Old Wine, New Bottles
This week Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) was unanimously elected to lead the House Democrats. He will take over for departing Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
This torch passing has naturally upset the Democratic party’s left flank, as Jeffries represents the anti-Bernie centrist wing. “There will never be a moment where I bend the knee to hard-left democratic socialism,” he told The Atlantic last year. In a 2021 interview he said that, “The extreme left is obsessed with talking trash about mainstream Democrats on Twitter, when the majority of the electorate constitute mainstream Democrats at the polls. In the post-Trump era, the anti-establishment line of attack is lame…”
On Twitter, New York State Senator Jabari Brisport criticized Jeffries impact on the Democratic party and declared that he shouldn’t become leader. “In 2021, Hakeem Jeffries started the Team Blue PAC ‘to defend incumbents facing primary challenges'”, he explained.” In 2022, he used the PAC to tip the scales in an open primary (Maloney v. Biaggi), and also decided to endorse against a sitting progressive State Senator (Robert Jackson). Democrats who lie about their intentions in order to attack the left wing of the party should not be confirmed to lead it.”
There’s at least one group of Democrats happy to see Jeffries rise: staunch supporters of Israel. A piece by Marc Rod at the Jewish Insider declares that pro-Israel Dems see Jeffries as a “reliable successor” to Pelosi and Steny Hoyer (D-MD). “He came to Congress as a voice of pro-Israel activism. And he served with the same voice and he has an ability to organize coalitions across a very diverse spectrum that will support U.S.-Israeli relations,” former Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) told Rod. “So his continued leadership, assuming that the caucus comes to agreement on his candidacy, is a very positive and heartening step in the right direction for U.S.-Israeli relations.”
“We’re very lucky to be, in all likelihood, getting him as the new leader of the Democrats in the house, because he too is a great friend of the American Jewish community and of the American-Israeli alliance,” says former U.S. ambassador Norm Eisen.
They’re right. In fact, Jeffries is arguably even more pro-Israel than Pelosi. He’s backed by AIPAC and DMFI. He takes money from lobby groups like Pro-Israel America. He attends AIPAC delegations to the region, where he’s met and posed for pictures with Netanyahu. He refers to Jerusalem as New York City’s “sixth borough.” He opposes the BDS movement and any attempt to condition U.S. military aid to Israel.
This was Jeffries during Israel’s brutal 2014 attack on Gaza, which killed over 2,000 Palestinians, more than 500 of them children: “We know Israel lives in a very tough neighborhood, and there are certain realities to that. We mourn the loss of civilian life on both sides of the conflict. But when you live in a tough neighborhood Israel should not be made to apologize for its strength. You know why? Because the only thing that neighbors respect in a tough neighborhood is strength…Israel has a right to exist as a democratic Jewish state and no one can take that away. Israel has the right to defend itself against aggression – particularly when that aggression is directed at its civilian population. Israel is here to stay and it will remain forever.”
New York State Assembly Member Zohran Kwame Mamdani noted a distressing historical parallel to Jeffries’ remarks: “After at least 2,251 Palestinians were killed over the course of July 2014, Hakeem Jeffries got on stage at a rally in NYC and paraphrased George Wallace. ‘Israel today, Israel tomorrow, Israel forever.’ If Jeffries is considered a progressive, the term has lost all meaning.”
Here Jeffries is on Amnesty International’s historic Israeli apartheid report: ““Israel is a democracy. It is not an apartheid state. Any conclusion to the contrary is demonstrably false, dangerous and designed to isolate Israel in one of the toughest neighborhoods in the world. The special relationship between the United States and Israel is anchored in our shared democratic values and geopolitical interests. I strongly support that special relationship, and look forward to redoubling efforts in the region to bring about a lasting two-state solution, with a safe and secure Israel living side by side in peace and prosperity with a self-governed and demilitarized Palestinian state.”
When one of Jeffries’ constituents asked him why he hadn’t support Rep. Betty McCollum’s historic legislation aimed at stopping Israel’s detention of Palestinian children, he said he had never heard of the bill.
“A new day is dawning — and I am confident that these new leaders will capably lead our Caucus and the Congress,” said Pelosi when she announced her departure. On Palestine the sun is certainly not coming up.
AJP Action Report
A new report from AJP Action looks at Israel lobby spending in the recent U.S. midterms. Pro-Israel groups spent over $30 million on the contest and the candidates who got the most are not really surprising:
- Shontel Brown (D-OH): $1,038,202
- Haley Stevens (D-MI): $790,729
- Elaine Luria (D-VA): $731,038
- Glenn Ivey (D-MD): $697,205
- Chuck Schumer (D-NY): $689,375
- Steven Irwin (D-PA): $687,367
- Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ): $548,262
- Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY): $459,670
- Maggie Hassan (D-NH): $436,625
- Valerie Foushee (D-NC): $429,305
You’ll notice that these are all Democrats, which makes sense given the growing anxiety among Israel groups about Dem support for Israel slowly thawing.
The report breaks down the party disparity. “This election, pro-Israel organizations donated to Democrats at twice the rate of Republican candidates, collectively contributing $20 million to Democrats compared to $10 million to Republicans.8 Democrats also received a higher average contribution of $62,651 compared to Republicans’ $31,215,” the authors explain.” Republican Senate candidates were the exception, raising more than Democrats by receiving an average of $36,505 more than their Democratic counterparts.
