Wednesday, the office of the Minnesota congresswoman Betty McCollum published a statement condemning the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as a “hate group” after it sponsored a Facebook advertisement critical of her. Condemnations of AIPAC and the “Israel Lobby,” which now predominate on the political left, have been a longstanding bipartisan feature of anti-Israel rhetoric in the U.S., ascribing to the group a near-supernatural power to dictate American foreign policy and stifle debate. As Sharon Goldman explains, such fantastical assumptions about Jewish influence go back many centuries, and have changed little:

Leaders of the movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel, known as BDS, frequently make use of dangerously overwrought descriptions [when speaking about] Israel, as do its supporters. Recall Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s now-deleted 2012 tweet: “Israel has hypnotized the world; may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.” The tweet taps directly into the trope that Jews are not only powerful, but all-powerful—capable of hypnotism that only Allah can reverse.

This . . . language is ubiquitous in BDS [circles], as when Mahmoud Nawajaa, the General Coordinator of the BDS National Committee, accused Zionists of “brainwashing” and controlling U.S. policy, and when the famous BDS supporter [and former member of the rock band Pink Floyd] Roger Waters narrated a documentary film titled “The Occupation of the American Mind.”

That’s how you can recognize the old anti-Semitic canard at work: Israel, the unnaturally powerful Jew of the international arena, has grown into the most oppressive, most dangerous genocidal country in the world and it must be stopped in its hegemonic, demonic tracks.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.