Save yourself the heartache and keep away from social media over the past two weeks, for there you will find commentary reminiscent of 1930s Germany.
Is it that bad here in the USA, 2026, among our darling right-wing conservative elites? Pretty bad.
I was not prepared for what I came across, on YouTube alone, just the other day when, as usual, I thought I’d check in on my friends.
You know…people who love America, as I do, and also love Israel, as I do, for both our countries share the same message from our Torah.
“To proclaim Liberty throughout the Land, unto all the inhabitants thereof."
John Adams, our second president, wrote the following in rebuttal to Voltaire’s constant heckling against the Jews…
“How is it possible that he should represent the Hebrews in such a contemptable light. They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. The Romans and their Empire were but a bauble in comparison of the Jews. They have given religion to three quarters of the globe and have influenced the affairs of mankind more, and more happily, than any other nation, ancient or modern."
Adams, among the greatest of our Founding Fathers, also supported the creation of Jewish State.
Flash forward to the present and here we find super patriots, yes, types like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, who maintain that to support Israel means disloyalty to America.
This is a rather new position now adopted by the new Far Right.
This came about rather suddenly, and it manifests itself in the most hateful terms, so we find people showing up to shout, I Hate Israel.
One after another, and there they are on YouTube, proud as can be. No shame.
Often enough, these used to be our friends, but apparently permission has been given, by those who govern the Far Right, to demonize the Jewish State.
So that the oldest hatred is now the newest hatred.
Instead, why not pick up the cue from John Adams, who was glad enough to be patriotic for the United States as well as Israel?
As for me, give me more John Adams and less Voltaire, who was up for burning all the synagogues.
Too often, he had his way.
Have we come a long way since then?
Not at all.
Our Torah commands us not to weaken at the sight of our bullies, be they Voltaire or Tucker Carlson.
So it is up to us, men and women of good courage, to pick up the fight for Israel, and America as well.
We need to get behind organizations like Mort Klein’s ZOA, Zionist Organization of America.
We need to support Ben Shapiro, who was driven out into the cold by Megyn Kelly for sticking with Israel.
Stick together we must.
We are brothers, after all.
Jack Engelhard writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva. Engelhard wrote the international bestselling novel “Indecent Proposal," today a classic for literature and film. His “Days of the Bitter End" is cited as the greatest work about the 1960s, comparable to Tolstoy’s War and Peace. His latest book, “Writings," offers a collection of his varied and widely popular columns.
