The erosion of support for Israel among a small but vocal contingent of Democrats is bad for the party, bad for the Jewish state and bad for America. Hopefully a new outfit, known as Democratic Majority for Israel, can get things back on track.
Once upon a time, support for the Zionist project — a safe, independent homeland for a religious minority persecuted throughout the ages, and almost extinguished in the Holocaust — was stronger in the Democratic Party than in the GOP. Harry Truman had the guts and good sense to ignore the advice of his own Secretary of State, George Marshall, and recognize the newborn Jewish state.
It was Republicans, where isolationism and Big Oil hold more sway, who for years kept Israel at arm’s length.
At least in part, the dynamic is flipping. Some Democrats, seeing only a robust Israel and weak Palestinians, are siding with the Arabs in the ancient dispute.
Their sympathy for a disenfranchised group is understandable. Their criticism of Israel is oftentimes legitimate. Their willingness to pretend Hamas’ goal is anything other than the eradication of Israel is dangerously naive.
The arrival of freshmen Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, the first members of Congress to back the insidious and borderline anti-Semitic boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel, demands that Democrats who know better step up and be counted.
Bronxite Eliot Engel, as pro-Israel a member of Congress as they come, now chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee and will be setting the tone. His fellow Democrats would be wise to follow him.
— New York Daily News