Meet Eva Borgwardt, Political Director of the vehemently anti-Zionist group If Not Now. Eva was behind this tweet back in November 2022: “AIPAC’s unconditional support for Israel peddles a version of Jewish ‘safety’ at the direct expense of safety for Palestinians. AIPAC’s targeting progressives also makes it at the expense of all who want a fair economy, livable planet, and a more equal and just society.”
She also tweeted, on the same day, “AIPAC has demonstrated their full support for that fascist takeover, and is dividing Jews from our neighbors in the process. All for unconditional U.S. support for Israel, a country which just elected a government blatantly supportive of ethnic cleansing.”
Eva Borgwardt is one of 100 signatories of a letter calling on big advertisers such as Disney, Apple, Amazon, and Google to “stop funding X through their ad spend,” and for Google and Apple “to remove X from their respective app stores.”
Kill X.
Their letter goes: “As Jewish leaders of all backgrounds, current and former leaders of Jewish organizations, artists, and activists from all over the country, we have watched in horror as a new stage in antisemitic discourse has spread like wildfire on one of America’s largest social media networks. All of this has been facilitated and enabled by its owner: Elon Musk.”
Meet Max Socol, Campaigns Director at Progressive Maryland. Max tried to get elected to the Maryland State Senate but fell well behind the primary’s winner Jeff Waldstreicher. Max supported State Senator Jill P. Carter, famous for declaring she was the original Squad member before there was a Squad. She opposed anti-BDS legislation and was a delegate for Bernie Sanders in 2016.
Meet any of the 100 or so clergy wishing to end X (More Than 100 Jewish Leaders are Calling for an End to Antisemitism on X).
They are all angry at Musk for taking the idea of free speech very seriously, and, unlike the former management, refusing to ban users because their views are despicable. They cite the following charges:
• Spreading overt antisemitism, such as the false idea that “65% of Jewish college students support censorship.”
• Repeatedly engaging with and promoting antisemitic accounts.
• Engaging in antisemitic conspiracy theories, such as linking George Soros with the Rothschilds as well as the Great Replacement conspiracy theory.
• Reinstating some of the most vicious antisemites in America and beyond, including Andrew Anglin (founder of The Daily Stormer, one of the largest neo-Nazi publications in America) and David Icke (popularizer of the Jews as lizard people conspiracy theory).
Before Musk shelled out $40 billion to buy Twitter, banning right-wing users was an everyday thing. This practice indeed got rid of many antisemites, but it mostly focused on decent, law-abiding right-wing users whose main sin was that they disagreed with the progressive views such as those of the 100 signatories of the ban-X letter.
Let’s face it, the thing that most irks these progressive Jews was listed first in their letter: “His taking part in the #BanTheADL hashtag.” They associated it with a variety of neo-Nazis, obscuring the many right-wing Jews promoting the same hashtag.
Earlier this month, I reported (When Did ADL Start Hunting Down Jews?) on Chaya Raichik, an Orthodox Jewish woman who founded the unabashedly right-wing account Libs of TikTok. Raichik uses her social network accounts to repost left-wing, LGBT, and trans content, accompanied by derogatory commentary. Her X account alone has more than 2 million followers. Naturally, TikTok banned her permanently.
Check out that report, where I asked, “How did ADL go from fighting antisemitism to fighting Jews?” and answered: it was a long journey that involved, probably more than anything else, the replacement in July 2015 of CEO Abraham Foxman, who had led the organization since 1987, with Jonathan Greenblatt. Foxman was a feisty Jew who was born in the Soviet Union and attended the Yeshiva of Flatbush. Greenblatt was born in Trumbull, Connecticut, and went to Tuft. Before taking over the ADL, Greenblatt served in President Obama’s White House team as Special Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation in the United States Domestic Policy Council.
With that field combat experience, it makes perfect sense for Greenblatt’s ADL to have turned, in nine years, from a group that hunts antisemites to a group that hunts Jews.
Now, Greenblatt has managed to elicit the support of his fellow Jewish progressives against the offending X and Elon Musk. And if Eva Borgwardt from If Not Now is on the list, every right-wing Jewish thinker is likely to be branded “neo-Nazi.” Just remember, she accused AIPAC of plotting a fascist takeover. AIPAC!
