collins embraces them.
I have a little (but not much) sympathy for the exposed antisemites. For years my opposition to racial preferences and race based discriminatory government policies has resulted in reflexive liberal charges of “racist”, “Islamophobe” and similar epithets designed to discredit and shut down debate. Doing the same to Democrat antisemites is equal protection equity. Payback’s a bitch, even if decidedly deserved.
Jon Reisman is an economist and policy analyst who retired from the University of Maine at Machias after 38 years. He resides on Cathance Lake in Cooper, where he is a Selectman and a Statler and Waldorf intern. Mr. Reisman’s views are his own. All columns are reprinted with permission of the Machias Valley News Observer.
No one cares about the desert parasite. The gates of Toledo will be staying firmly shut.