Republican Congress members flip out over the removal of an extra $1 billion gift to Israel on a budget bill (that they weren’t going to vote for anyway). Activists for justice for Palestinians hail the event as “an unprecedented moment for Palestinian rights.”
A special gathering of Democratic Party House members discussed Israel-Palestine… here’s what they said.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Progressive Except Palestine? – because Israel critics turn into Israel praisers when they have political ambitions. That’s the royal road in the Democratic Party, where the Israel lobby remains an entrenched force.
Capitol Hill has for years been a no-questions-asked, pro-Israel fortress. That tide may be turning, and Israel partisans are not happy.
The good news: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib are Israel-criticizing congressional newcomers. The bad news: other Dem midterm winners join the army of Israel supporters – having vowed to keep America’s commitment to Israel “as fixed and as permanent as the sky” and “make sure that we are supporting Israel into the next generation.” In addition, some key leadership positions will be filled by pro-Israel Jews. Norman Finkelstein sees this as a sign of “a growing divide between US Jews and Israeli Jews.”
New York Times reports that a cluster of activist Democrats — most of them young, most of them cruising toward House seats this fall — has dared to breach what has been an almost inviolable orthodoxy in both political parties, strong support for Israel, raising the specter of a crack in the Democratic Party that Republicans could use to attract Jewish supporters.
A petition by Jews for Palestinian Right of Return asking New York Congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to stand by her defense of Palestinian rights…