Changing the Israel conversation among Democrats
Changing the Israel conversation among Democrats
Democratic National Committee Deputy Chair Keith Ellison (AP/David Zalubowski)
The deep rifts in American society, including attitude towards Israel, predate President Donald Trump and were exacerbated during the eight years of the Obama administration.
By: Daniel Krygier, World Israel News, January 25 2018
Israel used to enjoy bipartisan support in the US. However, America has changed. According to a fresh PEW survey, 79 percent of Republicans sympathize with Israel compared to only 27 % among Democrats. This is the widest gap in support for Israel since 1978, when 49% of Republicans and 44 % of Democrats favored Israel over the PLO.
Israel is increasingly becoming a divisive issue in the Democratic party, with 25% of Democrats supporting the Palestinian Authority. This is nearly the same number as those who support Israel. By contrast, only six percent of Republicans sympathize with the Palestinians.
The changing attitude towards Israel among Democrats is part of the wider demographic and social changes in American society. For decades, US university campuses have been centers of leftist ideological indoctrination, which preaches that Israel is a colonial state, a narrative that groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine and the BDS movement help to spread.
Consequently, it is unsurprising that the PEW report shows that young Americans with a university degree are more likely to be critical of Israel than their parents’ generation. Women also tend to be more critical of Israel than men.
Israel has developed close ties with the Trump Administration, which is very unpopular among Democrats. While the Republican Party continues to embrace traditional American values, the Democratic Party has clearly moved ideologically and politically to the left. Radical voices have moved from the periphery to the very center of the party.
In 2017, Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison was appointed Deputy Chair of the Democratic National Committee. During his law studies, Ellison was reportedly associated with the anti-Semitic organization Nation of Islam. Ellison supported the anti-Israel UN Goldstone report in 2009 and voted against funding Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system in 2014. Hostility towards Israel in the Democratic Party has become so mainstream that even long-time democrats and staunch Israel supporters like Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz are feeling increasingly uncomfortable.
Needless to say, the deep rifts in American society predate President Donald Trump and were exacerbated during the eight years of the Obama administration. Since Israel’s leadership considers bipartisan support for Israel a strategic asset for Jerusalem, Israel’s leadership needs to invest more resources in trying to rebuild its relationship with the Democratic party and its support base. This entails changing the conversation regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict and addressing the deeply entrenched misconception that the democratic Jewish state is at odds with human rights and respect for minorities.
The poll indicates to me that Jews would be advised to leave the Democratic Party and vote Republican - sort of reminds me about the Jews in Europe who ignored the rise of Hitler and didn't get out when they could.
We should remember that Israel has changed greatly, too. I grew up with the Israel of the kibbutzes, the heroic Six-Day War, and all that. Israel had the moral high ground, without any doubt. But then came Ariel Sharon, Sabra and Shatila. Israeli society lost its kibbutz ideals and is now as stratified as America... with Arabs instead of Blacks...
Dems traditionally are more idealist, while Reps are both more pragmatic and more receptive to social stratification... so it's easy to understand the slide in approval ratings.
"with Arabs instead of Blacks..." Really? Please tell us about your experiences in Israel that establish that opinion.
“If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain.” (Winston Churchill)
"Ve get too soon oldt undt too late schmart"
Oh c'mon, Buzz... that kind of throwaway phrase is necessarily approximate. I wouldn't push the parallel very far... and at the same time, I hope you'd recognize that Israeli Arabs are also second-class citizens.
No more than any minority is here - they have all the same rights and privileges, serve as members of the Knesset, on the Supreme Court, the right to vote, etc. They don't have to sit at the back of buses, drink from separate water fountains, can sit at diner counters and be served, are treated in hospitals no different than anyone else, practise professions such as Medical Doctors, study in all universities, can freely practise their own religion....
How's the exodus from France going?
You didn't answer about your experiences in Israel - so you don't rely only on what you read or hear to form an opinion.
News flash!!! Blacks in America have just today won the right to sit anywhere on buses... to use any water fountain... to sit at any diner counter and be served... and be treated in any hospital no different than anyone else... oh wait... that was actually a few decades ago...
... but no lucid observer can say that Blacks have the same conditions as Whites. Just as no lucid observer can say that Israeli Arabs have the same conditions as Israeli Jews.
Slowing down, the last I heard... but I don't make any particular effort to follow the subject. I don't envy the Jews. They have problems no matter where they are. If French Jews think they'd be better off elsewhere, they are free to go. If I were to discuss the subject with one of them, I'd ask what the actual cases of violence have been, over the last year, in France, in Israel, in the US... But France is a free country; they may leave for a few years, to see what they prefer... and come back if they so choose. Free country...
What's your personal hang-up with France, Buzz?
We've chatted enough that you know perfectly well that I have never visited Israel. You also know that I've read a great deal about Israel. Why are you suddenly being aggressive about this?
Actually, I haven't been to France either, although I've been to Great Britain, Switzerland and Spain, so I guess I'm tainted by what I read about the Exodus from France, and I've read lots about it and about the terrorism that has been taking place there over the last few years - much of it directed towards Jews. At least I ADMIT my lack of first hand knowledge and form my opinions of what things are like there based on what I read and hear.
I HAVE been to Netanya, though, and seen the growth of the French community there.
Oh, I KNOW those restrictions affecting blacks no longer occur, Bob. I wasn't born yesterday, although when I was 16 I SAW the water fountain signs in a Miami department store that said "Whites only" and "Coloreds only", and was forced to come to the front of a bus when I WANTED to sit at the back, or the bus driver would not drive. I know things have changed, Bob, with benefits like Affirmative Action and "Hate Crime" legislation as examples.
There are topics for which first-hand information is useful... but not many, in international affairs. France is one-sixth of America's population, and one-tenth of the surface. Claiming first-hand information is... dubious. I can say that I probably have more knowledge about France because I read more, not because I live there.
I claim to know the Calais / immigrant problem because I read the local press every day... and because I live there several months of the year...
Do you claim to know "all about" China because you live there?
Why so upset, Buzz?
Has Gandalf ever been upset? Of course I don't know "all about" China, but I know a hell of a lot more about China than some NT members who are critical of China, notwithstanding they've never been there.
Certainly.
And some of your store of knowledge is due to your being there. Another portion of your knowledge is due to your keeping a far closer watch on "China news" than the rest of us.
Both portions have risks. Your first-hand knowledge is local, and there's a risk in generalizing to the entire country. Another person may have information that runs counter your more general knowledge .
My point being: Yes, living in a country probably means having more knowledge of it... but not necessarily to the point of "expertise"... and just visiting a country has the same risks to a much higher degree.
This is kind of drifting away from the topic of Israel's losing support from the Democrats, isn't it?
On this subject, there is a question of whether John Kerry violated the Logan Act with his discussions with one of Abbas' representatives. I wonder if anyone cares? I don't think Kerry should be speaking for our nation as he is no longer in any position within the U.S. Government.......
I hadn't said anything about Kerry advising Abbas to "Stay strong" against Trump because I didn't see a reliable source that he did. Do you have one?
Wouldn't it be considered treason if he did?