Democratic criticism of Israel show their party is increasingly illiberal and left-wing.
If there was ever any doubt that the Democratic Party is no longer a center-left party, but increasingly, a far-left “progressive” party, that doubt was erased in recent weeks by the reaction of Democratic pols to Israeli self-defense efforts in Gaza.
New York City Democratic Mayoral candidate Andrew Yang, for instance, was forced to walk-back his support of Israel after his remarks caused an uproar on the campaign trail.
What did Yang say that ignited the furor?
I’m standing with the people of Israel who are coming under bombardment attacks, and condemn the Hamas terrorists. The people of N.Y.C. will always stand with our brothers and sisters in Israel who face down terrorism and persevere.
Such a comment, 35 years ago, when Ed Koch was mayor, would have been standard fare and utterly unexceptional. Koch, after all, was a Democrat, a proud Jew, and an unabashed supporter of Israel.
Not so the new breed of “progressive,” left-wing pols who, increasingly, dominate the Democratic Party in New York and beyond.
Leftists Attack Israel. Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), for instance, have been outspoken in their criticism of Israeli self-defense efforts in Gaza.
Ocasio-Cortez condemned what she calls Israel’s “occupation of Palestine,” while denouncing Yang for his “utterly shameful” statement of support for the Jewish state.
Sanders, meanwhile, blasted the government of Israel for allegedly cultivating and legitimizing “an increasingly intolerant and authoritarian type of racist nationalism” to oppress the Palestinians.
Ocasio-Cortez is rumored to be mulling a 2022 primary challenge to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York). So it is telling that she apparently sees no political downside to loudly beating the drums against Israel.
It is also telling that, last week, Schumer signed onto a Congressional call for a ceasefire—apparently because he takes seriously the threat of being primaried by Ocasio-Cortez.
Rise of the Left. Schumer has reason to worry. Ocasio-Cortez, after all, was a little-known 28-year-old bartender and organizer for the Democratic Socialists of America when she knocked off 10-term incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley in the 2018 Democratic Party primary.
Two years later, another leftist, Jamaal Bowman, upset 16-term incumbent New York City Rep. Eliot Engel in the 2020 Democratic Party primary.
“Jamaal Bowman proves Ocasio-Cortez was no fluke,” reported the Times. His election
looks more like an indicator than an anomaly: He is one of three younger, insurgent Democrats in New York who seem poised to tilt the state’s, and the party’s, congressional delegation further to the left.
So-called progressives “want the Democratic Party to rethink its relationship fundamentally with Israel,” reports National Public Radio.
“At least half [of the Democrats in Congress] are hostile to Israel,” while the other half of the party’s Congressional caucus is “afraid of those who are hostile to Israel,” explained Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky).
The Future. The far left hasn’t yet forced the United States to renounce its steadfast ally, Israel. President Biden has been careful to say that Israel has a right to defend itself while also urging the Jewish state to recommit to the so-called two-state solution.
However, given the political currents and the current political trajectory, we may only be a few election cycles away from the break with Israel that the progressive left demands.
“We are seeing the rise of a new generation of activists who want to build societies based on human needs and political equality,” Sanders exults.
“We saw these activists in American streets last summer in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. We see them in Israel. We see them in the Palestinian territories.”
“With a new president, the United States now has the opportunity to develop a new approach to the world—one based on justice and democracy.”
Feature photo credit: Three of the most anti-Israel members of Congress: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont), and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota), courtesy of Robert J. Hutchinson.