Anti-Palestinian racism remains the norm in the Israel lobby and in Washington too. The Israel Policy Forum aired an hour-long assessment of Israel’s attacks on Gaza this month and repeatedly praised the operation for leaving no Israelis dead, and never mentioned the scores of Palestinian civilians killed and injured. In his one indirect reference to the Palestinian deaths, Amos Harel of Haaretz said that Israel had demonstrated that it was “very good” at avoiding killing Palestinian civilians.

“An orgy of violence” that killed 49 Palestinians in three days including 17 children — and yet Israel’s supporters have crowed that the Gaza attack was successful and it got wide support in the world press. These advocates have blinded themselves to the moral dimension of such awful force.

Supporters of the IHRA definition of antisemitism often insist that it has nothing to do with stifling dissent or even shutting down criticism of Israel, but Shawn Evenhaim of the Israeli-American Coalition for Action is very explicit about his vision. He believes people should be punished for criticizing Israel.

Polling shows Democrats support BDS by three to one, but Rep. Jerry Nadler said last night that he has stopped BDS from getting a “foothold” among progressives in Congress, and that only a Jew with his seniority can do that. Nadler bragged of supporting Israel since he was 8 years old.

What to do if you are unable to convince your peers to vote for apartheid? Sue them.

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.

U.N. human rights investigator Miloon Kothari has now apologized for criticizing the “Jewish lobby.” But Israel advocates including Alan Dershowitz, Stu Eizenstat, JJ Goldberg and Bari Weiss have long acknowledged the power of the Israel lobby in forming U.S. policy, and said it expresses the goals of the Jewish community.

Some viewed the Stevens/Levin race as a proxy war over the issue of Israel within the Democratic party, but the reality is a little more complicated.

Well-known lobbyist Steve Rabinowitz has only been able to maintain his reputation as a progressive due to Washington’s cognitive dissonance on Israel.

After pro-Israel Rep. Haley Stevens beat fellow House member Andy Levin in Michigan’s 11th district this week, with almost $5 million worth of help from AIPAC’s superpac, the Israel lobby group declared that Stevens’s win “reflects mainstream Democratic views and demonstrates that being pro-Israel is both good policy and good politics!” But new polling shows that Democrats support BDS targeting Israel by 33-10; and a third of Dems say their Congressperson leans more toward Israel than they do — while only 3 percent say they lean too much toward Palestine.