Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls for a cease-fire, referring to the war between Israel and Hamas as a "battle of civilization against barbarians."
The "barbarians" of Hamas have supporters here in the United States, and most of them are in the Democratic Party. What makes this support so sad and tragic is that it was the Democratic Party in 1948 that led the rest of the world in advocating for the creation of the state of Israel.
In the decades since then — until quite recently — Democrats have stood behind Israel in its existential war against the anti-Semites who would destroy it and bring about another Holocaust. What happened?
Democrats were radicalized when they began to embrace their anti-Semitic left and when they began to give power to those same out-of-the-mainstream Democrats.
Now, some of the loudest voices in the party are cheering on Hamas. October 7 never happened for these Democrats. And liberal Jews — the backbone of the party in many ways — are angry and perplexed at their erstwhile colleagues.
To liberal Jews devastated by scenes of the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust, the ensuing weeks have shattered illusions of solidarity, says Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and director of the Anti-Defamation League. College students and faculty, as well as local chapters of Black Lives Matter and the Democratic Socialists of America, have justified or even celebrated Hamas’s actions, while many others have emphasized the Palestinians’ plight and criticism of Israel over sympathy for the victims of the terrorist attacks.
“It has been an incredibly clarifying and terrifying moment at the same time for many progressive Jews,” Greenblatt said. “They’re calling me, tweeting, messaging, expressing shock and sadness that the people they marched with, the causes they marched for, have abandoned them in their hour of need.”
Among the pro-Hamas wing of the party (and yes, that's what they are), there is an equal amount of disgust. They can't understand how the president can support Israel in its effort to destroy Hamas terrorists.
This is far more than a spat between partisans on two sides of an issue. This has the potential to re-order the entire party. One side believes in the myth of an Israeli occupation while the other doesn't. One side believes in a Palestinian state "From the River to the Sea" while the other knows that the creation of that state would mean the annihilation of the Jewish people.
That is no middle ground to find — a lot to ask from radicals, anyway. And compromise is impossible.
“If you are Arab-American, Muslim-American or Palestinian, you feel like you don’t matter, you feel invisible,” said Waleed Shahid, a progressive strategist and former spokesman for the Justice Democrats. “If you are advocating at all that Palestinian and Israeli lives should be treated equally, there’s a feeling that the party doesn’t care about you at all,” he said.
Congress recently passed a resolution condemning Hamas with 412 votes. Eight Democrats voted against it (GOP Rep. Thomas Massie also voted against it) while another six Democrats voted "present." One of them was Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Progressive Caucus.
She issued a statement saying, "While I still condemn Hamas’s attacks and the pain and suffering of the Jewish people everywhere, I also condemn the violations of international humanitarian law by Israel and the pain and suffering of Palestinian people everywhere that are not recognized anywhere in this resolution.”
But New Jersey Democrat Rep. Josh Gottheimer was incensed.
Last night, 15 of my Democratic colleagues voted AGAINST standing with our ally Israel and condemning Hamas terrorists who brutally murdered, raped, and kidnapped babies, children, men, women, and elderly, including Americans.
— Rep Josh Gottheimer (@RepJoshG) October 26, 2023
They are despicable and do not speak for our party.
Gottheimer has faced protests and death threats over his comments.
Sen. John Fetterman has also faced a severe backlash for supporting Israel. And Bernie Sanders is receiving threats as a result of his strong support for Israel.
Jewish Democrats have reportedly complained to Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries about comments made by Reps. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.), both of the squad, in the aftermath of the attacks. Squad members have received increased protection from Capitol Police because of a sharp escalation in threats against them in recent weeks.
Rep. Brad Schneider (D., Ill.) said that while Democrats have been mostly unified, he has been “incredibly disappointed” to see some people “who not only haven’t been able to condemn the horrific terror attack on Israel, but have celebrated it and called it resistance.” He singled out Tlaib for refusing to retract her statement blaming Israel for an explosion at a Gaza hospital that Israel and the U.S. say was caused by an errant rocket fired from Gaza (a Wall Street Journal video analysis supports that claim).
The divide has always been there. What's changed is that now, with the stakes so high for Israel, the differences can't be swept under the rug. And bringing those differences over Israel out into the open will inevitably shine a light on other differences, exacerbating them and separating the two sides even further.
Related: New York's Famed 'Right-to-Shelter' Law Fraying Around the Edges
We shouldn't expect a complete break-up of the Democratic Party. But personal and working relationships will be disrupted and some of them destroyed. And on the issue of Israel, the party may be hopelessly — and permanently — split.
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