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Think the left is politically violent? Young Republicans have a wake-up call for you
“I love Hitler,” one individual wrote, in leaked texts from a Young Republicans group chat that Politico reported on earlier this week. Over the course of several months earlier this year, the chat’s participants talked about sending those who worked against them in their quest for political power to gas chambers. One person, referring to a Jewish colleague, wrote that a fellow texter was giving “the Jew” too much credit.
Condemnation came quickly — but not from the White House.
While some members of the chat were fired by their Republican bosses, and others found their chapters of the Young Republicans disbanded, the reaction from the top was defensive. Vice President JD Vance downplayed the texts by comparing them to violent texts sent in 2022 by Jay Jones, who is running to be Virginia’s attorney general. “This is far worse than anything said in a college group chat, and the guy who said it could become the AG of Virginia,” Vance posted on X.
But in attempting to deflect attention from the violent fantasies of GOP youth, Vance actually highlighted why they’re so concerning. If our collective understanding of whose urges toward political violence matter most hinges on the question of who has power, we should be more concerned by those urges on the right.
Yes, even when they’re expressed in a “college group chat” with limited practical influence. Because when we look at who actually has power in this country, we can see quite clearly that it’s the reactionary right. The chat is yet more evidence of the ways in which that political sector has normalized and elevated violent, extremist hatred, including antisemitism — and why we should see that normalization as a pressing problem.
The Republicans in power in the White House and Congress, and their powerful allies in conservative media, have succeeded in making the idea of the politically violent left seem like the primary threat. If one consumes certain media, one gets the impression that cities are being destroyed by violent leftists, and that the greatest threat to American Jews today is the left.
But the truth — although President Donald Trump’s administration pulled down the government web page that laid out the data — is that the right is the most common source of political violence in this country. And, unlike the left, it is so with the backing of the most powerful people in the country.
Consider the fallout from the murder of the prominent young conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Trump officials and various figures across the right jumped to blame the murder on leftist political violence, long before a suspect was publicly identified. They blamed their political enemies for the killing and vowed to crush them, going so far as pushing to get people fired for not having the response to Kirk’s death that they deemed appropriate. (More than 145 people did in fact lose their jobs).
In other words, the right cast political violence as something that should automatically be perceived as a leftwing problem — one that could be solved by some of the most powerful people vilifying the everyday people who disagreed with them, including nurses, restaurant managers and professors, while leaving calls for reactionary violence against the left unchecked.
This was not calls for violence and punishment ping ponging back and forth from side to side. It was those with power blaming and seeking to punish those with whom they disagreed.
Perhaps some do not consider members of the Young Republicans to have power just yet. But surely all can agree that the Pentagon official pushing a conspiracy about Leo Frank, and the various White House officials with ties to antisemitic extremists — to take just a few examples — do. The Young Republicans in this chat are training to be the next generation of people in these roles. They are following the example that’s been set for them, and working to stitch it more firmly in the fabric of the right.
Seeing this clearly is especially pertinent for American Jews in grappling with antisemitism today.
This is not to say that there isn’t antisemitism on the left as well as the right. Of course there is. I have no doubt that some readers of this piece will be thinking of the images of college protesters against the war in Gaza, some of whom did indeed cross over into antisemitism. There have been significant cases in which antisemitism from those on the left has led to vandalism and even, tragically, violence.
But those college protesters, the vast majority of whom were peaceful, do not have any real power.
It may feel like they do, particularly for students who feel lost or excluded in the campus political climate. But real power on campus is held by the board of trustees. It is held by the people who have too often, recently, decided to compromise academic freedom in order to try to placate Congress and the administration over weaponized charges of student antisemitism.
Congress and the president have still more power. And they, as Vance’s dismissal of the hatred from the group chat signifies, are comfortable normalizing hatred when it comes from within their own ranks.
I sympathize with young people navigating their feelings about Jewish identity and Zionism who have felt ostracized or demonized by their peers. But their peers cannot arrest, detain and threaten to deport them. Those who hold real power can and do, and are doing so ostensibly to fight antisemitism — just ask Mahmoud Khalil.
And yet, at the same time, the FBI is being helmed by someone who has repeatedly appeared on a podcast hosted by a prominent Holocaust denier.
It may be that many of us are more likely, in our everyday lives, to encounter someone who is leftwing and blurs the line between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. But that we are more likely to encounter this kind of antisemitism more often in a social context does not change the basic math. The right in this country, which holds power in the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court, is made up of individuals who have shown themselves to be at best disinterested in ridding their movement of calls for discriminatory political violence. And they are the ones whose decisions have the ability to actually affect the essential conditions of our lives.
