In a recent video, Rashida Tlaib tells her audience that “behind the curtain,” the forces who stop a “free Palestine” are the “same people” who exploit “regular Americans” for “their profit.” Jonathan Greenblatt of the ADL, who’s done yeoman’s work wishing away the anti-Semitism being normalized on the progressive left, calls this a “dog whistle.”
It isn’t. This isn’t some subtle messaging aimed at other leftists or Hamas apologists; these are some of the oldest anti-Semitic tropes on the books. The claim that Jews are “exploiting” “regular” citizens is the basis for nearly every major anti-Semitic tract of the modern age — from The Protocols of the Elders of Zion to Mein Kampf to the Hamas charter. The notion that Jews operate behind curtains is another popular anti-Semitic image.
Tlaib knows exactly what she’s saying. She also knows that no one in her party — not the cowardly Chuck Schumer or Nancy Pelsoi or anyone else — is likely to call her out on any of it.