Politico is one of those publications that occasionally has a decent piece on any political issue that doesn’t comport with liberal America’s reality, so the left slams it as a conservative rag. The publication is decidedly liberal, but they did cover an underbelly of the Democratic Party that is about to crack over the recent Israel-Hamas war. Jewish and Muslim voters are cornerstones of the Democratic Party in crucial parts of the country, especially around the Rust Belt and New York City. These voters sustain a lot of local Democratic Party machines, and there’s been a split with the horrific October 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas that left over 1,200 civilians dead.
This attack was beyond a simple car bombing. It was a multi-pronged invasion involving 1,000 terrorists who entered Israel by land, sea, and air. They murdered any Israeli in sight, burned alive others, raped women, beheaded babies, and kidnapped scores more. The level of brutality has been unprecedented, though there have been pro-Hamas rallies everywhere since the war began.
Raping young girls, beheading babies, and setting them on fire is indefensible. Still, the far left’s endorsement and celebration of the killings has led to a moral reckoning on the left, with some Democrats risking sustained verbal abuse from terrorist-sympathizing elements within their own party for supporting Israel and her right to retaliate against these ghastly genocidal attacks. The pro-Hamas rally in Times Square last weekend was the lightning rod (via Politico):
A pro-Palestinian rally … in Times Square endorsed by the city chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America ensnared prominent party members amid widespread condemnation of the event.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and other leading Democrats blasted the rally as “abhorrent and morally repugnant” and drew a dividing line with far-left members of the party — including New York Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman, who denounced the attacks and called for a ceasefire but didn’t take a stand on the rally.
[…]
Mainstream Democrats were quick to call out anything less than unequivocal support for Israel.
“The NYC-DSA is revealing itself for what it truly is: an antisemitic stain on the soul of America’s largest city,” Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres wrote on X. “There is a special place in hell for those who glorify the cold-blooded murder of civilians and children.”
“The Squad” members, which includes members of Democratic Socialists and who have long supported Palestinians, were knocked by Republicans and some members of their party for not noting Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks.
[…]
The New York Democratic Socialists of America is the largest chapter of the national organization, but it did not appear to organize the rally. No leading DSA members were seen in attendance.
The party said the rally was aimed at showing “solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right to resist 75 years of occupation and apartheid.”
But other House Democrats rebuked their message.
“Hamas terrorists massacred hundreds of Israeli civilians, including women and children. They took dozens more hostage, including Holocaust survivors and American citizens,” Hudson Valley Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan wrote on X.
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The Democrats were a mess over how to respond to these “kill all the Jews” rallies that bubbled up across college campuses and other cities. It’s disturbing how many terrorist-loving activists live among us, but the blasé attitude toward the beheading and burning of babies is jarring. Many on the pro-Hamas side think this was propaganda and lies; there are photos.
Matt Duss, a former foreign policy adviser to Bernie Sanders, had a sane and rational take from someone on the left on this issue, which is that even if you consider what’s going on between Israel and Palestine an occupation, it never justifies the raping, killing, and kidnapping of civilians. From there, well, there might be disagreements on how to solve this millennia-old debacle of peace in the Holy Land.
Duss, who was also on Bill Maher’s “Real Time” on HBO last Friday, was unequivocal in his condemnation of the Hamas attacks but said that we cannot escape the truth that both people need to share this land. Duss seems and probably is critical of current US policy, which he feels has often bottled up the Palestinian issue and disregarded it.
Maybe. But Jews are native to this land, too. They’re not invaders, occupiers, or colonizers. The right of return will never be accepted, so where do we go? Unfortunately, these long-term discussions loaded with nuance and extensive analysis cannot happen because Hamas, elected in the 2006 elections in Gaza and then took it over by force a year later, doesn’t want that debate. They want to destroy Israel and have trained for years to achieve that end with Iran’s help. And there is a blockade of Gaza, among other things, because it’s become a jihadi hellhole since the enactment of the 2005 disengagement plan.
The larger context is there on this matter, and it will always be. But, for now, the number one agenda item is eliminating Hamas from Gaza since no dialogue can ever happen with them at the table. You cannot reason with someone who feels you don’t have a right to exist. That cannot happen.
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