Like a meteorite making a flash as it touched our atmosphere and then disappearing into darkness, the story of a U.S. congressman who changed a key vote, in part, because he was attacked by leftist terrorists, came and went just like that. A flash, a streak, and then it was gone.
We shouldn't let it go.
The day after Secretary of State Marco Rubio held what he called a "Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism," Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, announced that he would switch his support for Israel by voting to strip Israel of $3.3 billion in aid.
In a press release, he explained that his about-face on supporting Israel came after he and his family, neighbors, and staff had been attacked, intimidated, and threatened by leftist political terrorists.
Smith explained that his switcheroo was a "close call." He explained that he dropped Israel funding like a hot rock in part because, "[M]y family and I have had our home vandalized, a fire has been set in my driveway, my neighbors’ lives have been disrupted by demonstrations in the middle of the night, town halls meant to be forums for dialogue have been shut down, and a staff member has been physically assaulted."
Not to be too pedantic, but the actual definition of terrorism is "the use of violence and fear to achieve a political, religious, or ideological goal."
Terrorists win.
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The left, fueled by millions of dollars trickled through a superstructure of leftist organizations, grants, walking around money, and money exchanging through anonymous GoFundMe-like websites, has kept the anti-Israel fires burning for years now. Apartheid-infused encampments on college campuses were used to literally separate Jewish students from others. Intimidation and screeching Neville Roy Singham-backed Code Pink advocates and their lot disrupted civil society and kept the anger roiling.
This was something Secretary Rubio highlighted at the State Department confab on July 6. He acknowledged that there has been right-wing violence throughout history, but noted the obvious: Most of the political violence of the last 50 years has been by leftists. Rubio said that this violence has been treated as if leftist political violence has been baked into the cake, is de rigueur, because the body politic has been conditioned to expect and accept it.
For years, this extraordinary ideological prejudice was embedded in the way we talked about political violence and extremism. It was repeated again and again, until it was accepted as the neutral and objective baseline, so entrenched – so entrenched in the mainstream conventional wisdom that it came to be regarded as an apolitical fact.
It is the reason why, here in my country, so many people in positions of power have repeatedly dismissed acts of violence and even terrorism as legitimate forms of political expression so long as they served a left-wing cause.
It is why during those George Floyd – so-called George Floyd – riots in the summer of 2020, as criminals and extremists burned and looted their way through American great – America’s great cities and nearly brought the country to its knees, city governments all across the country simply refused to prosecute the people conducting these acts of violence and terror. It is the reason for the now infamous image – and you all recall this – of a news anchor from a very prominent agency – a news anchor standing in a neighborhood consumed in flames; meanwhile the chyron on the bottom read that the protests were mostly peaceful.
This political violence, whether it's outside the Portland ICE facility; in Broadview, Orem, Utah; or outside Adam Smith's house in the Seattle area, shouldn't be tolerated by a civilized society. Rioting, calls to violence, assassination, and attacks on staff of a congressional representative are not First Amendment-protected speech.
Duh.
Duh to everyone else, but not really to Smith, who capitulated, cowered, and complained.
He was, however, willing to call the mob "illiberal."
Wow, you don't say?
Rep. Adam Smith spoke to "Breaking Points" about his issues with the left acting in "illiberal" ways.
— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) July 22, 2026
“I have been unable to hold a town hall meeting for a year because a bunch of leftists show up and scream at me and don’t let anyone else speak,” he said. “You talk about… pic.twitter.com/11FfrQ9ig9
Smith voted in favor of an amendment by Rep. Thomas Massie, (R-Ky.) stripping Israel of $3.3 billion in U.S. funding. It went down to defeat, but Smith, in a re-election battle against at least three communists, wanted to explain himself.
In addition to voting for the losing amendment for H.R. 8595, the National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2027, Smith said that he doesn't like Israel's "total war" policies against Hamas terrorists in Gaza. He highlighted Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu's "refusal to find partners for peace amongst the Palestinian people," though he understands "that Israel has to confront threats to their existence and cannot let them go unchecked."
Well, which is it?
Which one of the Hamas terrorists who inflicted the worst attacks on Jews since the Holocaust — baked babies and rape-murder anyone? — is Netanyahu expected to sit down with to have an adult conversation about peace? Would it be the one who believes Israel should not exist? That's all of them.
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If he tried, Smith could not find one rioter or attacker who would sit down with him to apologize and call off the attacks on him.
In his apologia for his vote against Israel, he said that he unequivocally supports Israel's right to exist. This is now what passes for a Profile in Courage-style stance for Democrats against the communists.
Adam Smith is running against one normie in the August 4 primary, Republican Douglas Michael Basler, and at least three wildly anti-Israel communist nutters. These candidates include former Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant, a socialist from the Independent Party; the white, head scarf-wearing "Democrat" Melissa Chaudhry, who refuses to publicly acknowledge Islam's hatred of gays and lesbians because it might upset her fellow Muslims; and Jacob Perasso, a member of the Socialist Workers Party and communist, Cuban-loving writer at "The Militant," a party organ.
The top two candidates move on to the November general election.
Smith said he took the vote to send a message to Bibi and his leftist voters in CD-9 in Washington.
Oh, his message was received loudly and clearly.
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