In Georgia run-offs, pro-Israel groups are handmaidens of the far-right

A nail-biting, close victory for President-Elect Joe Biden over Donald Trump has ended any legitimate ambiguity about an election race that has captivated American audiences’ attention for more than a year. Now, much attention is focused on the U.S. Senate: where run-off elections in Georgia will determine whether Democrats will be able to take back the Senate from Trump Republicans.

Among those running is Democratic Party newcomer Raphael Warnock, whose votes outnumbered Republican challenger and Trump-devotee Kelly Loeffler by 9%, but without enough votes to prevent a run-off. When asked, Loeffler could not name a single disagreement she had with outgoing President, right-wing extremist, and alleged serial rapist Donald Trump, even when prompted about Trump’s 2005 statements that he had repeatedly groped women without their consent.

But Loeffler has not decided to attack Warnock for his lack of devotion to Trump. Instead, Loeffler takes aim at Warnock because of his past expressions of basic empathy with Palestinians under attack by the Israeli military. Warnock signed a 2019 letter that called for boycotts and divestment from Israel, condemned Trump’s recognition of the illegal annexation of Jerusalem, and spoke strongly of Palestinians who were systematically mowed down by Israeli soldiers in Gaza. According to the letter Warnock signed, Israel’s racist policies in the West Bank are comparable to Apartheid in South Africa and U.S. racial discrimination in the Jim Crow South. There is virtual unanimity among all international law scholars that Israel’s violent discrimination against Palestinians, including forced displacement, discriminatory land grabs, and other racist policies, fit the legal definition of apartheid, a crime against humanity.

That Warnock, within two days of Loeffler’s attacks, has completely flipped his position is not only indicative of the weakness of the Democratic Party, but of the function of pro-Israel advocacy networks: to attack progressive values in service of far-right politicians like Loeffler. 

Under relentless and inflammatory attacks describing him and his comments as antisemitic and supportive of terrorism, Warnock has conceded the issue. He issued a statement to a pro-Israel Jewish publication alleging that the BDS Movement does not recognize Israel’s “right to exist” and is antisemitic by extension, repudiates any suggestion that Israel is an Apartheid regime, and erases the history of Black-Palestinian solidarity with selective quotations from Civil Rights leaders.

The attacks that prompted his betrayal are not limited to the Loeffler campaign. Instead, pro-Israel lobbyists have taken the lead in battering Warnock. Former Midwest political director of AIPAC Jonathan Greenberg alleges that Warnock’s previous statements reveal Warnock’s true character and that despite Warnock’s betrayal of Palestinian rights, that he would join “a handful of Israel-haters” like Betty McCollum, Jim Traficant, and Justin Amash. Citing Warnock’s brave speech in defense of Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza and against Trump’s support for the annexation of Jerusalem, Greenberg writes, “You don’t need your gut. That video is who he is” — an ironic defense of Warnock among those with progressive values but an attack within the pro-Israel echo chamber. Joel Pollack, writing at right-wing extremist website Breitbart, takes aim not only at Warnock but at Jewish groups who have defended Warnock’s 180. And the Republican Jewish Coalition not only took to attacking Warnock over Israel, but has magnified Loeffler’s generalized red-baiting attacks on Warnock as a Communist-sympathizer and a radical anti-police extremist. 

Of course, the fact that the Jewish Democratic Council of America has stuck by Warnock should not change any objective reader’s understanding of the situation. The JDCA’s defense of Warnock is based entirely on his betrayal of his own prior statements, with JDCA promoting Warnock’s shameful op-ed. In other words, the Israel lobby’s “liberal” wing will support Democrats only when they cower to right-wing attacks and undermine their own credibility through self-serving betrayals that are unlikely to convince anyone of any change of view — but strongly signal weakness in the face of pro-Trump extremism. 

As in their ruthless attacks on Bernie Sanders for refusing to attend an AIPAC conference, or their successful campaign to tarnish Jeremy Corbyn as an antisemite or an enabler of antisemites, or their gaslighting of Ilhan Omar (and the rest of the world) for making objectively true criticisms of the pro-Israel lobby, or the cancellation of an award for Angela Davis after her support for Palestinians, or the near complete disintegration of the largest Civil Rights march in U.S. history amid opposition from pro-Israel Jewish groups, the pattern can no longer be disguised. 

Perpetual handmaidens of the far-right, pro-Israel groups are not simply willing to dehumanize Palestinians by stigmatizing basic empathy with their plight. Now, they are willing to challenge fundamental progressive goals that have nothing to do with the Middle East in order to preserve uncritical loyalty to Israel. 

Among those progressive goals that hang in the balance as a result of the run-offs: a Senate majority that could reverse Trump’s domination of the federal judiciary with judges who support overturning abortion rights and shielding killer cops from liability; competent federal support for COVID-19 relief; financial relief for debt-burdened college graduates; expansions of Obamacare and access to affordable healthcare; immigration protections that would tie the hands of future presidents who seek to separate families or target whole religions the way Trump did; environmental protections to stop the irreversible and deadly threat of climate change; and reversing tax cuts to the wealthy.

In short, if pro-Israel groups manage to torch the Warnock campaign over Reverend Warnock’s prior criticisms of Israel, it will not simply be a victory for Israeli Apartheid, which has already succeeded in convincing Warnock to drop any semblance of empathy for Palestinians. It will be a last-ditch victory for Trump’s America, and a final spit in the face of the values that have been ruthlessly attacked by right-wing extremists from Charlottesville to Washington, D.C. for the last five years. Indeed, with a Republican-controlled Senate, it is difficult to imagine what progressive policy ventures could be accomplished, if any, under a Biden Administration.

It’s possible, of course, Warnock’s past criticisms of Israel won’t be a liability. Among an increasingly Black and immigrant electorate here in the ‘New New South’ that opposes racist state violence everywhere — from Atlanta to Palestine — perhaps Warnock’s past statements will draw voters of color and white progressive allies to the ballot box —  assuming they aren’t repulsed by his disgusting betrayal.

But regardless of the outcome of the run-offs, the fact that Israel lobbyists and the Loeffler campaign are running hand-in-hand and have already forced concessions from a Democrat should make it obvious: Zionism has no place in a progressive society, other than to destroy it.