There is universal agreement that President Biden gave a very strong speech in support of Israel – and offered a few preliminary actions. In my judgment, it was the best speech he has ever given. The message was strong and clear. We can only hope the follow-up is as strong.
It was not perfect, however. His failure to address Iran is a major drawback. He did not take action to freeze the $6 billion still in Qatar banks from the hostage exchange – as has been called for from many directions. It would have hit at Iran – and he seems reluctant to do that. He did not stand for any questions from the press. Instead, mostly dodged questions rather than answering them.
But … even as Biden expressed undying support for Israel, his Democrats in Congress and elsewhere were singing off a much different song sheet. The anti-Israel faction of the Democratic Party was in full force.
The person who drew the most attention was Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. She not only expressed support for Hamas even as the atrocities on the ground were being reported, but she also posted the Palestinian flag – essentially the Hamas flag – at the door of her congressional office and proudly posed for photos alongside it.
Tlaib went even further down the path of evil. She refused to condemn the carnage in Israel. She remained silent when reporters asked her view on the murders of more than one thousand innocent men, women, and children – of rapes and beheadings – as she walked down the hallways of Congress. Asked if she did not care about Jewish lives, Tlaib remained silent – scurrying away from a reporter and shielded by a staffer.
It is an easy question to answer no matter your view on the larger issues, no one … NO ONE … can morally remain silent in the face of such grotesque atrocities when silence means approval. But Tlaib could.
I have never been in favor of kicking folks out of Congress. That is for the people to decide. But I do believe that Tlaib should be condemned by resolution and stripped of her committee assignments.
What is even more disturbing is that so many of the Democrat leaders and members of Congress remained silent over Tlaib’s un-American position. I say “un-American” because Tlaib has set herself in total opposition to American policy on the issue of Israel and the war as laid out by the President of her own party.
When asked to respond about Tlaib, such leaders as former Speaker Nancy Pelosi had no comment. South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn had no comment. Others merely said that Tlaib has a right to her opinion. If there were any voices of condemnation, they did not appear in the newscasts – although there seems to have been some backlash on Capitol Hill. No condemnation from the White House.
The Democrat members of what can be described as the anti-Israel caucus (aka The Squad) have not been so silent. Virtually all of them have expressed anti-Israel and antisemitic comments before and during their service in the House – even to condemn the killing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard terrorist commander. They opposed Biden’s arm sales to Israel. After the attack on Israel, several repeated anti-Israel tropes. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) held a rally in New York City in support of the Hamas attack – a town with a large Jewish population. Members of Congress who are also members of the DSA include Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush, Ilhan Omar, Jamaal Bowman, and Greg Casar.
But the Democrats’ anti-Israel sentiment is reflected in their leftwing grassroots supporters. The nations academics are overwhelming leftwing Democrats – and antisemitism is prevalent in both the faculties and the student bodies they indoctrinate. Following the vicious attack on the people of Israel by barbaric Hamas terrorists, 30 – count them, 30 — Harvard campus organizations signed a joint communique blaming Israel. It was titled the “Joint Statement by Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups on the Situation in Palestine.”
The coalition included the African American Resistance Organization, Amnesty International, Arab Society, Asian American Women’s Association, Black Students Association, Black Women’s Health Collective, Coalition for a Diverse Harvard, College Democrats, College Events Board, College Republicans, Divest Harvard, Environmental Action Committee, First Generation Harvard Alumni, Harvard African Students Association, Harvard Bhangra, Harvard Black Law Students Association, Harvard Black Men’s Forum, Harvard Islamic Society, Harvard Jews for Liberation, Harvard Latinx Student Alliance, Harvard Minority Association of Pre-Medical Students, Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee, Harvard Progressive Jewish Alliance, Harvard South Asian Association, Harvard Undergraduate Legal Committee, Harvard Women in Computer Science, Indigenous Peoples Rights Club, Korean Association of Harvard College, Muslim Students Association and the Progressive Jewish Alliance.
I thought it was important to name them all. It has been reported that some have withdrawn their signature because of the backlash. It is unlikely that any of these groups will be disbanded by Harvard as hate groups. The left does not hate its own hate groups.
It is interesting to note that the leftwing antisemitism is found in both the campus Democrat and Republican organizations. It includes a number of groups that claim to have Jewish membership. And there are a number of Black originations, suggesting that the historic tension between Jews and Blacks has moved from the urban neighborhoods to the campuses. This is also seen in the expression of support for Hamas from Black Lives Matter – a grifter racist organization that has misused millions of dollars of donations for the personal enrichment of the leadership.
The fact that the Harvard statement includes Blacks, Native Americans, Asians and Indian groups suggests that the Democrats attempt to cobble together “people of color” as a group is not producing the best results in terms of race and cultural hatred.
The leftwing media protects the Democratic Party by not covering – or minimally covering (with spin) — the facts and examples of the deeply embedded antisemitism in the Democratic Party. In fact, the most leftwing Democrats in cable news – mostly on MSNBC – engaged in anti-Israel reporting even as missiles were falling on the people of Israel. It was so bad that one Jewish guest angrily ask if Hamas was writing their scripts.
There are – and have long been – racist and antisemitic fringe groups, but they are small in number and exist apart from the major institutions of government. Democrat antisemitism flourishes in the core of government, in the media and in America’s educational institutions. If I were Jewish, that would concern me a lot. The antisemitism of Hitler and his Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (Nazi Party) were relatively insignificant until they gained power through the levers of government and control of the media.
It is certainly legitimate to have policy differences with the State of Israel, but the wave of pro-Palestinian (Hamas) support – a group that wants to wipe Israel off the map and exterminate Jews – has become virulent antisemitism.
So, there ‘tis.