And so, in this one extremely limited way, we should listen to Vance. We should look at who has actual power, and think critically about the ways in which they have advanced — or facilitated the advance of — racist, extremist, xenophobic and, yes, antisemitic political rhetoric. Because when we do that, we can see that there is no equivalence. It is those who have power — real power — who are making ours a more politically violent country.
The post Think the left is politically violent? Young Republicans have a wake-up call for you appeared first on The Forward.
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Iran Calls on Spain to Lead Sports Boycott Against Israel
Anti-Israel demonstrators release smoke in the colors of the Palestinian flag as they protest to condemn the Israeli forces’ interception of some of the vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla aiming to reach Gaza and break Israel’s naval blockade, in Barcelona, Spain, Oct. 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Nacho Doce
Despite the ceasefire in Gaza taking effect, Iran is urging Spain to continue pushing for Israel’s suspension from international sports, as Madrid leads international efforts to boycott and isolate Jerusalem on the world stage.
In a letter to his Spanish counterpart, Iranian Minister of Sports and Youth Ahmad Donyamali praised Spain’s government for condemning “the genocide perpetrated by the Zionist regime in Gaza,” according to Iranian state-run media.
The Iranian official asked Spanish Minister for Education, Vocational Training, and Sports Pilar Alegría to lead efforts to build a global consensus to bar the Jewish state from international sports.
“Today, the world is faced with a serious challenge. The presence of the Zionist Regime of Israel as the biggest violator of international law in global sport arenas is undermining the credibility of sport values and principles,” Donyamali wrote in his letter.
“The continuation of such a situation turns sports, which should be the common language of nations for convergence, into a tool that serves to legitimize a system based on discrimination and apartheid,” the Iranian minister continued.
“Spain can play a significant role in global consensus to suspend the Israeli regime in sports,” he said.
Purportedly to protest the war in Gaza, both Iran — with its official policy of refusing to compete against Israeli athletes — and Spain are pushing efforts to boycott Israel, falsely accusing the Jewish state of genocide.
Last week, Israel and Hamas reached a US-backed ceasefire deal, ending a two-year conflict that began after the Palestinian terrorist group’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, Spain has become one of Israel’s fiercest critics, a stance that has only intensified in recent months, coinciding with a shocking rise in antisemitic incidents targeting the local Jewish community — from violent assaults and vandalism to protests and legal actions.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has faced increasing backlash from his country’s political leaders and Jewish community, who accuse him of fueling antisemitic hostility. The Spanish government has also been a leading force in the anti-Israel sports boycott.
Last month, Sánchez called for Israel to be barred from international sports events after pro-Palestinian activists disrupted the finale of the Vuelta cycling race in chaotic scenes in Madrid.
“The sports organizations should ask whether it’s ethical for Israel to continue participating in international competitions. Why was Russia expelled after invading Ukraine, yet Israel is not expelled after the invasion of Gaza?” Sánchez said while speaking to members of his Socialist Party.
“Until the barbarity ends, neither Russia nor Israel should be allowed to participate in any international competition,” the Spanish leader continued.
Spain has also announced that it will boycott next year’s Eurovision Song Contest if Israel participates, citing the country’s military offensive against Hamas in the war-torn enclave.
Israeli officials have repeatedly criticized the Spanish government’s actions and remarks, accusing Madrid of antisemitism and of pursuing an escalating anti-Israel campaign aimed at undermining the Jewish state internationally, as relations between the two countries continue to spiral downward.
This increased hostility comes as anti-Israel sentiment rises in Spain, with the local Jewish community being increasingly targeted.
On Wednesday, anti-Israel protesters clashed with local police in Barcelona and Valencia during a general strike in support of Gaza.
During the protest, roughly 15,000 people took part as some demonstrators set containers on fire and threw stones at businesses accused of supporting Israel.
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‘Just Too Many Examples’: Starmer Announces Antisemitism Review at UK’s National Health Service
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer reacts as he meets with Britain’s Defense Secretary John Healey (unseen) and Member of the House of Lords George Robertson (unseen) at 10 Downing Street, in London, on July 16, 2024. Photo: Benjamin Cremel/Pool via REUTERS
Following a series of episodes involving allegations of antisemitism in the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS), Prime Minister Keir Starmer revealed a new plan on Thursday to counter hate targeting Jews seeking medical care.
“There are just too many examples, clear examples, of antisemitism that have not been dealt with adequately or effectively,” Starmer said in a statement. “We’ve already put in place management training in relation to the NHS, but I think we need a wider review, because in some cases, clear cases are simply not being dealt with, and so we need to get to the root of that.”
