For decades, support for Israel has been one of the few issues that consistently brought Democrats and Republicans together. That seems to be coming to an end with an increasingly ambivalent – even hostile – Obama Administration in Washington and now a significantly weakened Democrat Party Platform.
Reports from the Washington Free Beacon include the following:
For Jerusalem, the new platform has been brought into line with the Obama administration’s policy of not recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and supporting its division. Jerusalem is unmentioned in the 2012 document, whereas the 2008 and 2004 Democratic Party platforms declared “Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel…It should remain an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths.” The Obama administration’s refusal to recognize Jerusalem has been a point of significant controversy in recent months.
On the issue of Palestinian refugees, the new document has removed language from the 2004 and 2008 platforms specifying that Palestinian “refugees” should be settled in a future Palestinian state, not in Israel….
Gone as well is the language from 2008 on the terrorist group Hamas, which currently controls the Gaza Strip. That platform declared, “The United States and its Quartet partners should continue to isolate Hamas until it renounces terrorism, recognizes Israel’s right to exist, and abides by past agreements.”
Shortly after release of the Platform details, Mitt Romney blasted the Democrats and Obama:
“It is unfortunate that the entire Democratic Party has embraced President Obama’s shameful refusal to acknowledge that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. Four years of President Obama’s repeated attempts to create distance between the United States and our cherished ally have led the Democratic Party to remove from their platform an unequivocal acknowledgment of a simple reality. As president, I will restore our relationship with Israel and stand shoulder to shoulder with our close ally.”
Of course the Democrats restored Jerusalem to the platform- along with God- over the objections to many in the hall, making the disaster even worse for the Democrats.
As our own Guy Benson notes:
In three separate voice votes, delegates were asked whether they supported the inclusion of God and the recognition of Jerusalem in their party's guiding policy document. Three separate times, loud shouts of "no" grew in volume and intensity. A flummoxed Chairman Villaraigosa ultimately just declared that the "ayes" had it -- even though multiple reports indicated that the consensus was nowhere hear the requisite 2/3 majority. As God and Jerusalem were inserted back into the Democratic platform, the hall exploded in boos -- a humiliating disaster for the party. The stunning video: