In a lengthy piece portraying Raphael Warnock as a progressive, the NYT leaves out the 180 he did on Israel criticism under pressure from the Israel lobby. To bring attention to Warnock’s collapse would undermine the fallacy that the Israel lobby maintains in the Democratic Party, you can be progressive except on Palestine.

Israel has become a big issue in Georgia Senate runoff race. Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock runs away from previous Israel-critical statements. He has now “condemned” BDS and indicated he would never condition aid to Israel for human rights abuses. The AIPAC-linked group DMFI has now endorsed Warnock for Senate.

A group of Republicans senators led by Arkansas’ Tom Cotton are urging the Trump administration to label West Bank goods as “Made in Israel.” A letter sent to Trump by the lawmakers was obtained by Axios. “This decision would support Israel and push back against anti-Semitism and the BDS movement,” it states.

Perpetual handmaidens of the far-right, pro-Israel groups are not simply willing to dehumanize Palestinians by stigmatizing basic empathy with their plight. Now, as the Senate run-off in Georgia shows, they are willing to sacrifice fundamental progressive goals to preserve uncritical loyalty to Israel.