Starmer noted that John Mann, who serves in the House of Lords and as the government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, would lead the review into the NHS’s handling of these cases.
“The NHS and the health sector pride themselves on being welcoming, inclusive, and professional in dealings with every one of us, as we are all patients at different times and in different ways throughout our entire life. Everyone in the country should be confident in these underlying principles at all times,” Mann said. “This review will look at the issues that can undermine the confidence of individuals when seeking or receiving health care.”
Mann stated that “ensuring that the systems and culture of regulation across the health service match, at all times, the universal principles and ethics that underpin our NHS will be the sole focus of this work.”
Wes Streeting, who serves as health and social care secretary, described his shock at the severity of the problem.
“The NHS should be there for all of us when we need it – regardless of income, race, or religion. Discrimination undermines everything our health service stands for, and undermines its ability to provide quality care,” Streeting said. “I have been appalled by recent incidents of antisemitism by NHS doctors, and I will not tolerate it. There can be no place in our NHS for doctors or staff continuing to practice after even persistently using antisemitic or hateful language.”
Streeting added that “patients put their lives in the hands of health-care professionals. They treat us at our most vulnerable. They therefore have a special responsibility to provide total comfort and confidence. I am grateful to Lord Mann for taking on this work. I expect his recommendations, and the action we are taking today, to help us enforce a zero-tolerance policy to racism in health care.”
One recent example of antisemitic sentiment in the United Kingdom’s medical sector manifested in the investigation into Dr. Rahmeh Aladwan, a trainee trauma and orthopedic surgeon, under government review after making such statements as claiming the Royal Free Hospital in London was “a Jewish supremacy cesspit” and that “over 90% of the world’s Jews are genocidal.”
On Wednesday, The Daily Mail published a 30-second video clip of Aladwan saying that “the Palestinian people who are fighting for liberation – including armed struggle as per international law, right – are heroes, every single one of them. We are proud of our armed resistance and in Islam we call that ‘Jihad.’ That’s an honor. That’s how you defend your people.”
Another recent incident involved Dr. Ellen Kriesels, who works as a consultant pediatrician at Whittington Health NHS Trust and serves as clinical lead for community pediatrics. She has been suspended pending a formal inquiry, after the family of a disabled Jewish boy uncovered her long trail of antisemitic social media writings and expressed concern about her views influencing her treatment of patients.
The UK has seen similar controversies around antisemitism in health-care settings.
At University College London Hospitals (UCLH), posters appeared on walls with the claim that “Zionism is poison” and the accusation that the Jewish state had been “slaughtering children in Gaza.” The hospital apologized and promised it would crack down on enforcing policies intended to prevent the promotion of political ideologies to patients.
Another high-profile case involved midwife Fatimah Mohamied, who resigned from Chelsea and Westminster Hospital after UK Lawyers for Israel exposed a series of anti-Israel posts — including an Oct. 8, 2023, message celebrating “Palestinians’ right to resist” the day after the most lethal day for the Jewish people since the end of the Holocaust. Mohamied has since filed a lawsuit claiming her supervisors illegally suppressed her pro-advocacy.
According to the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care, Mann will review how the NHS responds to antisemitism at all stages from hiring through professional oversight. He will also examine regulatory processors, transparency in investigations, the mechanisms used for reporting, and how to implement zero-tolerance policies properly.
Jewish organizations praised the move.
The Jewish Medical Association (JMA) said in a statement that it “has become increasingly concerned about blatant expressions of antisemitism — simply anti-Jewish racism — that have become widely tolerated across health care. British Jewish health-care students, professionals, and patients find this profoundly distressing and intimidating. The JMA welcomes Lord Mann’s review of the role of regulators in eliminating this toxic culture for Jews.”
Jewish Care CEO Daniel Carmel-Brown said his organization “welcomes the government’s commitment to tackling antisemitism and racism across the NHS and wider society. These measures send a powerful message that hatred and discrimination have no place in health care or anywhere else.”
Professor Habib Naqvi, chief executive of the NHS Race and Health Observatory, also endorsed the action.
“Tackling antisemitism, Islamophobia, and racism involves clear communication of a zero-tolerance stance, implementing systemic changes, and creating a supportive environment for all employees,” Naqvi said. “That’s why we fully support roll out of the comprehensive measures announced today by the government. Our diverse workforce is the backbone of the NHS. It must be cared for, celebrated and respected for the outstanding care that it provides.”
