In response to the failure of the House of Representatives to pass a straightforward resolution against anti-Semitism—let alone one censuring Congresswoman Ilhan Omar for her shameful statements—Senators Ted Cruz and Tim Kaine sponsored a resolution on anti-Semitism of their own, which the Senate passed unanimously. Liel Leibovitz praises Cruz’s speech justifying the resolution:

Two insights . . . make the resolution, and Senator Cruz’s speech, . . . stand out. The first is the . . . understanding that anti-Semitism is a unique form of bigotry that must be condemned uniquely, and not one more rung in the infinite ladder of grievances, real or imagined, that makes up the core of contemporary progressive ideology. Jew-hatred is a historically specific affliction, complete with particular traditions and sensibilities; it is unlike other forms of hatred, and deserves to be treated as such.

From this follows a second insight, equally as profound: even within the specific historical account of anti-Semitism, the American Jewish encounter with this ancient form of bigotry has been unique as well, paving its own forms of discrimination, some subtle and others less so. . . . For this hatred, still very much prevalent today, to end, we need clear and strong leadership. On Thursday, Senators Cruz and Kaine gave us just that.

Two extraordinary events demonstrate something important about Israel’s most fervent adversaries. One was a speech given at something called The People’s Forum (funded generously by Goldman Sachs), which stated, “When the state of Israel is finally destroyed and erased from history, that will be the single most important blow we can give to destroying capitalism and imperialism.”

The suggestion that this tiny state is the linchpin of a global, centuries-old phenomenon like capitalism goes well beyond anything resembling rational criticism. Even if Israel were guilty of genocide, apartheid, and oppression—which of course it is not—it would not follow that its destruction would help end capitalism or imperialism.

The other was an anti-Israel protest that took place in front of New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, deemed “complicit” in Israel’s evils. At organizers’ urging, participants shouted their slogans at kids in the cancer ward, who were watching from the windows. Given Hamas’s indifference toward the lives of Gazan children, such callousness toward non-Palestinian children from Hamas’s Western allies shouldn’t be surprising. The protest—like the abovementioned speech—deliberately conveyed the message that Israel is the ultimate evil and its destruction the ultimate good, cancer patients be damned.

The fact that Israel’s adversaries are almost comically perverse does not mean that they can be dismissed. If its allies fail to understand the obsessive and irrational hatred that it faces, they cannot effectively help it defend itself.