Anti-Semitism unites extreme left with extreme right

Despite their vast ideological differences, several factors unite the worldviews of the extreme right with the extreme left-Islamist alliance, in which Jews and Israel play a disproportionate role.

By Daniel Krygier, World Israel News

Freshman Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s anti-Semitic remarks have made her one of the most talked about Members of Congress, including the praise heaped upon her recently by White supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.

“By defiance to Z.O.G. Ilhan Omar is NOW the most important Member of the US Congress!” Duke wrote on his site, using the acronym for “Zionist Occupation Government.” This anti-Semitic term refers to the fictitious claim that the U.S. government is secretly controlled by Jews.

At first sight, it may seem ironic that a White Supremacist endorses a black Muslim immigrant from the extreme left whose worldview is worlds apart from his own. Yet while the extreme right and the extreme left frequently disagree on most issues, Duke’s support of Omar is the latest example of their common ground when it comes to Israel and Jews.

Despite their vast ideological differences, several factors unite the worldviews of the extreme right with the extreme left-Islamist alliance, in which Jews and Israel play a disproportionate role.

Both radical Islamists and neo-Nazis are anti-globalists who blame Jews and Zionists for all the real and imaginary ills of the world. Like the Islamist extremists, for example, Duke embraces anti-Semitic conspiracy theories such as the outrageous myth that Zionists were behind the 9/11 terror attacks.

Right-wing extremists and radical leftists also accuse Jews of controlling the world economy and running the global media. The fact that Israel is more demonized worldwide than any other country is conveniently deleted from the equation.

Omar demonized the Jewish state by pretending that there is no difference between the democratic State of Israel and Iran’s Islamist regime.

In 2006, former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad invited Duke to a Holocaust-denying conference in Tehran.

“The Zionists have used the Holocaust as a weapon to deny the rights of the Palestinians and cover up the crimes of Israel,” Duke told the crowd in Iran. This statement shows that right-wing extremists are not shy when it comes to selectively borrowing left-extreme anti-Semitic rhetoric.

White supremacists are not known to care about Third World people whom they view as “racially inferior.” However, ideological purity is often ignored when it comes to promoting hatred of Israel and the Jewish people.

At its core, envy of disproportionate Jewish achievements unites the extreme right with radical Islamists and the extreme left. Duke’s support of Omar’s anti-Semitic bigotry shows once again that when it comes to hatred of Jews, there is an increased convergence of extreme ideological opposites that transcends politics, race and religion.