The assassination attempt on Trump overshadowed breaking news that should have shaken the U.S. The Director of National Intelligence announced that Iran is trying to exploit the protests around the war in Gaza to "create chaos" in the U.S. Iran is doing this by providing financial support to protesters, seeking to encourage protests, and by its agents posing as activists online. This development sheds light on the challenges faced by the Jewish community in the U.S. and perhaps also on new opportunities that are emerging.
The statement by the American intelligence chief comes more than a year after evidence emerged that it was Iran behind the Boston Mapping Project,[1] a project that mapped spaces and assets of the Jewish community in the Boston area (including kindergartens) and police points, which was interpreted as a call to hurt Jew violently. Additionally, last May, the Supreme Leader of Iran lost his 'strategic patience' and praised the student riots in the US on Twitter (X), which were accompanied by severe expressions of anti semitism. Khamenei is anti semitic, homophobic, chauvinistic, and reactionary, yet his public support for the protesters did not receive any repudiation from them.
Why the Radical left immune Iran?
Compared to Sunni Islamist activity in the US, funded by Qatar and led by American Islamist organizations, Iran's activity is still very amateurish. But the big story is the indifference with which these things are received in America. The alliance the global left has forged with political Islam in the West also influences the agenda of human rights organizations in the West. Iran's human rights record should have made it a primary target for liberal organizations' criticism, yet the progressive movement in the US maintains a deafening silence regarding Iran, focusing almost all its activism on Israel.
Due to the tendency in progressive discourse to blame the capitalist West for all the world's ills, Iran is seen even by leading Democratic Congress members as a victim of the West and as not posing any threat to the national security of the US. Some Congress members who have previously spoken in praise of Iran and described Hezbollah as a legitimate Lebanese political actor[2] now also express sympathy for Hamas after October 7.
Thus, the unimaginable happens: Iran joins forces with Russia and China, challenging the US ideologically and politically on the international stage based on a reactionary and fundamentalist Islamic ideology. At the same time, it collaborates with American groups that undermine the social order in America and does not shy away from calling for the dismantling of law and order mechanisms (Defund the police). Iran has become a catalyst for an autoimmune disease attacking the U.S., led by American entities that are agents of chaos and the primary carriers of the current and dangerous strain of antisemitism.
The Opportunity - Defending American Values
Even if Iran's contribution to the riots in the U.S. is marginal, it has been proven once again that those behind the wave of anti semitism sweeping the U.S. are domestic agents of chaos. These individuals threaten America's core values. They do not shy away from collaborating with dark regimes challenging the neo-liberal world order led by the U.S.
Most Americans are horrified by this radical agenda, creating a unique opportunity to frame the fight against anti semitism as a defense of basic American values. This is an opportunity for the Jewish community to build new coalitions and, to some extent, to rehabilitate the discourse in the U.S. and the relationship between Israel and the U.S (see here for the strategy Atchalta proposes to do this).
[1] See here: https://www.adl.org/boston-mapping-project
[2] Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee, Chris Murphy, stated that he does not see Iran as a direct threat to the US, claims that Iranian missiles are not aimed at Israel, describes Hezbollah as a legitimate Lebanese actor, and believes that support for Saudi Arabia and the UAE only perpetuates the conflict. See the CSIS podcast, 10/8/2021
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