Seth Mandel asks in a Commentary column whether Democratic US House leader Hakeem Jeffries has met any Democrats.
The season of triangulation is upon us. First, presidential aspirant Rahm Emanuel tried to establish a compromise position on Israel to stave off the Democratic Party’s anti-Zionist bull rush. Now that the bull rush is on, Hakeem Jeffries—who will be speaker of the House if Democrats win enough seats in November—is trying a similar tactic.
Yesterday, more than 100 House Democrats voted to end aid to Israel. The battle appears lost—unsurprising, since the battle was almost entirely one-sided. So now Jeffries is negotiating the terms of his surrender, and those terms are similar to the ones Emanuel tried to sell to the same party.
Via Jewish Insider, Jeffries outlined some familiar principles. First, of course, the two-state solution:
“[It will include] Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state and homeland for the Jewish people, and at the same time, pressing the urgent need to establish an independent Palestinian state that allows the Palestinian people to live with dignity, respect, and self-determination — and that needs to be dealt with urgently.”
There is nothing particularly unreasonable about those hoary platitudes except for the fact that the Democratic base opposes them with the fire of a thousand suns. DSA candidates refuse to accept Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and their political base includes a great many passionate opponents of Israel’s existence at all. …
… Finally, Jeffries said something very good and very decent and very wise—which is why it’ll be the first thing rejected by his party’s base:
“[The Democratic policy approach also includes] recognizing that Israel is an ally of the United States of America in the fight against terrorism, whether that’s Iranian-backed proxies, Hezbollah, Hamas or the Houthis.”
Look, I think Jeffries clearly means well here. But let’s remember that the reason this discussion is back in the news today is because yesterday half his party voted against treating Israel as an ally.
The post Top Democrat’s plan doesn’t match his voters’ anti-Israel stance appeared first on John Locke Foundation.
