Back to the Dems. Here's my pet peeve. Liberal Zionists go to Palestine, see apartheid before their eyes, then come home and say nothing about it. Rep. Andy Levin of Michigan went on a J Street trip to Israel and Palestine and was enraged by what he witnessed, in early November in the West Bank:
"Yesterday, I traveled to the southern West Bank, including the Palestinian village of Susya, which the Israeli government has destroyed twice and currently denies access to water.
"It was simply incredible. As angry as the situation made me, the resilience of the Palestinian villagers left an even stronger impression.
"Yet we watched the government utility, right before our eyes, lay in pipes right across the village's land to deliver tap water to an illegal Israeli outpost nearby."
The Israeli press and government came down on Levin. And when he spoke up for the two-state resolution last week in Congress, he said nothing about what he had seen. No, he just talked about attacks on Israelis.
"My trip left me more committed than ever to seeing, in my lifetime, a two state solution: a democratic Jewish state living in peace alongside a democratic Palestine. That is why I am here today...
"Because, make no mistake, without a two-state solution, Israel's future as a secure democratic homeland for the Jewish people will be in jeopardy. And Israelis, like the ones I visited in Netiv HaAsara, will continue to live in fear of rocket fire that gives them eight seconds to reach a bomb shelter."
These Democrats were well whipped! Here's Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston saying she's been sending young people to Israel forever:
"It is well known that the United States, all of my life, has been a strong supporter of Israel, rooted in shared national security interests, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.
I have sent to Israel young people, through the Mickey Leland Kibbutzim program, from my district for 25 years -- almost 25 years -- to develop the understanding and friendship that we continue to promote for the values of what Israel stands for."
Mickey Leland was a former civil rights activist and congressman from Houston who started a program under Clinton. It sounds a lot like the Elijah Cummings program in Baltimore to send young people to Israel.
I share MJ Rosenberg's cynicism about the Democratic position on Israel:
"Sadly, the #Democrats are historically worse on#Israel #Palestine than #Republicans. It is the Dems (Steny Hoyer, Chuck Schumer) who lead the pro-Netanyahu forces not the GOP which knows it won't get much Jewish money & hardly any Jewish votes."
The Republicans have nothing to lose by driving this wedge; they can only gain conservative Jews and maybe some big donors. The Dems have a lot to lose. The American people will only gain from the matter finally being politicized.
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