By Bruce S. Ticker
PHILADELPHIA — “Silence is complicity.”
By his own standards, President Biden undermined his expansive project to confront antisemitism in America that he introduced last Wednesday, and 15 days before that he ignored an opportunity to directly take on an act that threatens the Jewish community.
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat, hosted an observance of Nakba Day on Capitol Hill to reflect the Arab world’s failure to wipe out Israel 75 years ago and introduced a resolution to commemorate the day and reduce defense funding for Israel.
The Arabs call it Nakba Day since “Nakba” is the Arabic word for “catastrophe.” When Israel survived the attack by five Arab countries in 1948, an estimated 750,000 Arabs moved to nearby countries where they were left in the lurch ever since. In other words, the Arabs created the problem and they present these refugees as victims produced by Israel.
Neither Biden nor other Democrats in Congress repudiated Tlaib, as they fell into silence on many other occasions when Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and other Democratic representatives bashed Israel without respect for facts.
Democrats likely avoided criticism of Tlaib and company because they fear losing votes from the far left, but when Tlaib mouths off unchallenged her words can readily incite violence against Jews.
“We must say clearly and forcefully that antisemitism and all forms of hate and violence have no place in America,” says Biden. “Silence is complicity.”
If Democrats maintain “silence” in such instances, how can Biden’s plan accomplish anything?
Maybe it will be effective after all. The 60-page document lists more than 100 recommendations across the government and many outside groups. It covers such tactics as increased security funding to a range of educational efforts, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports. The White House consulted with more than 1,000 experts, including those at large Jewish organizations.
All the same, so long as Biden and Democratic governors and members of Congress are silent, they are complicit. Their silence emboldens the pro-Arab forces to not only bash Israel but also persist in persuading racial minorities here that their cause coalesces with the Palestinian cause.
If that is true, our racial minorities seek to eliminate the American government and drive all white people into the sea. Of course, that is not the case. Many Palestinians want to destroy Israel. Social justice is hardly a priority.
That is damaging. It threatens not only Jews here but all Americans.
I wonder what happens behind the scenes. Do wiser Democrats attempt to engage Tlaib and others so they can distinguish between legitimate criticism and baseless accusations? If so, how do they respond?
Democratic leaders need to be concerned for political reasons alone. Donald Trump won 41% of the Jewish vote in Florida during the 2020 presidential election, which is an unusually high achievement for Republicans. The Jewish vote for Democrats has ranged between two-thirds to 80 percent in recent decades.
It should be no surprise if Jews have left the Democratic Party because of Tlaib and her team.
If pro-Arab Democrats hope for party dominance which they need for their own power, they would back off from their rhetoric. We cannot depend upon them to do it because it is right.
That leaves Democrats in a state of lunacy. The party stands for social justice and programs to help all Americans, and the president rolls out a wide-ranging plan to combat antisemitism. Yet Democrats, no matter how noble their intentions, tolerate the acts of some of the worst antisemites who hold powerful elected positions.
Interestingly, the term “Nakba” was not invented in 1948 but rather in 1920. And it was coined not because of Palestinians suddenly getting nationalistic but because Arabs living in Palestine regarded themselves as Syrian and were enraged at being cut off from their Syrian homeland.