by Jonathan S. Tobin
Much of the House Democratic caucus revolted at the idea of a resolution condemning anti-Semitism, even if it didn't name Omar. They embraced Omar's claim that she was the victim in this drama.
Back
in November, I wrote that the election of radicals like Reps.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) and
Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) wouldn't have much impact on the U.S.-Israel
relationship. I reasoned that the trio of newly elected radicals would
be backbenchers without power or influence, while the Democratic
leadership of the House remained solidly pro-Israel and friends of the
Jewish community.
But as the events of the last week have
shown, I was wrong about that, especially in thinking that Democrats
would speak out specifically against anti-Semitism if a member of their
caucus acted as Omar has done.
Yet now that it has happened, I wouldn't be surprised if their faithful Jewish Democratic supporters simply shrug it off.
The Democratic Party as a whole is shifting
to the left. But with the bulk of Democrats, especially officeholders,
still reliably pro-Israel, there could be no comparison between it and
Britain's Labour Party, which under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn has
been captured by anti-Semitic radicals.
But while the Democrats are not yet the
moral equivalent of Labour, there can no longer be any doubt that AOC,
Omar and Tlaib are far from powerless. Indeed, they have not only
intimidated the Democratic leadership but also demonstrated their
ability to rally much of the party, including leading presidential
candidates, around the cause of defending Omar from facing any
consequences for her anti-Semitic hate. This feat calls into question
not only the future of a bipartisan consensus on behalf of Israel but
also the future of the Democratic Party as a political home for centrist
Americans.
But above and beyond the political
implications of Omar's evading consequences for her spreading of hate,
this should shock American Jews out of any remaining complacency they
might have had about the willingness of the Democrats to stand with them
against anti-Jewish bias.
What may be even more depressing is that
most of American Jewry won't take any of this seriously or draw any
conclusions about it. That's because history has taught us that liberal
Jews will do nothing to hold the Democrats accountable for their
shocking failure.
Omar had twice before issued anti-Semitic
statements, one of which she had been forced to apologize for by House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership. But her apology and
disingenuous claim that she was unaware of the meaning of the
anti-Semitic tropes about Jews controlling the world or attempting to
buy off members of Congress were meaningless. Last week, she doubled
down on her hate by spouting off about supporters of Israel being guilty
of dual loyalty, another classic anti-Semitic trope.
Yet when some demanded action, what the
Democrats did was worse than inaction. Much of the House Democratic
caucus revolted at the idea of a resolution condemning anti-Semitism,
even if it didn't name Omar. They embraced Omar's claim that she was the
victim in this drama. Omar had singled out "Jewish colleagues" as being
guilty of targeting her and Tlaib – another serial purveyor of
anti-Semitism – for discrimination because they were Muslims. Three of
the leading Democratic candidates for president – Bernie Sanders, Kamala
Harris and Elizabeth Warren – supported these claims when, while
condemning anti-Semitism out of one side of their mouths, they also
defended Omar and opposed any specific condemnation of her hate.
House Democrats backed down in the face of
support for Omar from much of the party. Pelosi, who knew very well how
insincere Omar's previous apology had been, exonerated her of any
intentional anti-Semitism. Democrats ignored the fact that as supporters
of an anti-Semitic BDS movement, there was no doubt that the hate
espoused by Omar and Tlaib was intentional and purposeful. The claim
that their goal was to start a conversation about U.S. foreign policy or
to speak up for Palestinian human rights is a blatant lie. As BDS
supporters, their goal is Israel's destruction and to delegitimize its
Jewish supporters, not to merely initiate a debate about the peace
process. The claim that supporters of Israel are guilty of Islamophobia
is another brazen falsehood.
Equally disingenuous is the claim that the
right is as guilty of anti-Semitism as the left. The claims that U.S.
President Donald Trump and Republican members of Congress are also
guilty of anti-Semitism are bogus. There is simply no comparison to what
the Democrats are enabling and even supporting from Omar and anything
that GOP officeholders have done or said with respect to anti-Semitism.
The resolution that did pass was a joke. It
not only avoided mentioning Omar but was also turned into a laundry
list of every conceivable sort of hatred (with the sole exception of
bias against Catholics and evangelical Christians that has been
demonstrated by many liberal Democrats in recent years). It was the
moral equivalent of the response to the Black Lives Matter movement by
some, who spoke instead of all lives mattering – a stand that most
Democrats had condemned.
AOC and her leftist pals are setting the
agenda for Democrats. This will have a genuine impact on the 2020
presidential race, which has already appeared to show that Democrats
have been shifting to the left, and make it easier for attacks on Israel
and Jews to become part of the campaign.
This ought to horrify the majority of
American Jews who remain loyal supporters of the Democrats. But don't
expect many of them to take action or do anything to hold their party
accountable. In this hyper-partisan era, most liberal Jews are more
interested in defeating Trump than in confronting anti-Semitism.
Facing the truth about the state of the
Democratic Party would force them to choose between their partisan
interests and defense of the Jewish community. And that is not a choice
that most American Jews are prepared to make, even if means supporting a
party that treats anti-Semites and their enablers as rock stars. Along
with the direction of a Democratic Party that just took another step
towards being Corbynized, that is the sorriest aspect of this dismal
chapter of American Jewish history.
This article is reprinted from JNS.org.
Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS – Jewish News Syndicate. Twitter @jonathans_tobin.
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/the-democrats-failed-on-anti-semitism/
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