Ties Between Jews, Democratic Party Face New Pressures

[question everything]

(snip)

Though the vast majority of Democratic elected officials remain pro-Israel, and there is no evidence that more Jews are signing up en masse to support Trump’s re-election, the rising tension threatens to introduce a divisive fracture on the left going into 2020. For the first time, several members of Congress, all Democrats, are publicly supporting a movement called BDS, to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel over its treatment of Palestinians. One of them, Rep. Ilhan Omar, earlier this month criticized “people who push for allegiance to a foreign country,” a comment widely viewed as invoking an anti-Semitic trope that Jews aren’t loyal to their home country.

MoveOn, a progressive activist group, called on presidential candidates to boycott this week’s annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which is closely allied with the Israeli government. At least six Democratic contenders, including Sens. Sanders, Kamala Harris, and Elizabeth Warren, said they would do so. Republicans have sought to take advantage of the discord. Speaking at the Aipac conference on Monday, Vice President Mike Pence said Democrats had been “co-opted by people who promote rank anti-Semitic rhetoric.”

A mass exodus to the Republican party is unlikely: The Pew Research Center found that 79% of Jews backed Democrats for Congress last year, the most lopsided margin of any religious group, while a Gallup poll showed 71% disapproved of Trump’s job performance. Mr. Trump has been accused of using anti-Semitic tropes on Twitter, an allegation he has denied. Still, some Jews are now questioning how enthusiastic they should be in supporting the party with which they agree on most economic and social issues.

“The Democratic Party is still my home, but for the first time in my life, I think it’s possible that it will not be my home at some point in the future,” said Amanda Berman, a 33-year-old lawyer. She said criticism of Israel has become a litmus test in many progressive organizations. After a woman was kicked out of a 2017 LGBT march in Chicago for carrying a flag with a Jewish Star of David on it, Ms. Berman founded The Zioness Movement, a group to advocate for progressive zionists. She fears what has happened to the Labour Party in the U.K.—which several members of Parliament quit this year, saying the party had become anti-Semitic—could occur with Democrats.

More..

https://www.wsj.com/articles/alliance-between-jews-democrats-faces-new-tests-11553605202 (paid subscription)

[Mosby]

1. yup.

[still_one]

2. Yes, and Speaker Pelosi made that clear when she spoke to AIPAC

[Behind the Aegis]

3. Almost a bit of an understatement.

While I don't think Israel is a huge wedge issue, it is becoming one in our party. It is also being used as an excuse to attack Jews and validate anti-Semitism, and it is that which is really going to affect the party. It doesn't matter how many polls show the Jewish commitment to the party are presented, one doesn't need to travel any further than here to see the vitriol and downright hatred leveled against Jews. Excuse after excuse is used including things like "intersectionality" and so-called "punching up". Basically, run over to any liberal/democratic/(but especially self-proclaimed progressives) and anti-Semitism is losing its masks and many are dropping pretenses. Anti-Semitism from the right is deadly and in-your-face, but we are being gaslighted (word of the month) into thinking discrimination and bigotry against us is nothing to "concern ourselves with", much less bother the populace at large with.

[EllieBC]

4. My new favourite response for the "anti-Zionism doesnt mean anti-Semitism"

crowd is: Usually no one has brought up Israel. A story about anti-Semitism in LA should not make you say, "BUT BUT ISRAEL! PALESTINE!".