by Herb Keinon
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer will bring a large delegation of freshman Democrats to Israel on Monday on a trip Democrat leaders hope will dent the perception that the party is anti-Israel.
Amid all the noise being generated by freshman congresswomen Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who are harshly critical of Israel, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer will bring a large delegation of freshmen Democrats to Israel on Monday on a week-long trip that Democrat leaders hope will dent the growing public perception that the party no longer supports the Jewish State.
And while an anti-Israel perception may not hurt Democrats in solidly left-wing Democratic districts with few Jewish voters like the one Tlaib represents in Detroit, 39 of the party's 62 freshman member flipped their districts from Republican to Democrat in 2018, and in some of those districts coming across as hostile to Israel – a perception that could be created by pointedly refusing to take part in one of these trips on ideological grounds – could be an electoral or campaign funding liability, not an asset.
These trips are sponsored by the American Israel Education Foundation (AIEF), a charitable foundation affiliated with AIPAC, and are organized in August of every off-election year for new congressmen, many whom have never been to Israel before.
Hoyer will be leading the Democratic group that will arrive on Monday, and will be joined by Hakeem Jeffries, the chair of the House Democratic Caucus. The presence of those two party leaders is an indication of the importance the party leadership attributes to the trip.
A Republican group is set to arrive on Friday, led by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
The two groups will overlap for two days, and hold a joint press conference next Sunday. While the number and names of those on the trips are being held as a closely guarded secret by the organizers, these are expected to be among the largest ever delegations.
There are presently 62 freshman democrats and 36 first-term Republicans. The last time there was such a big freshman class was 2011, and in August of that year 81 representatives – or nearly one-fifth of the House of Representatives – came to Israel. The number of representatives who will be in the country this month is expected to be close to that.
Herb Keinon
Source: https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Democrats-to-arrive-hope-to-combat-impression-party-is-anti-Israel-597627
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