PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — It does not surprise me that pro-Arab advocates compare the Gaza war to Vietnam and downplay Hamas’ outrages. Or that former President Donald J. Trump blames antisemitism for the choice of Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate. What shocks me is Democratic strategist James Carville’s charge that Republicans support Israel because Jews are “whiter” than Arabs.
Carville was participating in a Politics War Room podcast on Thursday when he said, “The reason I suspect that most of these people describe themselves as pro-Israel is because the Jews are whiter than the Palestinians. Which I think drives a lot of what they are,” as quoted in the news website Mediaite.
Was Carville, 79, exposing his senility? Could his words be attributed to substance abuse? He needs reminding of former First Lady Michelle Obama’s statement of eight years ago: “When they go low, we go high.” Carville went so low last Thursday that he is now the undisputed champion in the world of limbo contests.
The news site recounts that Carville, 79, was discussing a wide range of topics related to the presidential election when he contended that Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is running on “racism” because he needs the votes of white nationalists to win the election.
Podcast co-host Al Hunt read a question from a listener who asked why a party of avowed racists would be so open to supporting Israel, and Carville replied that the support is rooted in both racism and hatred for women, Mediaite reported.
He then said, “It’s really about the misogyny and the racism that drives the thing, and we got to recognize that. It’s not about any policy prescription.”
He then added his claim that they back Israel because “the Jews are whiter than the Palestinians.”
Campaign donations have ensured support of Israel in both political parties. Plus, many supporters of Israel sound genuine in their concern for Israel. Also, Judaism can lay claim to a large share of Black and otherwise dark-skinned people, darker in fact than Palestinians. Granted, there could be some sense of racial identity that factors into this, but how does this explain support from white Christians in the Democratic Party?
Racism is more a strategy employed by the Left who infiltrate racial minorities and tell them that so-called oppression of the Palestinians is the same as discrimination of Blacks and other racial groups in America.
The Palestinian struggle in Israel is no civil rights movement. Hamas’ goal is to destroy Israel, and some Palestinians share hopes for that outcome. If Hamas seeks social justice for its people, why do they treat them as human shields when Israel attacks military targets?
Israel is not free of fault in this conflict. The present government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is mistaken to expand so-called settlements and to plan annexation of the West Bank because these moves will likely provoke Palestinian violence. They also need to crack down on settler violence against Palestinians.
Even if Israel did nothing of this sort, Palestinians would still find an excuse to attack Israel no matter how lame.
Carville’s offensive statement sticks out mainly because he is an unexpected source for such a sentiment. Otherwise, comparing the Middle East to Vietnam would match or even exceed his words for revulsion.
“This is the Vietnam War of our generation,” proclaimed Hatem Abudayyeh, executive director of the Arab American Action Network, prior to the Democratic convention in Chicago, The New York Post reports. Protesters in Chicago seek an arms embargo to Israel and accuse President Biden and Harris of supporting genocide of the Palestinians.
I lived through Vietnam. I grieved over the deaths of two casual friends, actually close friends of close friends. I spent an afternoon with one while driving around Northeast Philadelphia as he was laughing it up all day, just as Newman would describe Seinfeld. On the last night of our friend’s leave, Mitch and I squired Billy around West Oak Lane in Philly for bowling and a snack. Billy thanked me by humiliating me as much as possible. Months after these outings, I would learn of their deaths. I found out many years later that Billy was killed after stepping on a mine.
Vietnam was about a tragic attempt to contain the advance of communism. The Middle East is about Israel’s struggle for survival after Hamas murdered 1,200 Jews and persists in holding up to 115 Israelis hostage. How dare Abudayyeh so crudely revise history.
One more reason why activists like Abudayyeh are the Palestinians’ worst enemies.
Trump earned the prize for quantity of distasteful slanders such as accusing Harris of disliking Jews and Israel. Someone best warn her that her husband, Doug Emhoff, is Jewish.
When he campaigned in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, Trump charged that Harris rejected my governor as her running mate mainly for religious reasons and instead chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to run as her vice president.
“They turned him down because he’s Jewish,” Trump declared, as quoted in The Philadelphia Inquirer. “If you see what’s happening with Israel and Jewish people, there has never been a more dangerous time since the Holocaust if you happen to be Jewish in America. They turned him down for other reasons, but the primary reason is because he’s Jewish.”
No question that antisemitism played a role, not when leftist Democrats called Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro “Genocide Josh” for his adamant support of Israel. Jewish spokespeople claimed that Shapiro fell victim to antisemitism. One of my fellow tenants charged that was the case.
Maybe, maybe not. Who knows for certain? Besides, it does not look that way. Walz is turning out to be an inspiring choice. It appears likely that Harris will win Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes without Shapiro’s name on the ballot. Walz’s rural roots in Nebraska could help her win an electoral vote in Nebraska, a much tougher nut to crack than Pennsylvania.
Shapiro said, “I can tell you that antisemitism had no impact on the dialogue between the vice president and me, period.”
He also voiced resentment of Trump’s attempt to use him for crude cheap shots.
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Bruce S. Ticker is a Philadelphia-based columnist
B”H It’s atrocious to attribute anti-Semitism to James Carville, as it is to fail to pin such condemnation to the unfit 45th President. For the former, to say right-wingers support Jews because they’re whiter is the influence of his Louisiana background so historically entwined with racism, violence and corruption. For the 45th President, however, hatred defines him, learning at his father’s lap. The difference is qualitative, and quantatavely and there’s no comparison who has earned a pass. With fraternal affection, Asher 😢🙏🔯😩🇮🇱🤣🇺🇸
Sad. So much antisemitism. That’s why he wasn’t on the ticket. Harris could not overcome that and would have lost in a landslide.she chose Walz and I think she wins in landslide.
“The Palestinian struggle in Israel is no civil rights movement. Hamas’ goal is to destroy Israel, and some Palestinians share hopes for that outcome.” Some?
According to a poll released by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, over 70% Palestinians still maintain Hamas was ‘correct’ to commit the Oct. 7 atrocities.