Israel supporters exult over Joe Biden. He wrote the Democratic Party platform himself, which removes reference to occupation, says Robert Wexler. And Kamala Harris “clearly stands in the Biden wing of the Democratic Party in terms of Israel, so I don’t know what more VP Biden could possibly do to engender the type of confidence that he has built up over four decades of being one of Israel’s strongest, staunchest supporters day in day out in every circumstance. … His pick for vice president is exactly like him in staunchly supporting Israel.”

Rep. Ted Deutch shows imbalance of US government in mideast policy. He is “frustrated” with Palestinian leaders for not recognizing Israel as a Jewish state and for demanding that Jerusalem be the capital of a future Palestinian state. But as for criticizing Israel, Deutch says he raises “concern” about Netanyahu’s annexation plans out of “love” for Israel.

“I am proud to support Vice President Biden, and that’s in large part because I know that he stands where I stand on the importance of strengthening the US Israel relationship,” Rep. Ted Deutch tells the American Jewish Committee. But he didn’t mention Israel when he endorsed Biden in March. He knows that’s a special interest.

Republicans are trying to paint Democrats as the anti-Israel party. Not to worry. Rep. Jan Schakowsky sounded a lot like an old segregationist when she said that equal rights for Palestinians is a bad thing. In one state, “equal rights and equal votes for all” would mean that “in short order the Jewish population would be in the minority, and Israel as a Jewish state would cease to exist.”

Israelis are the innocents, while Gaza militants are “terrorists” in countless statements about the weekend’s violence from U.S. Democrats and liberal Zionist groups. That makes Bernie Sanders’s call for an “evenhanded” policy and concern about human rights violations in Gaza remarkable for political courage. Sanders says he has been “criticized over and over again” for his stance.