It’s Time to Offend Again!

As many of you know, Wendi and I were big supporters of Wesley Bell, the St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney who ousted squad member Cori Bush in the Democratic Primary last week for Congress.  We held a fundraiser and made calls.   

 Ms. Bush issued a vicious antisemitic statement, blaming the Jews for her defeat, and said “AIPAC, I’m coming for You.” 

 AIPAC and its allies poured a lot of dough into the campaign, but I think she would have lost anyway. Our fundraiser was in January well before AIPAC did anything. The district includes part of the city and county of St. Louis.  Turnout in the county, a wealthier area, was 30% and in the city, only 20%.  Bell won by 10%, which is surprisingly good in a primary against an incumbent. 

Many people, including rabbis and Biden’s press secretary, have chided Bush for her remarks.  I have a different spin on it. 

We Jews are not a homogenous group.  However, because of historic discrimination against us, including by the Catholic Church, our ancestors did become merchants, traders, and bankers as well as scientists and physicians. 

There are poor Jews and wealthy Jews, but I’m guessing that the average Jew in Missouri is financially better off than the average Gentile.  Not because we might have inherited $400 million from our daddy, but because of hard work.   In any event people should be judged by their invidvidual actions, not by the group they or others identify them with.

 When Jews here saw Ms. Bush supporting Hamas, that was a warning signal.  It was the beginning of something that we’ve seen before and which my more immediate ancestors saw in Germany.  We used all our resources to defeat her, which frankly included our financial ones.  Saying that Jews used their skills to beat Bush is like saying African Americans used their skills to win Olympic medals in basketball.  Both are true.