The Noel Troll

By Abe Greenwald

One of the most salient aspects of the fringe right’s new Jew-haters is that they don’t seek merely to offend but also to taunt. There’s a difference. An offense is meant to wound, but a taunt is designed to provoke a reaction.

Case in point: The invitation sent out for JD Vance’s Hanukkah party.

But before I get into it, I want to make something clear. For those who think it’s at least slightly unfair to count the vice president as a woke-right anti-Semite, I see your point. He has never said that he hates Jews, and he genuinely may not. But his proximity to and support for those who do hate Jews places him on their team. In fact, he’s their most valuable player. It was his choice to stay in the club and, therefore, count himself as one of their number—at least for the time being.

I’m not a lawyer, and this isn’t a courtroom. Given the climate of Jew-hatred in the U.S., I’m not waiting for evidence that proves anti-Semitism “beyond a reasonable doubt” these days. I’m going with the “preponderance of evidence” standard here. And I recommend my fellow Jews, left and right, do the same. Vance has excused chat-group anti-Semitism and sought to reassure a raving Fuentes fanboy that, whatever has happened up till now, “Israel doesn’t control this president.” That’s more than enough for me.

Another thing. There’s no science that determines how many degrees of separation from a Jew-hater it takes to establish someone as a friend of the Jews. But Vance, given his tight bond with Tucker Carlson, has a score of zero. Trust me, I would be overjoyed were he to raise it.

Okay, as for the invitation. The virtual card is covered in green and gold Christmas imagery. At the top, it reads, “The Golden Noel” and beneath that “Celebrating 50 Years of Christmas at the Vice President’s Residence.” Then it gets around to, you know, Hanukkah.

Now, given that in 2008 then First Lady Laura Bush accidentally sent out a Hanukkah party invitation with a Christmas tree on it (her spokesperson apologized), this could be another innocent mistake. But, once again, a preponderance of evidence indicates otherwise. Vance’s friends promote a mode of anti-Semitism that specifically posits Jews as enemies of Christianity who seek to de-Christianize the nation.

The taunt is clear and deliberate. If Jews express offense over the card, it “proves” two of the Jew-haters’ contentions. First, that you can’t even do something nice like invite Jews to a Hanukkah party without them yelling “anti-Semitism.” Second, that Jews really are enemies of Christians—why else would they be upset over a little Christmas cheer?

When you know you’re being taunted, you have to make a choice. And that, for Jews, is the challenging part of all this. Respond sincerely, and your sentiments will be twisted into anti-Semitic tropes. Ignore it, and the offense goes unchallenged. Personally, I’m for ignoring the specific taunts and going directly at the underlying prejudice. Otherwise, I’d be in an endless fight with a thousand X users who comment on my posts with gems such as “‘Abe Greenwald,’ is that French?”

Nope, it’s Jewish. And while we Jews don’t have the supernatural powers our enemies attribute to us, we’ve got plenty of resources to fight anti-Semites back into their holes. These resources include money, consequential leadership positions, and political and cultural influence in every area of American life. But they also include the vast multitude of Christian Americans who love and support us. And the more these Jew-haters obsess over us, the more they lose the Christians who make up the foundation of the right.

It's impossible for me to be taunted by Vance’s invitation. For one thing, its conspicuous provocation is comically desperate. For another, it’s what I would expect of him and what I expect will backfire on the team he’s chosen. So once again, I must decline the invitation to take offense.  

Abe Greenwald is the executive editor of COMMENTARY.