“The disparity indicates that rightwing Zionist groups give to Democrats to counteract the growing influence of pro-Palestinian members of the Party,” it continues. “Currently, 32 Members of Congress, all of whom are Democrats, are cosponsors of H.R.2590—A bill that would restrict U.S. aid from being used for the: (1) military detention, interrogation, abuse, or ill treatment of Palestinian children; (2) seizure, appropriation, or destruction of Palestinian property and forcible transfer of civilians in the West Bank; or (3) unilateral annexation by Israel of West Bank. After the murder of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli military forces in May, it was a sizable minority of Democrats that advocated for accountability in Abu Akleh’s murder. Nearly-half (24) the U.S. Democratic Senators urged President Joe Biden to investigate the murder of Abu Akleh and several letters were led in the House, including a letter signed by 57 Democrats urging President Biden to investigate Abu Akleh’s murder. No Republicans led similar efforts.”
There’s two ways to read this kind of spending. On one hand, groups like AIPAC continue to have a disturbing amount of influence on the electoral process. On the other hand, these groups have had to spend more and more money because support for Palestinian self-determination is clearly growing among Democratic voters. “‘Dark money’ may deceive many in the meantime, but it will not stop the truth from eventually coming to light, and from justice ultimately prevailing with our diligent and dedicated struggle,” concludes the report.
Odds & Ends
?? The Israeli and United States Air Forces simulated attacks on Iran this week.
?? The Zionist Organization of America protested Philadelphia’s second annual International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
? Former U.S. ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer and former State Department official Aaron David Miller have an op-ed in the Washington Post calling on the Biden administration to stop providing Israel with “offensive weapons or other assistance for malign Israeli actions” in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
“Biden should also make it clear to Israel that his administration will have no dealings with Ben Gvir, Smotrich or their ministries if they continue to espouse racist policies and actions,” they write. “U.S. support for Israel in international forums, including the U.N. Security Council and the International Court of Justice, has its limits. And Israel should know that the Biden administration will be on the alert for Israeli actions that deserve to be called out and condemned.”
? Extremely cursed sentence from Axios’ Barak Ravid: “Netanyahu tells Bari Weiss that Trump’s dinner with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes ‘was just wrong and misplaced. I think it’s a mistake. He shouldn’t do that…I hope it’s not repeated.'”
? The Adelson family is dramatically reducing its donations to Birthright, seemingly putting the program in a precarious situation. This from an eJewishPhilanthropy post about the development:
“Birthright is facing steep cuts next year. The organization, eJewishPhilanthropy has learned, is expecting to take approximately 23,500 participants on trips in 2023, less than half the number it took in 2019 and a significant decrease from the 2022 figure of 35,000. Its budget will drop to roughly $120 million, from roughly $150 million in 2022. Tapoohi said his foundation is now placing a new emphasis on growing its endowment and on planned giving.”
?? Palestine activists have launched a new awareness campaign to free the Holy Land Five members who still remain in prison.
? Al-Haq launched its inaugural coalition report, Israeli Apartheid: Tool of Zionist Settler Colonialism:
“This ground-breaking apartheid report is the product of four years of research and advocacy by the coalition of Palestinian human rights organisations. In this time, and from the efforts of this coalition, there has been growing acceptance of the reality that is Israel’s oppressive apartheid regime by the international community. While Al-Haq is encouraged by the growing global recognition of Israeli apartheid, we note that Zionist settler colonialism and its eliminatory and population transfer logic remain absent from recent analyses and reports on apartheid by Israeli and international human rights organisations such as Yesh Din, B’Tselem, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International. It is this gap that the present report seeks to fill.”
“This report aims to expand on the current apartheid discourse, and push for the recognition of the colonial practices of Israel, both past and present, and its consistent use of settler colonial policies against the Palestinian people, recognizing the connection between the Palestinian struggle for self-determination and the wider, global movement of indigenous liberation against both colonialism and other associated forms of structural and institutionalized racism.”
Stay safe out there,
Michael
If Jefferies thinks he can bully his caucus into continued subservience and fealty to the foreign Apartheid state, I have a bridge out of Brooklyn to sell him.
With Pelosi and Hoyer out of leadership and the old guard of Israel-firsters evaporating from Democrat districts, the last storm barriers against the tide of change will be swiftly washed away.
Maybe if Jefferies was ordained by his pro-Israel predecessors while Dems still held the majority he might be able tame the progressive left through committee positions and the purse strings a little bit longer and establish himself as a stronger leader. But he’s coming in under the worst conditions from a pro-Israel perspective.
Despite $30 million in spending by AIPAC, the message has been received loud and clear. Progressive candidates can handily win without their Apartheid blood money, and knowing that single issue AIPAC will happily and immediately switch their financial allegiance to Republicans if their anointed Democrat candidate loses in a Primary, more and more Dems now know that the Israel/AIPAC relationship is very much a fickle one way street.
Jefferies is also taking the reigns as an extremely divisive and unpopular Netanyahu returns to office and with him Israel’s most unabashed, openly radical, racist, ultra-nationalist, right-wing supremacist government in history. Not to mention the current uprising in tensions as Settlers continue ever increasing pogroms in Hebron and across the West Bank, while Palestinian unrest and resistance grows by the day as Abbas sits on his hands and does nothing but count the decimal places in his US/Israeli bought and paid for bank account.
In short it is going to be a rough 2 years, minimum, for Jefferies within the party on the Israel front especially when, not if, Israel starts “mowing the lawn” again come Spring/Summer and inevitably heads to new elections later next year when his coalition crumbles under the slightest pressure. Not to mention the terrible optics of the freshman class of Dems going on their bought and paid for propaganda tour of Israel early next year and publicly embracing the much detested Netanyahu and his new radical Apartheid coalition government. All this without any of the inevitable pushback from the growing progressive wing against Israeli Apartheid.