I am deeply troubled and disappointed that The Boston Globe would publish the essay, “A shocking number of Jews have become willing collaborators in white supremacy.” This piece misappropriates Holocaust imagery in a reductive way and amplifies an anti-semitic trope without making the case for the author’s underlying thesis. To apply the term “kapo” to any Jew, and in general to use terminology related to the Holocaust in any context other than specifically talking about actual Nazis and the Holocaust is reductive and hurtful to Jews and victims of the Shoah. We at Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston have called out conservative Jews (inc. specifically Amb. David Friedman) for using the term “kapo” with regard to progressive Jews. It’s wrong when they do it and it is wrong when Jews on the left use it in political discourse regarding Jews on the right.
Further: It’s fine to go after Michael Cohen for his crimes and his actions. It’s fine to go after him as the son of a Survivor for his willful blindness to hatred & antisemitism that he had a part in elevating (he put that issue on the table himself). But to go from Michael Cohen to a larger thesis of “a shocking number of Jews” being “willing collaborators” to white supremacy elevates and perpetuates the anti-semitic trope of the nefarious Jew behind the curtain, aiding & abetting. In this case, specifically, the author makes the case that this is “a more extreme version of the same deal so many light-skinned Jews make with white supremacy” amplifying the hateful notion of the selfish Jews, putting ourselves and our interests above all else.
That the author does all this without ever making the case or offering data that Jewish individuals are overly represented amongst Trump abetters relative to our percentage of the population (or to exclusion of all the other trump abetters) is itself deeply problematic. Not to mention that the author makes no effort to take note that the vast majority of American Jews have rejected Trumpism (82% voted Dem in 2018) and many are leading the charge against him in a variety of forms.
In addition: This author uses language and framing that specifically and explicitly places Jews, as a whole, in the “whiteness” bucket in a way that minimizes Jewish experience and invisibilizes Jews of Color & Jews of sephardic/Mizrahi origin.
In sum: S. I. Rosenbaum is wrong to use term “kapo” in application to contemporary Jews, is wrong to lift up tropes that amplify anti-Semitic perceptions of Jews, and is wrong to oversimplify Jewish racial identity. And the Boston Globe was wrong to publish this piece.