Naqvi added that “at the same time, our patients, colleagues, and communities need to be treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve. No one should be subjected to discrimination or abuse of any kind, within or outside of the workplace.”
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Cornell University Professor Retires to Avoid Suspension After Excluding Israeli From Class on Gaza
Cornell University, May 25, 2024. Photo: USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
A Cornell University professor who according to the school violated federal anti-discrimination law when he expelled an Israeli student from class has reached an agreement with the administration which would allow him to retire and avoid serving a two-semester suspension he received as punishment for the incident.
During the spring semester earlier this year, Professor Eric Cheyfitz, an English literature and American Studies instructor, allegedly determined that the contributions of an Israeli student, Oren Renard, to a course on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict titled “Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance” were “disruptive” and asked him to leave his class. Following the incident, Renard reported Cheyfitz for discrimination, triggering disciplinary charges and a dispute which drew in the faculty, national media, and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).
Cornell had already canceled Cheyfitz’s courses in September in response to the matter and pressed the case for further disciplining him even after his colleagues in the faculty senate, an overwhelmingly left-wing and anti-Zionist body, voted to acquit him of the charge. However, Cheyfitz, who participated in anti-Israel encampments the previous year and has been criticized for propagating content which is “radical, factually inaccurate, and biased,” has refused to be corrected, citing academic freedom as justification for his actions.
Having reached an impasse, the two parties chose to part ways, ending Cheyfitz’s two-decade tenure.
“The Cornell Office of Civil Rights issued a finding of discrimination committed by Professor Cheyfitz,” the university told The Algemeiner in a statement shared on Thursday. “Professor Cheyfitz has chosen to retire and leave university employment, thus ending Cornell’s disciplinary process. The finding that Professor Cheyfitz violated Cornell policy and federal law remains in place.”
Anti-Zionists at Cornell University have attracted negative headlines and attention to the school before, as previously reported by The Algemeiner.
In October 2023, days after Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists abducted, raped, and murdered Israelis during a massacre which claimed 1,200 lives, history instructor Russell Rickford hailed the atrocities as “exhilarating” and “energizing” during a rally held on campus. Rickford later apologized for the comments while arguing that he “intended to stress grassroots African American, Jewish, and Palestinian traditions of resistance to oppression.” He addressed the expression of regret to “my family, my students, my colleagues, and many others,” but not to the Jewish community or Israelis — the chief targets of Hamas’s terror onslaught.
Not a month later, now-former student Patrick Dai threatened to perpetrate heinous crimes against members of the school’s Jewish community, including mass murder and rape, in a series of social media posts. In addition to threatening to harm individuals, Dai threatened to attack a kosher dining hall on campus — 104West, which is affiliated with the Steven K. And Winifred A. Grinspoon Hillel Center.
“Gonna shoot up 104 west… Allahu akbar! from the river to the sea, palestine will be free! glory to hamas! liberation by any means necessary!” one of his posts said. Another read, “If I see a pig male jew i will stab you and slit your throat. if i see another pig female jew i will drag you away and rape you and throw you off a cliff. if i see another pig baby jew i will behead you in front of your parents [sic].”
Dai has since been sentenced to 21 months in federal prison.
US college campuses saw an alarming spike in antisemitic incidents — including demonstrations calling for Israel’s destruction and the intimidation and harassment of Jewish students — after the Hamas terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. In a two-month span following the atrocities, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recorded 470 antisemitic incidents on college campuses alone. During that same period, antisemitic incidents across the US skyrocketed by 323 percent compared to the prior year.
To this day, Jewish students report feeling unsafe on the campus. According to a new survey conducted by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS), the vast majority of Jewish students around the world resort to hiding their Jewishness and support for Israel on university campuses to avoid becoming victims of antisemitism.
A striking 78 percent of Jewish students have opted to “conceal” their religious affiliation “at least once” over the past year, the study found, with Jewish women being more likely than men to do so. Meanwhile, 81 percent of those surveyed hid their support for Zionism, a movement which promotes Jewish self-determination and the existence of the State of Israel, at least once over the past year.
Among all students, Orthodox Jews reported the highest rates of “different treatment,” with 41 percent saying that their peers employ alternative social norms in dealing with them.
“This survey exposes a devastating reality: Jewish students across the globe are being forced to hide fundamental aspects of their identity just to feel safe on campus,” ADL senior vice president of international affairs Marina Rosenberg said in a statement. “When over three-quarters of Jewish students feel they must conceal their religious and Zionist identity for their own safety, the situation is nothing short of dire. As the academic year begins, the data provides essential insights to guide university leadership in addressing this campus crisis head on.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.