Democrats' traditional Jewish alliance is fraying as never before (Jewish Group) - WaPo

[question everything]

The place of Jews in the Democratic Party is on the ballot this year. Amid rancorous debates over Israel, some Jewish leaders warn that anti-Zionism has spilled over into antisemitism, encouraging segments of the party to question not just Israeli policy but also the participation of Jews in American political life.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) is the most prominent figure to raise the alarm. In an interview with Politico, he described a “very dangerous” development whereby candidates were being denounced for receiving money from Jewish donors who had also donated to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a prominent pro-Israel group. Shapiro isn’t the only one expressing worries. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan) was asked at a town hall last month why she had accepted $4.5 million from “pro-Israel lobbies.” That figure comes from Track AIPAC, a group that tallies donations from pro-Israel groups as well as from individuals it deems “lobby donors.”

Slotkin stated that she takes no money from AIPAC, then objected to the math behind the question: “If that’s counting Jewish donors and saying Jewish donors are somehow the same as ‘pro-Israel lobby,’ I got a problem with that, and not just as an elected official, as a Jew.”

(snip)

As support for Israel has become harder to voice in the Democratic Party, space for criticism has grown. This spring, Jordan Acker, an elected regent at the University of Michigan, lost the Democratic Party’s nomination for the board of regents to Amir Makled, a challenger who hailed Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah as a “martyr” and shared a Candace Owens post describing Israelis as “demons.”

(snip)

Today, the growing salience of antisemitic voices on the right raises another possibility: that Jewish Americans who no longer feel comfortable in the Democratic Party will feel equally out of place in the GOP. That would be bad not only for Jews but for Americans generally. Any party that blames Jews for the country’s problems will have trouble addressing the challenges Americans actually face.

https://wapo.st/3Rxh0kO

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[RandySF]

1. k&r by this gentile

[Easterncedar]

2. Divisions are being exaggerated, exploited and used to divide us

It's horrifying how effective the covert campaign is, here and in Europe. Netanyahu has done more to harm Israel's international standing and to fuel the massive surge in antisemitism than anyone, with the puppetmaster Putin and our own corrupt regime going along.

[question everything]

3. Anti Israel, anti Netanyahu should not be used to attack Jews here and in Europe. Many may harbor similar sentiments

yet are being harassed.

Talk to many students, to Jews who walk to synagogues, sitting in Kosher restaurants about "exaggeration."

[Easterncedar]

4. Of course! Of course! It's all so very very wrong!

I didn't mean to imply that the situation isn't deadly serious. Just pointing out that the forces of evil are driving it for their own ends, which include sowing chaos and hatred among us. I don't know how we can fight this without looking to the source.

[mountain grammy]

5. Agree!

I had so much hope with the Camp David Accords.. It really seemed possible to see peace in the Middle East and a two state solution felt like a real thing. Then fanatics, on both sides, took over and now thousands of children, who had nothing to do with any of it, are dead..

[lostincalifornia]

6. Who cares if someone takes money from AIPAC? Are these same folks

who are bothered by this bothered by those who take money from groups that support Hamas, or groups that believe the State of Israel shouldn’t exist?

It seems that some seem to forget who started this current crisis. It was the Hamas slaughter of civilians on October 7.

Even before there was any retaliatory action, there were some justifying October 7, and certain left wing outlets calling the attack, rapes and torture “exaggerations”

There is definitely tunnel vision among some.

[NNadir]

7. My best nonfamilial friend served in the Isreali Army.

He was young then and like me is now an old man. His ex-wife now lives in Isreal.

He is a political liberal as I am.

I'm quite sure though he will abstain from our Congressional election because our Democratic candidate Adam Hamawy, an Egyptian-American has campaigned on cutting off American aid to Isreal.

I intend to vote for Dr. Hamawy.

Having grown up on Long Island, I participated in and loved Jewish culture. A Jewish friend of mine in California helped save my life by keeping me from killing myself. I had Jewish lovers when I was young. I love Jewish food. My bosses on first three jobs when I was young were Jews, one a holocaust survivor with the tattooed number on his arm and everything, a wonderful man with a heavy eastern European accent, Yiddish I think. A Jewish schoolmate, the high school valedictorian, of my youngest son pushed him to realize his potential by challenging himself. Without that friendship I doubt my son would have gone as far as he has.

I owe many of the best parts of my life to Jews. In fact I might well be dead were it not for Jewish friends.

As a scientist and a lover of literature and peace, I admire Isreal's contributions in these fields. (Per Capita, Isreal has more Nobel Laureates than the United States.)

But, although I will not drive the point with my friend, I agree that the United States cannot fund Netanyahu's Isreal. We need to cut them off.

A nation that was founded in reaction to genocide surrenders its moral standing if it practices genocide in response to genocide. Gaza is genocide. While I understand the tragedy of the terrorist attack, killing innocent bystanders is not justified, placing the sins of a few members of a people on all the people. This is exactly how I felt when the United States started killing Arabs in Iraq and Muslims in Afghanistan after 9/11. I demonstrated against those wars.

Isreal has strayed from the honor brought to it by Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin. I do not accept that it is antisemitic to oppose Isreali action in the current circumstances.

It's how I feel.

If the United States were dependent on foreign aid to practice the policies of the orange pedophile, I would call for those giving aid to us to cut us off. Israelis need to fix their country much as we must fix ours. Before being a patriot I choose to be a human being.

Right now they are not allies but are coconspirators in our crimes against justice.

[JustAnotherGen]

8. Black Women

We are seeing it. There's this idea from certain segments of the non-magapubs that would be happy to erase the votes of Black and Jewish women and men. My threads account is a very carefully curated group of people who follow me - and who I follow.

I could post a moment from history - (did this as a test) - the Niagara Movement/Convention.

My circle of threaders - it was a big old 'blockity block block' party. No joke.

The number of assholes screeching and harping on us about being Genociders.

Like -- WTAF? Did history just begin on October 8, 2023? If they want to alienate me from the Democratic Party . . .

Let's just say - they've been successful.

[lostincalifornia]

9. There are some that are sure working overtime to do just that.

[Behind the Aegis]

10. DITTO!