Versus
Posted on 12/17/2023 12:36:04 PM PST by DoodleBob
Six weeks after the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, American Democrats can no longer deny that their party has an antisemitism problem which, if left unchecked, may very well split the party ahead of next year’s elections and likely for the foreseeable future.
To be sure, the Democratic Party has had to reckon with allegations of antisemitism multiple times in recent years, but this time it is wholly different, with direct implications for the party’s political viability — or even its survival in its current form.
While Israel has long been a touchy subject for progressives, the overt antisemitism we are seeing now has transitioned from protests against Israel’s right-wing government to some elected officials defending calls for Israel’s destruction.
Democrats can no longer afford to protect the antisemites in their ranks.
Indeed, in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack, Democrats are being torn apart at the seams, as the progressive left openly promotes Hamas propaganda, holds Israel responsible for the atrocities committed by Hamas, and demands that the U.S. withdraw support for Israel, noticeably avoiding calling on Hamas to release the more than 200 hostages — including Americans — being held in Gaza.
On the other side, moderate Democrats such as New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer have taken aim at the progressives’ stance, denouncing them as “despicable” and saying they “do not speak for the party.” The problem for moderates is that progressives increasingly are speaking for the entire Democratic Party.
Since Oct. 7, progressives — particularly those in the “Squad” and their allies, specifically young African American and Arab American voters — have been loudly voicing their displeasure with President Biden and the overwhelming majority of Democrats who are supportive of the Jewish state and its response to Hamas.
In one of the more extreme examples of Democrats’ growing disunity threatening to become a political catastrophe, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) — whom 22 Democrats recently voted to censure over her troubling antisemitic comments — directly threatened Biden that Arab Americans would not vote for him in 2024 over his “support for Palestinian genocide.”
Tlaib’s threat adds to those issued by progressive activists to withhold votes from President Biden in 2024 unless he accedes to their demands: “Ending U.S. support for Israel’s brutal war in Gaza” amid “Israeli ethnic cleansing and genocide.”
To that point, young voters present a unique problem for Biden and the Democrats, especially if they withhold their votes. In 2020, Biden beat Trump with voters under 30 years old by a margin of 60% to 36%, and held a 6-point advantage (52% to 46%) with voters between 30-44 years of age.
Yet, with slightly less than one year until the 2024 elections, voters under 35 now support Donald Trump over Joe Biden, 48% to 47%, per a CNN survey. Hispanic voters, another group critical to Biden’s 2020 win, are split as well, backing Biden by just a 4-point margin (50% to 46%) — despite Biden carrying this group, 65% to 32%, in 2020.
And, while there are many things that explain Biden’s declining poll numbers — inflation, a weakening economy, and the southern border crisis to name a few — concerns over the longer-term future of the Democratic Party should not be overlooked.
Compared to moderates such as Biden, progressives tend to be younger, louder, and more adept at galvanizing increasingly ideological young voters, particularly on college campuses, to rally around their antisemitic positions — with no regard for the political impact on the larger Democratic Party, which has always counted Jewish Americans among its most reliable supporters.
Foreshadowing the problems Biden and Democrats are likely to face with young voters, college campuses have turned into a haven for antisemitic movements, almost exclusively being driven by the progressive left.
George Washington University, for example, has become the epicenter of the kind of progressive antisemitism that threatens to split the Democratic Party, as progressive groups take increasingly extreme positions wildly outside the mainstream.
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) projected “Glory to our Martyrs” on the side of the university library, leading nearly 1,300 alumni — many of them Jewish and many of them Democrats — to sign an open letter to university President Ellen Granberg demanding the school protect its Jewish students.
After weeks of tiptoeing around the issue, fearful of angering progressives, the school was finally forced to act — albeit weakly — by suspending SJP from on-campus activities for 90 days, and yet even that was too much for progressives, who held a rally on campus protesting the suspension.
To date, progressives have remained silent on the growing antisemitism on college campuses, with the only condemnation of the more than 120 antisemitic incidents on campuses between Oct. 7 and Nov. 7 — compared to just 12 in the same period in 2022 — coming from Republicans and moderate Democrats.
Critically, this is not to say that the entire Democratic Party is antisemitic, as the majority have strongly supported Israel, both in its current war with Hamas and before. However, by failing to loudly declare that the far-left’s antisemitism has no home in the Democratic Party, even moderate Democrats risk being tainted by the increasingly vile antisemitism coming from the party’s left wing.
In that same vein, President Biden’s mixed messaging on his support for Israel continues to give oxygen to those within his party who are demanding a more anti-Israel stance. Immediately following Hamas’ attack, Biden made it clear that he backed Israel’s right to self-defense, “full stop,” but in the days and weeks since, Biden has pivoted to making more and more demands of Israel that restrain its ability to fulfill its two goals: rescuing the 240 hostages being held and removing Hamas from power, thus ending the threat posed by a genocidal terrorist group.
The longer Democrats allow this antisemitism to fester, the bigger of an issue it will become ahead of next year’s critical elections, and voters — both independents and even progressives — may come to feel that there is no room for them in today’s Democratic Party.
Versus
Shouldn’t that be more like “Public Knowledge of the Left’s Antisemitism Threatens Democrats in 2024 and Beyond.”
After FDR turned away a boat full of desperate Jews you would have thought Jewish Democrats would have learned . Like a dog returning to its own vomit they didn’t.
Exactly.
both independents and even progressives — may come to feel that there is no room for them in today’s Democratic Party.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
That would be the best thing that could possibly happen here in America because the sooner that organization of truly EVIL people is destroyed the better it will be for all Americans, indeed for all civilized people on the planet!
Jewish Democrats would have learned . Like a dog returning to its own vomit they didn’t.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
And that is why Jewish Democrats are in reality ALLIES of Hamas! It’s a requirement to maintain membership in that despicable party of hate.
The left has moved Jews from the ‘oppressed minority’ category to being ‘privileged whites’. And they consider Israel to be a white colonialist project. They aren’t about to change so I wonder if this leads to more Jews moving to vote and support Republicans?
It basically confirms what we already know. Those belonging to the Marxist Nationalist Rat Party (dems) are full blown racists.
They always were. Nothing has changed but the narrative.
Instead of voting 71% for Biden, it'll probably go down slightly to 65%.
Jewish News Syndicate article by Farley Weiss and Leonard Grunstein published August 30, 2023
——BEFORE the Hamas slaughter on October 7, 2023.-————
“The Democratic party must understand that American Jews can no longer be taken for granted.
A 2020 Pew study found that 75% of Orthodox Jews surveyed said they were Republicans or leaned Republican. Interestingly, a 2022 YouGov poll revealed that Republicans have a higher opinion of Judaism than Democrats. In fact, Democrats on the whole have an unfavorable view of Orthodox Judaism, while Republicans have a decidedly favorable one.”
Doubt it.
Everyone seems to think that American Jews are smart enough to see the propaganda SPRAY PAINTED on the walls of “democratic institutions”; they are not.
They will still be trying to vote for “PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS” as those same Progressive Democrats push them into the GAS CHAMBERS and CREMATORY OVENS!
“NEVER AGAIN” is difficult to apply if you “NEVER LEARN”!
No it won't.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.