The case for Jews abandoning their predilection for slavishly voting the Democratic party line should be very simple. Jonathan Tobin is correct when he says that “Omar Forces a Difficult Choice for Jewish Democrats” (June 17, 2021), but I humbly submit that the issue goes way beyond the actions of just the “squad,” as reprehensible as they may be.

The American Jews’ love affair with the Democratic party started with Franklin Roosevelt, in spite of the fact that Roosevelt himself never expressed any particular love, admiration or respect for Jews, and his policies before and during the war helped contribute to the death of millions of Jews in Europe. With the establishment of the state of Israel, American administrations both Democratic and Republican generally supported it equally, while still trying not to alienate the Arabs because of the oil factor. Yet the Democratic party still remained the overwhelming choice among Jews.

Within the last decade or so, an ominous dark cloud has been descending on the American Jewish community. Barack Obama was adored by Jews, in spite of the fact that he and his Democratic administration openly exhibited contempt and disdain for Israel and its leaders, and supported its sworn enemy Iran. Today the Democratic administration led by the “squad” and Bernie Sanders has become even more hostile. This has been accompanied by an explosion in open antisemitic and anti-Israel actions.

As if these weren’t enough reasons for American Jews to turn away from blind, overwhelming support of the Democratic party, there is another major factor that should be considered: that is the Democratic assault on America itself. When Barack Obama was elected, he vowed to “fundamentally transform” America from a free-enterprise democracy into a socialist autocracy and the Biden administration is continuing and even accelerating that transformation. American culture, history, heritage, values and unity are being destroyed on the altar of liberal/ progressive/”woke”/intersectional/diverse/identity politics/intimidation and authoritarian rule.

In sum, the failure of American Jews to see and appreciate the existential threat to their and Israel’s existence is making what should be an otherwise easy choice, to avoid a repeat of the events of the 1930s which were so catastrophic to the Jewish people, seemingly difficult.