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.
A bipartisan group of 68 Senators are calling on the Biden administration to stop the United Nations Human Rights Council from investigating Israel’s latest assault on Gaza and end the council’s “discriminatory and unwarranted treatment of Israel.” Among the signatories, Raphael Warnock.
Since its development the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism has been used as a cudgel to stifle and suppress Palestine activism. Recently a group of over 200 Jewish scholars published the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism, which takes direct aim at the IHRA.
A bipartisan group of Senators introduced a bill last week to advance the normalization of ties between Israel and Arab governments. The bill builds on the Trump administration’s cynical business deals with Arab governments to further their interests at the expense of the Palestinian people. It is highly doubtful the Biden administration will oppose it.
The race for the Democratic nomination to be NY’s mayor is heating up, and Israel is a big part of the discussion. Leading Democratic Party candidates for NY mayor all oppose BDS, with Ray McGuire denouncing the human rights campaign and Andrew Yang saying it’s rooted in Nazi thought. Though Shaun Donovan panders best of them all on Israel: “I have not visited Israel but I have visited both Dachau and Auschwitz.”
NY mayor candidate Andrew Yang’s statement that BDS is “rooted in antisemitic thought and history,” going back to Nazi boycotts of Jewish businesses, was a highly intentional statement aimed at capturing the NY Jewish establishment, which has rewarded anti-BDS politicians.
Racist Capitol Hill rioters brandished Israeli flags for a reason, because they admire Jewish supremacy as a guiding principle in that country. Democratic Party supporters of “Jewish democracy” who call for diversity in U.S. politics are living a contradiction that gets more glaring by the minute.
The Capitol riot is a liability to Israel’s Trump lovers. “Netanyahu’s complete identification with Trump will return like a boomerang,” says Ahmad Tibi. But Netanyahu hasn’t woken to the new reality and apparently plans to take on Joe Biden from Day 1.
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.