Spitalnick is speaking at the Peninsula Jewish Community Center on December 3 at 7:00 p.m. in a talk entitled “Antisemitism and Our Democracy.” Click here for event registration.
Spitalnick, to appear at the PJCC, is becoming increasingly known for her affiliation with left-wing politicians, and does not shy away from national controversy. On Thursday, Congresswoman AOC appeared to single out and blame AIPAC, the pro-Israel organization, for Democrats’ election loss, calling it a special interest group “pushing a wildly unpopular agenda that pushes voters away from Democrats.”
Instead of condemning the classic antisemitic trope that Jews have outsize influence, Amy Spitalnick, head of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (“JCPA”), responds by partially agreeing with AOC about how dangerous AIPAC is. The post created a firestorm on X.
Some Jewish users had trouble believing the Tweet was true: For instance, Melanie said “Are you for real? AIPAC is an American special interest group like thousands of others. The only reason to single them out is antisemitism. The DNC should learn from its mistakes.”
Jeff Goldklang responded: “Wrong playbook. Junk it. The party lost so spectacularly because of this type of comment. Call out a raging antisemitism for making a ragingly antisemitism statement without prefacing it with personally protective language. Shielding the worst people is pathetic.”
This is not the first time JCPA has been criticized for appearing to promote progressive politicians above Jewish concerns.
Spitalnick recently appeared with Reverend Al Sharpton, another questionable left-wing antisemitic affiliation. Sharpton has a long history of antisemitism, notably, during the 1991 Crown Heights riot in Brooklyn, Sharpton led marches where participants chanted slogans like “No justice, no peace” and “Kill the Jews,” and in his eulogy for Gavin Cato, a child whose death sparked the unrest, he referred to “diamond merchants” and criticized what he termed an “apartheid ambulance service” in Crown Heights.
Ron M noted Spitalnick’s likely connection to J Street, an anti-Israel group, by showing that Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris adopted identical language promoting the idea that all Jews are Democrats that had been espoused by both J Street and Spitalnick.
Shelley Goldschmidt points out that although her title is the CEO of the “Jewish” Center for Public Affairs, she isn’t an advocate for Jews. Instead, she uses her position to whitewash leftwing antisemitism. She platforms, AOC, who accuses Israel of genocide and retweets Wajahat Ali, an anti-Israel Radical.
Spitalnick actually blames “white nationalists” for divisions between “Jewish, Arab, Black and Muslim American communities.”
Prior to the election, Spitalnick predicted that there would be disinformation, extremism, and political violence, holding a webinar entitled “Preparing for and addressing Post-Election Day Disinformation and Political Violence.” Without her predictions coming true, she then attacked Americans that voted against her, likely destroying any hope of having a relationship with half of the country, by emailing out, the day after the election:
The American people have decided to return former President Trump to the White House. And we need to be clear: this outcome is, frankly, terrifying for so many communities who have been consistently threatened and demonized by his campaign.
President-elect Trump’s embrace of anti-democratic, antisemitic, xenophobic, and racist conspiracy theories seeks to pit communities against one another and sow distrust in our democratic institutions, while making all of us less safe. These increasingly normalized hate fueled conspiracy theories go hand-in-hand with the dehumanizing and dangerous agenda outlined by the Trump campaign and Project 2025.
As Jews, we know precisely where such hate, extremism, and dehumanization lead. I want you to know that JCPA will be on the frontlines of the fights ahead because our values and our safety as Jews depend on it.
This is spectacular partisanship from a “Jewish” organization. How does Spitalnick justify calling people who voted for Trump “anti-democratic, antisemitic, xenophobic, and racist” when it was well documented that Trump received an increased percentage of Jewish and Muslim votes compared to Harris and compared to four years ago. Many people, including Israelis, thought that Trump would be better for Israel. Was that a legitimate reason to vote for Trump? Does Spitalnick dismiss all these Jews?
Spitalnick attempts to explain her ideology in her 67 page “Report on Democracy.” She argues that if we inform non-Jewish people that Jewish people are fighting conspiracy theories, that non-Jewish people will join in our effort against antisemitism. She explains that “promoting inclusive, multiracial democracy,” is one and the same with fighting antisemitism.
But what does she mean by “promoting inclusive, multiracial democracy?” Spitalnick’s “report” merely cycles through all the progressive buzzwords in a rehash of pre-election Democrat philosophy, naming all the usual suspects — racism, white supremacy, LBGTQ+, anti-trans, anti-drag panic, Neo-Nazis, anti-abortion, misogyny. She argues it “would be unwise to separate the fight against antisemitism from the fights against xenophobia, white supremacy, racism, Islamophobia, anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry, misogyny, and other forms of hate and violence—or from broader efforts to advance inclusive, multiracial democracy.
Spitalnick lets the cat out of the bag when she finally admits when she refers to “democracy,” her definition is so vague she likely just means promoting left-wing causes generally. She says on page 10:
“We intentionally take a broad view of democracy. For the purposes of this report, “democracy” should not be considered a political or partisan term, even if some individuals or groups attempt to paint it that way. Rather, we define it as the fundamental belief that everyone deserves to live in a society where they can feel safe and thrive, and where that right is reinforced by basic norms, values, and the rule of law. In this report, democracy includes both the institutions of democracy, such as free and fair elections and an independent judiciary and media as well as the values of an inclusive, multiracial, multifaith democracy, such as civil and human rights for all, safety, pluralism, equality, and more
Spitalnick’s “report” is recycled “Intersectionality” propaganda that is only causing more division. Her emphasis on how antisemitism intersects with other forms of hate could inadvertently alienate potential allies who feel their struggles are being minimized or subsumed under this broader framework. Intersectionality is also a failed approach to fighting antisemitism that ends up portraying Jews as white oppressors and does not achieve the vision of exchanging mutual sympathy between minority groups when it comes to Jewish people.
