The silence that surrenders America: Why Jews know they can’t trust JD Vance anymore - opinion

What the Jews need from JD Vance is not perfection. We do not need him to memorize every Israeli talking point or endorse every policy of any government in Jerusalem. We need something far more straightforward and far more foundational: We need to know that the man who may soon lead the Republican Party does not see Jews and the State of Israel as a problem to be “managed” in his coalition — but as allies central to his vision of America.

Right now, we don’t know. And that uncertainty is the crisis. Because a leader who does not understand what antisemitism does to nations — how it erodes their courage, weakens their institutions, and marks the first stage of civilizational decline — is a leader who cannot be trusted to guide a party, let alone a country, through the dangers now before us.

JD Vance is not marching with swastikas or posting slurs. His problem is subtler and far more dangerous. It is his strategic ambiguity. He hesitates to name Iran clearly as the architect of the war against Israel and the West. He flirts with isolationist talking points that treat Israel as a “distraction” from “real American problems.” He speaks in ways that one audience hears as economic populism — and another hears as code for “foreign lobbies control our policy.”

If you’re Jewish, you’ve heard this tune before. This is not a “policy disagreement.” It is an atmosphere — the re-emergence of an old poison in a new bottle: the idea that Jews and Israel exert illegitimate “power” over America.

We’ve seen this before: Charles Lindbergh and America First blaming “the British, the Jews, and the Roosevelt administration.” Pat Buchanan railing that Congress was “Israeli-occupied territory.” Ron Paul’s newsletters parroting anti-Israel conspiracy theories. And now, TikTok, Telegram, and podcasts have given the Power Libel a global megaphone.

This is why JD Vance’s silence matters. Not because Jews demand ideological purity. But because ambiguity is gasoline poured onto this fire. And because the Power Libel is never merely an attack on Jews — it is the earliest tremor of a nation losing its strategic clarity, its moral compass, and its will to survive.

There is a legitimate America First doctrine — one that says America should lead in ways that strengthen American interests. In that worldview, Israel is not a burden. Israel is an asset. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. The only ally that doesn’t need American troops. The only country whose existence deters the wars America would otherwise face. Every missile Israel intercepts is a crisis America avoids. Israel does not drain American power — it multiplies it.

But the emerging isolationist right — the crowd of Tucker Carlson disciples, “Anti-Israel America First” influencers, and pseudo-intellectual populists — sees Israel as a drain and Jews as a lobby. A serious leader in 2025 would draw a bright red line between those visions.

JD Vance refuses. Why? Why is it so hard for him to say: America First does not mean abandoning Israel. America First does not mean ignoring Iran. America First does not mean tolerating the people who think Jews control the country. Why can’t he say this?

This isn’t about Jewish sensitivity; it’s about American security. Iran is no longer a distant threat; it’s embedded in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Gaza, and—through its partnership with Venezuela—deep inside the Western Hemisphere. It tests America through drones, militias, cyberattacks, and terror networks stretching from the Middle East to Latin America, where Hezbollah and Iranian operatives work hand-in-glove with Venezuelan officials and cartel pipelines tied to human trafficking and narco-financing. Israel faces this threat every day.

Here is the exact two-minute speech JD Vance must give:

“Antisemitism is not a niche issue — it is a civilizational threat. The idea that Jews or Israel control America — the ‘Power Libel’ — is a lie. America First does not mean abandoning our allies. Israel makes America stronger. I reject antisemitism on the far-left and the new woke-Reich. If you believe Jews control our government or media, you are not part of the movement I want to lead.”

If he cannot say that, then the Jews have their answer. And so does America. If he will not say it, it is because he fears losing the people he should be ashamed to keep.

For the first time since the 1930s, antisemitism is entering the bloodstream of right-wing American politics under the guise of populism and foreign-policy realism. It never starts with laws. It begins with shrugs. With silence. With “you’re overreacting.” With “let’s focus at home.” Jewish history teaches only one consistent lesson: when leaders refuse to confront antisemitism in rhetoric, they will not confront it in reality.

And this is the choice facing the Republican Party as it moves toward an inevitable Rubio–Vance or Vance–Rubio ticket. One man is a statesman forged by history; the other is a politician shaped by algorithms. Rubio has the wisdom, age, and experience to recognize that Israel is a pillar of America’s moral and strategic identity and that antisemitism is a threat to Western civilization itself. Vance, still early in his political life, treats Israel as a foreign-policy inconvenience and antisemitism as an online annoyance. This exact posture allows the Power Libel to take root.

Wisdom teaches that when leaders rise too quickly and too young, they are most prone to mistakes that echo far beyond their intentions. America cannot afford a learning curve in the Oval Office, especially not on the question of antisemitism — the earliest indicator of national decay.

JD Vance must choose: will he be the man who slams the door on antisemitism, or the one who lets it in? The Jews cannot wait for him to grow into clarity. We need it before power, not after. And if he cannot offer that clarity now, then the conclusion is simple: JD Vance is not the future. He is the warning.