I would hope that both Jewish and non-Jewish Democrats, who understand that Israel is an island of tolerance and prosperity in a sea of despotism and theocracies, are concerned with a troubling trend that has arisen among Party activists. A trend that is moving in an anti-Israel and Jew hatred direction. Will Democrats rise in condemnation of the emerging face of Jew hatred among Democrat Party progressives and its new Muslim leaders? An honest assessment reveals that most of what we have seen is accommodation.
According to Pew Research surveys in 2001, 50% of Republicans sympathized with Israel over the “Palestinians”. The number has risen to 79% in 2018. While Democrats who favor Israel has dropped from 38% to 27%. This is among the rank and file.
It was about a dozen years ago that information emerged revealing that a Presidential candidate had spent 20 years attending a church led by a black-supremacists, Jeremiah Wright, who made Louis Farrakhan “Man Of The Year” and then traveled with Louis to hob knob with a megalomaniac named Kaddafi. Both of the candidate’s children were baptized by this reverend, he officiated the wedding of this candidate and the candidate titled a book after something said by the reverend. I need not extrapolate what conclusions one might draw about the character or judgment of the candidate after years of an intimate and long-standing affiliation. But what I can say is that it didn’t move Democrats to hesitate. No one in leadership seemed to think it was significant. I might add that the President’s employ of Al Sharpton, who incited the only American pogrom in Crown Heights, as an advisor on race sent a message about what was permissible in the Party.
So how about leadership? Has leadership reflected the trend or stood up to lead in a pro-Israel anti-hate direction?
I will not tell you the candidate is necessarily a bigot or Israel hater. But I am 100% sure that had it been a Republican candidate attending the church of a white supremacists he could never have been nominated, let alone won the Presidential election.
Not one Republican office holder has ever met with, let alone made excuses for Farrakhan’s half-century history of virulent anti-Semitism; hate for America and white people. Meanwhile six Democrat members of Congress met and celebrated with good old Louis. Former Congressman and Deputy Chairman of the Democrat Party, Keith Ellison has a history of making nice with the man of hate. Now we find that Congresswoman Tlaib wrote an article for Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam’s Final Call. And amazingly a photo of that same now former President smiling alongside Louis saw the light of day only after he had left office.
Low and behold we are now privileged to listen to the musings of Ellison’s Congressional District successor up close and personal. Golly gee, she Tweets century old anti-Semitic tropes about money and loyalty. Has Party leadership called out Ms. Omar? Nope. Omar’s fellow socialists freshmen excuse her hateful remarks. And most depressing of all Pelosi, Harris, Sanders and Booker discredit themselves by making excuses for Madame Omar’s clear and present anti-Semitism.
My dear liberal friends, this is not your father’s liberal Democratic Party. Progressive cultural revolutionaries have purged the likes of Joe Lieberman and Alan Dershowitz. These liberal former icons are out of step with the revolution. Like revolutionaries in China and the Soviet Union, they rewrite history to fit their ideological needs. They swim in a cesspool of resentment, class warfare, enviousness and identity politics.
The most troubling aspect is the silence and accommodation of Party elders. They avert their eyes or pretend that the obvious is unclear.
How was I able to discern the anti-Semitic leadership of the “Woman’s March” in real time. A quick Google search about Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory revealed their disturbing histories. Yet delegations of Jewish woman donned ugly red caps and gleefully cheered under the banner of anti-Semites Sarsour and Mallory.
What’s the saying about the people we choose to associate with? I tried to connect these dots at a meeting of a pro-Israel group. Understandably the organizations leaders did not want to antagonize Democrat donors. But shouldn’t the Democrats in the organization be the most disturbed that the Party they claim loyalty to has moved so far astray from liberalism? One would think so. But reflection and insight are commodities in short supply among revolutionary progressives young and old.