THEY ARE CLUELESS ABOUT AMERICA'S HISTORY

Tucker Carlson recently hosted on his podcast the radical antisemite and Holocaust denier, Nick Fuentes, who used the platform to denounce "organized Jewry" and "Zionist Jews" as enemies of America. He also declared that Jewish conservatives such as Ben Shapiro, Mark Levin, and Josh Hammer "will never be Americans" and should "get the f— out of America and go to Israel."

Shame on Carlson for hosting such a bigoted conversation, which highlighted how little he and Fuentes know about America's history. America’s founding generation expressed great respect and admiration for the Jewish people and welcomed them to the new nation they had formed. America’s founders would be horrified by this conversation.

The Hebrew Influence on Early America

Many of the early immigrants to America considered themselves a Second Israel and looked to the story of Israel in the Old Testament for guidance and inspiration. Their love for the Jewish Scriptures was confirmed by a ten-year study to determine where the Founders got their ideas for the founding of America. This study discovered that they quoted the Bible far more than any other source, and they quoted Deuteronomy more than any other biblical book.

Being learned men in both Scripture and history, it was clear to the Founders that the Jews had given the world the two greatest influences for good on the human race--the Bible and Jesus the Messiah. From there it was an easy, logical step to warmly embrace the Jewish people. For example, John Adams, America’s second president, wrote,

The Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation. If I were an atheist, and believed blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations (Hyatt, The Book that Made America Great, 91).

This attitude was characteristic of early America. For example, Benjamin Rush, a Philadelphia physician and signer of the Declaration of Independence, was delighted to see a Jewish rabbi so warmly embraced at a July 4^th parade in Philadelphia. Rush, who was a devout Christian, wrote,

The rabbi of the Jews locked in the arms of two ministers of the Gospel was a most delightful sight. There could not have been a more happy emblem of that section of the Constitution, which opens all its power and offices alike, not only to every sect of Christians, but to worthy men of every religion (Hyatt, The Book that Made America Great, 92).

George Washington’s Pro-Jewish Stance

In 1790, George Washington visited the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island where he was warmly received by this Hebrew congregation. In his official welcome, Moses Seixas  compared the Revolutionary War to the struggles of ancient Israel and compared Washington to King David and to Daniel, saying,

With pleasure we reflect on those days—those days of difficulty, & danger when the God of Israel, who delivered David from the peril of the sword, shielded your head in the day of battle: and we rejoice to think, that the same Spirit who rested in the Bosom of the greatly beloved Daniel enabling him to preside over the Provinces of the Babylonish Empire. rests and ever will rest upon you, enabling you to discharge the arduous duties of Chief Magistrate in these States.

Wahington was obviously moved by these sentiments and responded that same day in a letter in which he addressed the members of this congregation as “children of the stock of Abraham.” He assured them that because of America’s commitment to religious liberty they could expect to experience the words of the Old Testament prophet, who in Micah 4:4 said, Each one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig-tree and there shall be none to make him afraid. Washington went on to say,

For happily the Government of the United States gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.

Yaari Taal, of George Washington University, says that Washington’s remarks to this congregation established a precedent for protecting religious liberty and pluralism in the United States that persists to this day.

Early America’s embrace of the Jewish people led to America becoming a haven for persecuted Jews from all over the world. This resulted in America becoming home for the largest Jewish population in the world. This remained true until 2003 when the Jewish population in Israel surpassed that in America.

Zionism and Israel's Right to Exist

The Zionist movement began in the late 1800s and blossomed in the 1900s leading to Jews in Palestine declaring their independence and forming the modern state of Israel on May 14, 1948. Eleven minutes later, the United States recognized this declaration, the first nation to do so.

Zionism is the right of the Jewish people to have their own nation and determine their own destiny. If you are against Israel’s right to exist, you have positioned yourself on the side of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Iranian mullahs, and other terrorist groups who want to see Israel destroyed.  

It is, therefore, disheartening to see conservatives like Tucker Carlson buying into such antisemitic hatred. Such Jewish hatred had no place at America’s founding and should be given no place in America today. Antisemitism is un-American.

This article is derived from Dr. Eddie Hyatt's new book, The Book that Made America Great, available from Amazon and his website at http://eddiehyatt.com.