When Israeli soldiers killed a 15-year-old Palestinian boy for protesting Jewish settlers taking his land, it ought to have been a George Floyd moment for liberal Jews. But Americans for Peace Now chatters about John Lennon not Ali Abu Alia, and dreams about a two-state solution that will never happen. It is time for Zionism to experience a crisis, and Jews must support the only hope for change in Palestine, BDS.
The killing of Ali Abu Alia — on top of hundreds of similar atrocities in recent years — has generated outrage in the west. Will anyone bear responsibility for robbing the young teenager of his life? It all depends on the responses of American political actors.
Joe Biden will get out from Obama’s shadow by showing he can handle Netanyahu– whom the Democratic establishment hates– and using a foreign policy team loaded with putative Zionists, Biden will let Israel know the party’s over and it’s time to get rid of Netanyahu.
US election showed that American Jews and Israeli Jews could not be more different, American Jews dislike Netanyahu two-to-one, and so the Israel lobby is divided forever, because the Jewish community is divided on the Israel question, with many young Jews supporting boycott. And that divide will continue to spur political debate.
22 percent of Jews under 40 support boycott of Israel, according to exit polling. That’s shocking news for liberal Zionists who would constitute the mainstream Israel lobby under a Joe Biden presidency.
Despite predictions 30% of Jews would vote for Trump, the number was 21% to Biden’s 77 in exit polling– the mirror opposite of Israel, where Jews overwhelmingly support Trump. Only 5% listed Israel as their most important issue, down nearly 100 percent since 2016, which is bad news for the Israel lobby.
Israeli leaders believe that Donald Trump has set the new normal for US-Israel relations: total acceptance of Israeli expansion. And if Joe Biden is elected president today, Israelis will expect compliance from him; and Biden will likely do little to take Netanyahu on. That’s the view of Israel lobbyists as the pageant of democracy unfolds in the U.S.
One of Joe Biden’s political achievements this year is that he has taken what seemed to be a big issue for Trump– Israel — out of the campaign. The Israel lobby trusts Biden because he promises to use American force overseas and try to end the politicization of the Israel issue here. Biden and Harris have actually run against their own Democratic base on Palestinian rights.
Michael Arria is on vacation this week, and Phil Weiss is filling in on trendspotting.…
Palestinian messaging about human rights is working. A rightwing Israeli thinktank says anti-Zionism is growing in the U.S. Jewish community. A “possibly significant minority (which may be up to 25%) appears to hold beliefs that are intensely critical of Israel and Zionism itself, including attitudes that Zionism may be a colonial and/or racist, apartheid movement as practiced in Israel today.” Even more, 31 percent, would vote for Rashida Tlaib because she is a progressive!