According to exit polls conducted by Pew Research Center and CNN, in last week’s midterm election 79% of Jewish voters chose a Democratic candidate, and only 17% voted for Republicans. Thus, by voting heavily Democratic and helping to elect at least 35 or more new Democrats to the House of Representatives, Jewish America helped to significantly expand the power of the anti-Semitic, anti-Israel wing of the Democratic Party and put many of the worst offenders in key leadership positions. With their heavily Democratic Party vote, Jewish America may have committed Jewicide.
New York’s 14th district, which consists of the eastern Bronx and parts of north-central Queens, elected Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who became a media darling after she defeated incumbent Joe Crowley. Ocasio-Cortez claims that Israel is “occupying” Palestine, saying, “I also think that what people are starting to see at least with the occupation of Palestine is the increasing crisis of humanitarian condition. And that to me is where I tend to come from on this issue.”
Ocasio-Cortez has said Israel deserves to defend herself, but using Al Jazeera as her source in May she tweeted about the Friday afternoon Hamas attempts to storm the Gaza border:
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
This is a massacre.
I hope my peers have the moral courage to call it such.
No state or entity is absolved of mass shootings of protesters. There is no justification. Palestinian people deserve basic human dignity, as anyone else.
Democrats can’t be silent about this anymore. https://t.co/wJGATOtDsR
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 14, 2018
Interestingly, Ocasio-Cortez has made those statements despite also admitting not to understand the geopolitics of the area.
The new congressional representative in N.Y.-19th district is Antonio Delgado. Delgado was supported by anti-Israel group J-Street and made a statement during a debate that Israel was not a democracy.
I said it is not a Jewish democracy. Meaning that given the fact that we have settlements currently in the region, it is not deemed a nation of Jewish democracy until we deal with the settlements. Until we deal with the settlements we will have that issue.
Delgado obviously missed the fact (or doesn’t care) that all citizens of Israel have the right to vote no matter what their background.
The winner in Michigan’s 13th district, Democrat Rashida Tlaib, is also not a fan of the Jewish State. After her primary win, she told “In These Times” that she no longer believed in the two-state solution, “One state. It has to be one state.” In other words, she wishes to load Israel with Muslim Palestinians so they can vote the Jewish state out of existence. To celebrate her win at her victory party, Tlaib wrapped herself in a Palestinian flag.
This is History. Watch every second of this.
Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian and Muslim American congresswomen, proclaims victory.
Share widely, and be inspired. #ElectionNight pic.twitter.com/oP7qWJyHJK
— Khaled Beydoun (@KhaledBeydoun) November 7, 2018
The winner in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional district is Democrat Ilhan Omar. In 2012, Omar tweeted that Israel had “hypnotized the world” to ignore its “evil doings.”
Wow, Jews have the power of hypnotism. Wait, if that’s true how come I can’t get my kids to clean their room?
Defending that tweet during the 2018 election season, Omar said that calling attention to the “Israeli apartheid regime” was not anti-Semitic. That might make good campaign fodder, but her description of Israel as apartheid is anti-Semitic and so is her support of the BDS movement.
These are just some of the new Democratic Party congressional members with problematic backgrounds on Israel and other Jewish Issues. There are many others, but covering them would require too much space.
Now that they will have the majority in the House, Democrats will occupy the powerful chairmanships of congressional committees. Many of these new chairmen have anti-Israel and/or anti-Semitic tendencies including:
Adam Smith (Wash.-9) Armed Services Committee: In 2014 he supported Israel’s right to defend herself and was an opponent of the anti-BDS legislation. His 2018 platform, however, supports the UN resolution demanding an end to” illegal Israeli settlements” in the West Bank. The Israeli government must also end the blockade of Gaza and cease developing settlements on Palestinian land. He also introduced a one-sided bill to “prohibit U.S. assistance to Israel from being used to support the military detention, interrogation, or ill-treatment of Palestinian children in violation of international humanitarian law. Nowhere does he mention the terrorism out of Gaza or the reason the Palestinian children may have been arrested.
Maxine Waters, Financial Services Committee (CA-43): Earlier this year a video was released of Waters embracing Louis Farrakhan. Asked multiple times whether she still supports the anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader, Waters refuses to answer. At a 2012 luncheon, Waters announced her belief in one of the anti-Semitic canards, saying she won’t take money from AIPAC because it has too much power over Congress.
Jim McGovern, Rules Committee (Mass.-2): McGovern supported Barack Obama’s 2017 abstention from a UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements and wants Israel to negotiate with Hamas despite Hamas’s continued acts of terrorism and refusal to recognize Israel. He also claimed that Benjamin Netanyahu’s March 2015 speech to Congress in protest against the Iran deal was meant as a deliberate slight against Barack Obama.
Other reelected Democrats whose seniority will place them in positions of power include:
James Clyburn (S.C.-6), who is part of the Democratic caucus leadership, shared a stage with Louis Farrakhan in 2011. After Jewish organizations criticized Clyburn for taking part in an event with Farrakhan, the South Carolina Democrat brushed off their criticisms. Clyburn told “Final Call” — a Nation of Islam publication — that he was “not bothered in the least bit” by the objections.
Danny Davis (Ill.-7) received 88% of the total vote in his district despite the fact that he too is a friend of the anti-Semitic Farrakhan. “The Daily Caller” reported that “Davis went on the record twice to defend and praise Farrakhan.” He called Farrakhan an “outstanding human being” and says he regularly visits Farrakhan, including at home. Davis has also said he wasn’t bothered by Farrakhan’s answer to “the Jewish question.” In other words, his anti-Semitism.
The examples above represent only a few out of the many Democrats in power who are either supporters of Farrakhan (21 members of the Congressional Black Caucus) or fans of the anti-Semitic Linda Sarsour. Among those who have shared platforms with her are Jerrold Nadler, Nydia Velasquez, Brad Sherman, Mike Quigley, Al Green, Robin Kelly, Jamie Raskin, and Donald McEachin.
Additionally, there are Democratic members of Congress who are generally supporters of Israel except when it’s politically expedient not to be, like Adam Schiff (Calif.) and the aforementioned Nadler, who supported the Iran deal to earn Barack Obama’s favor.
Making matters worse is the attitudes of the Democratic Party leaders. I’m not suggesting that the Democratic leader of the Senate, Chuck Schumer, or the probable next speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, support the anti-Semitic, or anti-Israel positions held by many in their caucuses. But they haven’t rebuked the Democrats who take those positions. They were silent during the eight years of the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel Obama administration and have not criticized today’s anti-Israel or anti-Semitic members of Congress. Their public silence gives the impression of consent.
Jewish organizations in America will tell you that it is important not to make Israel a wedge issue between the two parties, but keep in mind that most of those Jewish organizations swear their allegiance to progressive politics before their loyalty to the Jewish people. How can support of Israel not become a wedge Issue when one of the parties is laden with anti-Semites and people who do not support the Jewish State of Israel?
Cross posted at The Lid
