Wake up and smell the chullent: Israel hasn’t been bipartisan issue for decades

There are some crazy myths running through American politics today, things like the U.S. government was behind the twin towers attack on 9/11, Barack Obama was born in Kenya (or was it the planet Vulcan), and George Bush knew that Iraq had no WMDs — he just wanted to finish the job his father didn’t. Perhaps the most ridiculous myth that is believed the most is that support of Israel is bipartisan and should remain that way. The truth is Israel, is not a bi-partisan issue and hasn’t been bipartisan for over two decades.

Last Thursday, House Democrats again proved that Democratic Party support of Israel is not strong. On the same day as the watered down Corker-Menendez Bill requiring a congressional vote on any Iran deal was passed by the Senate, 150 out of the 188 Democrats in the House of Representatives sent the president a letter supporting his flawed framework for agreement with Iran, a framework which disagrees with the understanding of the deal as published by both Iran and France. No Republicans signed the letter.

The Democratic Party response should not be a surprise when one remembers their partisan response to the invitation to Prime Minister Netanyahu to speak to Congress in March. In a partisan manner, Democrats attacked the Netanyahu visit as being partisan. Rep. Charles Rangel, who sat through the recent congressional speech by Japanese Premier Abe, said that Bibi had no right to come to Congress and criticize U.S. policy, he should stick to speaking to AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee). In 2010, when then-Mexican President Felipe Calderon spoke to a joint session of Congress and slammed Arizona’s immigration policy, Rangel was quiet; but with the Israeli premier, Rangel — along with former DCCC chair Steve Israel and most of the Democratic Party’s leadership — condemned Netanyahu’s visit, even though the visit wasn’t a matter of politics but a matter of survival.

When considering the history of the Corker-Menendez bill and reaction to the Netanyahu visit, politicians (and the media) are asking, “Are Republicans trying to make Israel a partisan issue?” The question should be, “Are the Democrats going to finally admit their love affair with Israel, which began with Harry Truman in 1948, has been over for years?”

Israel bipartisanship is a myth perpetuated by the Democratic Party in order to keep the Jewish vote, and by AIPAC, which needs to keep the donations coming from liberal Democratic Party Jews who comprise the majority of their membership.

According to a Gallup poll published in February, American support for Israel is as high today as it ever was. According to that same Gallup report, in 1989 47 percent of both Democrats and Republicans sympathized with Israel more than the Palestinians. But the opinion by party began to divide soon afterwards, as GOP support for Israel grew. Today, 48 percent of Democrats sympathize with Israel more than Palestinians while 83 percent of Republicans are on Israel’s side.

Pew Research shows a similar pattern, with Republicans sympathizing with Israel slightly more than Democrats in 1973 (49 to 44 percent) and GOP support increasing to where it now stands at 77 versus 44 percent.

But it’s the media, which has the biggest pro-Democratic Party bias, that also presents coverage which is the most anti-Israel.

During the recent Gaza war, MSNBC coverage led by Ayman Mohyeldin was decidedly anti-Israel. Even when their factual errors were pointed out, they continued to broadcast falsehoods about Israel. For example, when Israel Ambassador Ron Dermer confronted Chuck Todd who had a daily program on MSNBC at the time:

“A couple of days ago, you know, there was an attack on a hospital in Gaza and there was an attack on a refugee camp. One of your reporters actually rushed to judgment, said it was an Israeli drone. It turns out it wasn’t an Israeli drone. It was a rocket fired by Islamic Jihad. Four rockets were fired within Gaza. One of them went to the sea, one of them hit that hospital, one of them hit a refugee camp, one of them went to Ashkelon and was intercepted by Iron Dome. So it’s important after you make an allegation, I would just ask you, Chuck, and your reporter in Gaza, correct the mistake he made.’

Neither Todd nor Ayman Mohyeldin corrected the false story. That was just one of the many instances of one sided attacks on Israel seen throughout the MSNBC lineup.

Party apologist websites such as the Daily Kos and Huffington Post have become the breeding ground for anti-Israel propaganda. The Daily Kos is constantly accusing Jews of running the U.S. and pushing the country toward war. For example, Kos blogger Felipe IV posts an article with the title, “Zionist Jews are now a crowd in the Obama Cabinet,” in which Fillipe complained, “Most of the officials who will integrate [sic] the cabinet of Obama are renowned operators of the Jewish Zionist Financial lobby of New York.”

One just needs to read through the reports on CAMERA.org to realize that the Washington Post and New York Times, both “bibles” of the Democratic Party, have long track records of anti-Israel coverage.

And don’t forget that Democratic Party icons such as Jimmy Carter and Zbigniew Brzezinski are actively anti-Israel, or that Hillary Clinton was the first person associated with any presidential administration who called for a Palestinian state and (except as a senator from New York) has never been pro-Israel. Or that this Obama administration is the most anti-Israel administration since 1948.

Yet still American Jewish voters cling to the Democratic Party. Part of it is because American Jews are being lied to. Jewish Organization such as AIPAC, the ADL, AJC, etc., all claim to be non-partisan while they are all worshiping the golden calf of Democratic Party big government politics. These organizations work harder to perpetuate their Democratic Party ideals than to support their Jewish missions.

There is a fear that if Israel becomes an openly partisan issue, the Jewish State would lose the support of the Democratic Party. But that’s already happened!

Here’s a piece of political wisdom: Jews tend to turn out on election day and thus can be a very important voting block. But as long as Jewish Americans cling to the Democratic Party, the party will continue to be anti-Israel, because the Democratic Party leadership believes they can do anything they want to Israel and still keep the Jewish vote. 

Remember the 2012 DNC convention when four pro-Israel planks were removed from its platform? Only the Jerusalem plank was added back; the ones about not dealing with Hamas, no Palestinian right of return to Israel territory, and the one about Israel not returning to the pre-1967 borders, remained out of the platform. And Obama still got 70 percent of the Jewish vote.

It’s time to wake up and smell the chullent. If Jews continue to cling to an anti-Israel Democratic Party, Republican leaders will realize they cannot get blood (or votes) from a stone. Sure they believe Israel is a strong ally of the U.S., but why be enthusiastically pro-Israel if it doesn’t help get votes? Right now it helps with the evangelical community, but what happens if that religious movement shrinks? Perhaps GOP support of Israel shrinks also, leaving the Democratic Party freer to be even more anti-Israel than it is today.