Is Michelle Bachmann anti-Semitic?
In 2018 former Republican Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann was accused of ‘anti-Semitism’ following comments she made at a Knesset Jewish-Christian Bible Study in Jerusalem. Where she expressly wished for the mass conversions of the jews to Christianity, which – somewhat obviously if you know anything about jewish history and contemporary jewish attitudes to criticism (implicit or explicit) – was immediately subject to screeching about ‘anti-Semitism’ and the ‘Holocaust’.
Bachmann quickly walked back this comment, which in spite of its Christian orthodoxy – you are after all supposed to believe that Christianity is the truth not the truth except when it offends jewish sensibilities – was ‘offensive’ to jews and apparently caused paroxysms of ‘Holocaust memories’.
To quote the Jewish Daily Forward:
‘Michele Bachmann apologized for her prior efforts to convince Jews they should convert to Christianity, the Times of Israel reported.
Bachmann’s expression of regret came on Sunday while she spoke at a Knesset Jewish-Christian Bible study in Jerusalem. She referred to her words as “ignorant.” She declined to acknowledge specifically what comments she was apologizing for.
Bachmann, a Republican from Minnesota who ran for the presidential nomination in 2012, also reportedly asked forgiveness for the “horrible and, yes, I would say, the arrogant way that Christians — I would include myself among them — have treated and regarded the Jewish people.”
Following a visit to Israel in 2015, Bachmann told right-wing radio station Washington Watch that violence in the middle east signaled the return of Jesus, warranting mass conversions.
“My statement [of apology] stands for itself,” the former congresswoman allegedly told reporters when asked whether her apology was in reference to the 2015 remark.
Many of the Christian participants of the Bible study were in Israel to attend Monday’s ceremony commemorating the U.S. Embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.’ (1)
This indeed ironic and instructive from a born-again Christian who tries to get around the thorny problem of not offending jewish sensibilities while being an outspoken Christian. By the rather odd assertion that she regards herself as a jew not as a Christian, because Christianity is a jewish religion. (2)
Despite this calling for the conversion of jews to Christianity is not in and of itself an anti-Semitic thing to do, because it is no worse than modern rabbinical commentary on Christianity (3) and it implicitly rejects the biological definition of jewishness. That is the cornerstone upon which anti-Semitism is defined in the modern study of counter-Semitism.
So no Michelle Bachmann is not anti-Semitic.
References
(1) https://forward.com/fast-forward/401047/michele-bachmann-apologizes-for-ignorantly-suggesting-jews-convert
(2) https://tcjewfolk.com/michele-bachmann-israel/
(3) For example: Rabbi Manis Friedman, 'Christians want to know’, 12th October 2015, 3 Minutes: 10-20 Seconds (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axrVC3N2ZTY)