Dan McLaughlin writes for National Review about bogus claims driving some Democrats’ election campaigns.
Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner of Maine is running on the claim that Israel is committing “genocide” against Palestinians by invading Gaza in response to Hamas — the government of Gaza — invading Israel. This is the opposite of the truth, of course; it is Hamas that has built its entire strategy and existence for many years around its aim to extinguish the Jewish people in Israel, while the actual evidence to support anything even vaguely resembling genocide by Israel is nowhere to be found. It’s a deliberate blood libel. But the truth is not the point, it’s the target.
Is Platner a one-off phenomenon? It is not surprising that Zohran Mamdani is running on the same theme, tweeting, …“This afternoon, I sat with Palestinian New Yorkers in Astoria and listened to what they and their families have endured as the genocide in Gaza continues, funded by our government.” In New York, the Democratic Socialists of America have pushed anti-Jewish measures such as the “Not On Our Dime Act,” an openly discriminatory bill against New York nonprofits aiding Jewish settlers; as I’ve detailed, the bill — with the support of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — “singles out Jews, and only Jews.” So, Mamdani is not an outlier among the New York DSA.
But the smear campaign extends beyond New York socialists and is at risk of becoming Democratic orthodoxy, at least among the party’s progressives. Last spring, Elizabeth Warren said of the International Court of Justice examining Israel, “I believe that they’ll find that it is genocide, and they have ample evidence to do so.” Now, in Michigan, progressive Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow is joining the chorus:
“I’m not accepting AIPAC support,” McMorrow told the questioner. “I’m not seeking their endorsement. I’ve never accepted their support. And what we are seeing in the Middle East is a moral abomination.” She went on to say she would’ve supported Sen. Bernie Sanders’ resolution to block offensive arm sales to Israel and called for a two-state solution.
