Democrats take Jewish voters for granted at their peril
Benyamin Netanyahu's address to the US Congress will help shed light on the anti-Israel sentiment that is consuming parts of the Democratic Party. American Jewish voters should be taking note.
Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu will address the US congress on July 24 to talk about Israel’s progress in its war against Hamas, the US-Israel alliance, the threat Iran poses to global security, and the latest developments.
Senior US Senator Elizabeth Warren has become the latest Democrat who plans to snub Netanyahu by not attending the speech. Representative Ro Khanna, Representative Jim Clyburn and Senator Bernie Sanders have also said they would not attend. Dozens of other “progressive” lawmakers will likely join them. Progressive, here, means anti-Israel at best, and anti-Semitic at worst.
Warren’s reasons why show that she has imbibed most of Hamas’ propaganda wholesale, does not understand the conflict, and is out of step with most Israelis and Palestinians. One cannot get more unqualified than that.
“He (Netanyahu) has…made clear that he does not support US policy for a two-state solution that will let the people of Israel and Palestinians develop their own nation self-determination, live with dignity,” she said.
Indeed, Netanyahu does not support a two-state solution. Neither do most Israelis or Palestinians. Thinking that the answer is something that neither of the warring parties wants does not speak to a first-rate intellect. It speaks to a patronizing attitude. She thinks she knows Israeli and Palestinian interests better than they do.
A poll from the respected Ramallah-base Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research shows that only 32 percent of Palestinians support a two-state solution. Among Israelis, only 26 percent think an Israeli and Palestinian state can co-exist peacefully, according to a Pew Research survey.
It is a strange perversion that the Left, which claims to hate colonialism and its remnants, is so keen on imposing solutions in a very colonialist way. They seem to think Israeli prime ministers answer to them.
While Warren’s comments show that she knows nothing about the conflict, she is willing to grandstand about it to win votes from the Far Left and their Jihadist allies. It is disgusting, and it is part of what is driving the worst anti-Semitism in the US in generations.
American Jews, traditionally sympathetic to the Left, should be very afraid that significant parts of the Democratic Party have become so anti-Israel and, in some cases, outright anti-Semitic. Support for Israel, the Middle East’s only democracy and the front line in a civilizational conflict that much of the West is in denial about, used to be bipartisan. Those days may be numbered.
Netanyahu is far from the perfect Israeli prime minister. He is a narcissist who has tried to weaken Israeli democracy with judicial changes, he faces corruption charges, he governs with the support of ugly Far Right Jewish extremists, he has taken no responsibility for the October 7 attack, he stands accused of not doing enough to get the hostages home, prolonging the war for political gain, and of contributing to tense relations with the US. Israel deserves better.
Nevertheless, Warren’s actions speak of her lack of regard for Israeli democracy and the Israeli people. She should not treat the elected leader of such an important ally this way. Israel had four elections in five years in the run-up to the 2022 elections, so it is hard to make the case Israelis have had no choice in their government. Israelis will have their chance again, and it will be their choice.
Democrats’ undermining of an ally as key as Israel is why the US has a defense deterrence credibility crisis that has spooked the world and weakened America’s global standing. Warren and her ilk do not seem to grasp that alliances are between states, not individuals.
Despite most Israelis’ disillusionment with Netanyahu, they do support the war aim of destroying Hamas. The idea that if only Israel changed its prime minister, then everything regarding Israel and the Palestinians would change is wishful thinking.
It would change some things and might reduce the terrible influence of Israel’s Far Right in the government. Whoever replaces him, however, will still have genocidal Jihadists to deal with, and still have an electorate that knows a two-state solution is a bad idea. The reason is the Palestinians are not fighting for a state; they are fighting to destroy Israel. Not understanding this displays a self-disqualifying ignorance.
Warren also said Netanyahu “has created a humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza. The idea that anyone but the genocidal Jihadist terror group Hamas is responsible for what has happened in Gaza is insane and morally retarded.
Democratic candidates need to be aware that it is not just losing voters to Republicans that they should fear. It is also losing primary races to other Democratic candidates more supportive of Israel and without the stench of anti-Semitism.
A case in point would be Democratic New York representative Jamaal Bowman who may lose the primary to the more sane George Latimer. Bowman, part of the Democratic Party’s unhinged Far Left, trades in deranged anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
Jewish campaigners are viewing the primary as a vote on anti-Semitism within the Democratic Party and are working overtime to make sure Jews make their votes count. They are asking people to vote for whoever they want come November, but to vote against anti-Semitism now.
While American Jews will vote on many issues besides Israel, including a verdict on Donald Trump, they will vote against overt anti-Semitism and will do so at all levels of government and all stages of the election process. The Democrats take the Jewish vote for granted at their peril.
Your comments on Netanyahu and his coalition allies are totally incorrect and unwarranted. Narcissist? On what grounds? Because he persists in the face of political opponents who are smug, cheap and hypocritical? Because he outlasts them? Because he took on Obama and Biden? Because you read the scurrilous book The Netanyahus? I disagreed with his focus on Iran at the expense of taking out the Palestinians, but never thought he was a narcissist because of that. You need a will of iron and a heart of steel to survive Israeli politics and the Netanyahu derangement syndrome of Israeli media. The corruption cases against him were falling apart before the war started. Judicial reform is highly overdue in Israel and had been discussed for years. The Attorney General in Israel is not part of the government, creating another venue of opposition to the elected government in Israel and a bastion of the old Yishuv elite's control, the same one behind the opposition to judicial reform and continuing the Gaza war. He does not prolong the war for political gain - a scurrilous and disgusting charge - but because that is the only way to defeat Hamas and get whatever hostages are alive back; otherwise Israel will have fought the war in vain. And he is the only Israeli politician with the guts and stature to stand up to the crooked and back-stabbing Biden or O'Biden administration. As for Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, the two most insightful and effective and consistent Israeli politicians to have taken measures to rein in Palestinian murderers and make them pay for their heinous policies, smearing them with an extremist right-wing label only muddles the more clarity you usually exhibit. Repeating the left-right divide in political analysis only contributes to the misreading of modern society in which lazy journalists and crackpot sociologists indulge. They may help simplify complex issues and give people an easy guide for voting, but they are totally inadequate descriptions of contemporary reality.
Netanyahu derangement syndrome on the Left is starting to catch up to TDS..