In the last week, amid an ongoing global pandemic, more than 3,100 rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have fled to bomb shelters, waiting for Palestinian aggression to subside and peace to return.
Hamas fired the first shot only days after President Biden funneled $235 million in U.S. aid to Palestine. The big lie, perpetuated by Democrats and their media allies, is that Israel plays the part of oppressor, when the Jewish state is merely defending its borders from terrorism.
How has the Left responded? Not with thoughts and prayers for Israeli victims. Nor with condemnation of Palestinian terrorism. No, the Democratic Party has responded to virulent anti-Semitic terrorism by doubling down on their own anti-Semitism—from Twitter to the airwaves.
Democrats are now inextricably linked with the Jew-hating propaganda of “The Squad.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East, an “apartheid state.” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) echoed her sentiment by condemning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the “apartheid-in-chief.” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) even went so far as to accuse Israel of committing an “act of terrorism” after launching defensive air strikes against terrorist staging points into the Gaza Strip. She made no mention of Israel retaliating after Hamas and other Islamic jihadist militants bombarded multiple locations in Israel with rockets.
But there is more than “The Squad” to blame; the liberal media is also at fault for its anti-Israel bias. After Israel retaliated against Hamas by destroying a building that housed three floors of terrorist operations, which coincidentally served as the Associated Press’s headquarters in Gaza, the AP denied the cold, hard facts. Yet the AP-Hamas link has been an open secret for years. (Even if the AP was oblivious, which is a stretch, what does that say about its reporting?)
The pro-Palestine media is also peddling the big lie that Israel is an oppressor, despite the actual opinions of Israeli Arabs, who enjoy the same freedoms as Jews in Israel. In the words of Yoseph Haddad: “Arabs like me have full equal rights and live, learn, work, and play together. Take it from me, I live it.” Haddad is a proud veteran of the Israel Defense Forces, like many Israeli Arabs.
The Biden administration is only making matters worse. Not only did President Biden restore U.S. funding for Palestinian organizations in April, but he has failed to denounce anti-Semitic terrorism in the region. Pressured by the radical Left, the president draws a false equivalence between Israeli violence in self-defense and Palestinian violence in furtherance of genocide.
Call a spade a spade: One side is defending its borders, legally and justifiably, and striking back against rockets being fired at them. The other is committing acts of terrorism.
But the Left’s big lie continues. As Democrats often preach to Republicans, words matter. Anti-Semitic rhetoric from the Left only fans the flames of anti-Semitic violence, which has increased exponentially in recent years. Last year marked the third-highest year for incidents against American Jews since the late 1970s. In March, nearly two-thirds of Jews (63 percent) admitted to experiencing or witnessing anti-Semitism over the past five years—a 10 percent increase since 2020.
“The Squad” is complicit. Democrats are complicit. They are deepening the divides between Jewish people and the rest of the population, encouraging an “us” versus “them” mentality.
Obsessed with identity politics, the radical Left embraces the “victimhood” of Palestinians and their self-ordained right to violence, at the expense of peace and democracy. This can be traced back to the Women’s March in 2018 (and earlier), when anti-Semitism delegitimized the radical Left’s entire agenda. From Louis Farrakhan to Linda Sarsour, Democrats have cozied up to rabid anti-Semites for too long, resulting in the real-world consequences of today.
The Jewish community—my community—needs to wake up. The Democratic Party, in its current iteration, does not deserve our support. No more. The anti-Semites in “The Squad” are not worthy of our votes. Last year, nearly 60 percent of American Jews voted for President Biden. Today, he effectively calls on Israelis to suck it up and allow themselves to be bombed.
American Jews need to stop sitting quietly and hoping the Democrats will stop before it gets worse. It’s time to speak up at the ballot box. Democrats should be punished for their reckless rhetoric, which seeks to undermine Israel at every step by promoting anti-Semitism.
Don’t reward the Left’s pandering at your expense. It’s time to cut the Democratic Party off from Jewish votes, Jewish volunteers, and (most importantly to them) Jewish donors.
Stand up for yourself and for America, and throw the bums out.
Dan Backer is a veteran campaign counsel, having served more than 100 candidates and PACs, including two of the largest pro-Trump super PACs. He is a member of Chalmers & Adams LLC, a political law and litigation firm.
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