By Barry Shaw
NETANYA, Israel — Want to know why Israelis have little patience for Jewish Democrats?
First, none of their leaders accepted the invitation to attend the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, Israel’s capital.
Second, Bernie Sanders just agreed with Hamas that they have the right to return to Israel, which would spell the end of Israel.
Third, Dianne Feinstein endorsed the Fatah-Hamas call for a UN investigation of what happened on the Gaza border after all the delegates, except Nikki Haley and Israel had roundly condemned Israel and not Hamas.
So when Jewish Democrats wonder why Israel ignores their views on Israel or take their protests to be pro-Israel with a pinch of salt they will understand why.
These actions from their political leaders are as lame as they were when they backed the awful Obama-Kerry nuclear deal with Iran.
Or when Obama stuck the knife in Israel’s back when voting against Israel.at his final session of the UN Security Council and the Demos stayed silent.
The Demos are coming after Israel on two counts.
Our relief and massive appreciation for a president who keeps his promise and affirmatively stands with Israel is being threatened by Democrats who warn us not to get too close to Trump and stop applauding him because there could be a price to pay when they get back into power.
The other warning is that Israel had better adopt the Dems pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli, identity politics, that Israel should take measures that are against our security and strategic interests because the Dems know better and if we don’t toe their line we can expect to have our defense allocation radically cut.
The Democratic Party is swinging irrevocably to the radical left. The DNC is looking increasingly like the UK Corbyn Labour Party but with greater emphasis on gender and racial politics. Achievements and ability have less merit that what you are. Increasingly in America, identity politics is about image, not substance. It is the image that you have to support. If not, you are an alt-right racist.
This does not auger well for Israel because the Dem mantra is that Palestinians are black oppressed victims meaning their cause is automatically just and right, meaning Israel is perceived as white and powerful and therefore unjust and wrong. See my recent article ‘South Africa wrongly sees world in black and white.” The same applies, even more so, to American far left politics.
Finally, I am not prepared to be lectured to on morality by JStreet and Jewish Bernie supporters who want to teach us how to become ethical people. They are quick to lecture us with their moral superiority about our “disproportionate use of force” in “killing peaceful protesters in Gaza,” but then go quiet days later when it is shown that at least fifty three were either Hamas or Islamic Jihad terrorists.
They preach to us about Tikun Olam, their secular form of Judaism about repairing the world. Except, they don’t repair the world. They only talk about it. It is tiny Israel that actually practices Tikun Olam on a global scale.
So what is Israel to do about the Democrat warnings and threats? We Israelis should do as we always do to those who lean on us. We tell them, “Lech likfotz li.” Loosely translated, this means “Go take a jump!”
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Barry Shaw is the author of ‘Fighting Hamas, BDS, and Anti-Semitism’ and ‘BDS for IDIOTS.’ He is also the Senior Associate for Public Diplomacy at the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies