An Israel lobby group associated with the Democratic Party allows rightwing Israeli Yossi Klein Halevi to tell US Jews to marshal opposition to Biden on the Iran deal. “Many Israelis still harbor deep resentment toward the American Jewish community for not opposing more vigorously the Iran deal in 2015… Will the Jewish community take an active role in trying to convey to Biden that returning to the 2015 deal even with cosmetic changes would be seen by Israelis as a betrayal?”
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has run a fascinating long report this week offering a disturbing snapshot of the political climate rapidly emerging across Europe on the issue of antisemitism. The article documents a kind of cultural, political and intellectual reign of terror in Germany since the parliament passed a resolution last year equating support for non-violent boycotts of Israel – in solidarity with Palestinians oppressed by Israel – with antisemitism.
Pompeo’s gifts to Netanyahu in occupied territory yesterday were all about getting the Israel lobby on Pompeo’s side for 2024. The one headwind Pompeo has it in his power to possibly create against Biden/Harris in 2024 is to get Biden fighting with Netanyahu over settlements and get the Democratic Party fighting over Israel.
Don’t blame the Cubans! Trump’s 43 percent of Florida Jews shows influence of orthodox in Miami and turned the state for him, Israel lobbyist Mark Mellman says. Oh and Joe Biden will use “pressure” and “sanctions” to get a “stronger, better, longer” deal from Iran than President Obama got, Mellman says.
Under pressure from Trump to endorse him, Netanyahu said yesterday the US Israel alliance “has never been stronger” and praised many Trump moves. Israeli news called it a “non-endorsement endorsement.”
The Democratic Party successfully sent the message in its convention that Biden won’t be a troublemaker like Obama on Palestinian human rights, thereby pleasing big donors. But the news from congressional races is that the Democratic base cares deeply about the issue.
Kamala Harris is so pro-Israel she helps Biden remove the issue from his race with Trump. But progressives who want it to be an issue are winning House races. The Democratic street wants boycott and sanctions.
Rightwing Israeli Shmuel Rosner once again justifies slaughter of Palestinian civilians in the New York Times, in a column praising Trump and calling Biden a Zionist who “understands the need to use force.”
Joe Biden has bent over backwards to tell the Jewish community he can work with Netanyahu and won’t sanction Israel if it annexes West Bank lands. He cannot afford to alienate the largest source of Democratic campaign funding, from pro-Israel Jews, a source Trump is making a play for.
Palestinians must recognize the “right and reality of Jewish state,” and US left is “equally wrong” to Trump in not criticizing Palestinians for their failure to do so, says Biden aide Tony Blinken, signaling that Biden will be far more supportive of Israel than Obama was.