In a dangerous precedent, the House of Representatives passed a controversial bill equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism. Pro-Israel lawmakers quickly followed with a bill to establish a congressional commission aimed at Palestine solidarity.

Two congressional delegations carrying important political implications visited Israel recently. Both were a reminder of how badly out of step Congress is with the American public on Palestine.

The effort to criminalize criticism of Israel is hitting new strides, including a renewed effort led by international politicians to censor anti-Zionist views online. 

A surprising number of Democratic politicians running in close elections have not been vocally supportive of Israel after it attacked Gaza. They include Raphael Warnock, Mark Kelly, John Fetterman, and most of the candidates in the crowded 10th district in New York. These Dems surely see Israel as an issue that is going to cause them problems with Democratic voters, so they avoid the association.

Biden’s trip to the Middle East was a fiasco but the Israel lobby loved it. Former ambassadors Dan Shapiro and Martin Indyk celebrate the trip as a breakthrough and manage not to mention Israel’s killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during an hour’s talk. While an AIPAC officials says of the speech Biden gave when he arrived, “you would have been hard pressed to write a better speech, for the things we believe in.”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer tweets about the Ukraine while a photo shows him to be in Israel on the tab of the Israel lobby group AIPAC. Bill Keating is Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, so he’s been tweeting a lot about Ukraine, but not a word about being in Israel on the AIPAC trip. Other Reps also seem bashful about the junket, including Kathleen Rice who gave AIPAC a video testimonial from the occupied Golan Heights.

Former ambassador David Friedman says that Judaism is Zionism. “So if you do not support the state of Israel you do not support Judaism, therefore you are antisemitic.”
Then Friedman seemed to echo Ben Shapiro’s call for building a synagogue on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif in occupied Jerusalem, though he said the last time he did so, he’d “started a riot.” The two extremists spoke at an event kicked off by the Florida governor, who is considered a likely presidential candidate.

The lead Israel lobby group AIPAC brought 40 members of Congress to Israel, including Democrats who met with Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, even as he trashed the Iran deal. Some Democrats reportedly met with disgraced rightwing former premier Benjamin Netanyahu. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries toasted the “land of milk and honey” while Rep. Ritchie Torres celebrated an illegal Israeli settlement in occupied Jerusalem.

“The president stands with our friend, Israel, more than any other president before,” Melania Trump brags in Florida. While Democrat Rep. Ted Deutch says, “Joe Biden will be a great president for the US Israel relationship…He… will make Israel a stronger country.”

Biden surrogates are giving no oxygen to the progressive criticism of Israel. They are running Biden to Trump’s right on the issue, saying that by removing forces from Syria, Trump left Israel with “no one to rely on” and his politicization of the issue in the U.S. undermines support for “the Jewish state.”