(Jewish Group) Politicians have long courted Jews, even as antisemitism abounds

[Beastly Boy]

1. I would be suspicious of articles that cite 19th century precedents as evidence of politicians being

sympathetic to America's Jews. Too close to the current right wing talking point of the GOP being "the party of Lincoln". As a measure of today's politicians courting Jews, it is pretty useless.

Personally, my reaction to most politicians, from both the left and the right, paying lip service to their Jewish constituents is a sense that I am being used. They seem to have no interest in me beyond my vote, and it remains to be seen whether Youngkin's newly minted commission, for instance, will translate into any meaningful action that will result in reduction of antisemitism. I will be surprised if it does.

The reason for my pessimism (besides it being inherently natural to my Jewish disposition), is that I see politicians being overwhelmingly reactive and underwhelmingly proactive with respect to antisemitism. A lot of fiery talk and very little in terms of addressing antisemitism as an issue in need of universal and sustained redress with no regard to political trends du jour.