Angry that foreign policy isn’t in the last debate, Donald Trump believes his record, including Israel normalization deals and breaking the Iran deal, are a political asset. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris appear to agree, avoiding the topic entirely.
There’s a reason Joe Biden is running so far right on Israel. He fears Trump upping his share of Jewish vote in battleground states by citing his pro-Israel record and winning them. Matt Brooks of the RJC describes the strategy.
The Biden team once again shows its intolerance of any criticism of Israel. Rabbi Mark Winer kicks off a Florida Dems for Biden event: “Strengthen us oh God to combat the BDS, antizionist and antisemitic virus which infects too many of our erstwhile allies in our battle for the soul of America, without weakening our defense of our own secure Jewish place in this society.”
The Democratic Party has squelched the Palestinian issue. Yesterday, Kamala Harris had a conference call with 1800 Jewish Democratic donors and assured them a President Biden will never condition aid to Israel over its conduct and that Biden-Harris will show “unwavering support” for Israel. The party has shut down the left’s criticism of Israel saying it could damage the effort to make Donald Trump a one-termer.
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.
Everything still looks solid for the Israel lobby at the top of the Democratic Party this year. But if we view the party as a pyramid, with its apex being the presidential ticket, its middle layer being its elected officials, and its bottom layer being its base, then the foundations of the Israel lobby’s hold on the party is quite evidently crumbling.
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.
Our top 10 stories in 2019 focused on BDS, the Democratic Party primary, Trump’s thus far secret Deal Of The Century peace plan, and the ongoing daily oppression of the Palestinian people. Hopefully 2020 will see justice for the Palestinian people. Let’s make it happen.
In an interview with the Ames Tribune, Democratic Majority for Israel’s Kat Wellmann praised Harris’ response. “I was very impressed with her. I thought she gave an excellent speech, she gave a very detailed, responsive answer to my question,” she told the paper, “I’m pro-Israel, so I was I was very concerned and all about making sure we limit nuclear missiles in any country that could possibly destroy us all. I thought her answer was very good.”
The NYT’s initial strategy was to starve Tulsi Gabbard out – no coverage, no candidacy. Now, because she’s still in and lately told a truth that weakened the Times choice Kamala Harris, they are giving her the Bernie 2016 treatment: i.e. this candidate is outlandish, absurd, unaccountably heartless, mystical, a tool of the wicked (she points out that Syria never went to war against the US) – and possibly a Russian agent.