Here is the latest attempted Democrat salvo against Israel, and how it made out.
Senator bernie sanders (D-VT) – an ancestral Jew who, based on his voting history, hates Israel with a passion, introduced two bills aimed at withholding sales of arms to Israel.
How did that vote go?
From Stephan Neukam’s article at axios.com:
Fifteen Senate Democrats backed a pair of resolutions from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to withhold billions of dollars in offensive weapons sales and other military aid to Israel.
Why it matters: The votes split the party, revealing continued internal divisions over Democrats’ views on the war in Gaza and support for the Israeli government. The measures failed 15-82 and 15-83.
- Sanders wants to cancel the Trump administration’s proposed sales of $8.8 billion in bombs and other munitions to Israel.
- In addition to Sanders, Democratic Sens. Richard Durbin (Ill.), Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Ben Ray Luján (N.M.), Tim Kaine (Va.), and Andy Kim (N.J.) voted in favor.
- So did Ed Markey (Mass.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Chris Murphy (Conn.), TBrian Schatz (Hawaii), Tina Smith (Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Peter Welch (Vt.).
- No Republicans supported the measures.
The good news if you happen to support Israel, is that both resolutions went down in flames.
But the bad news if you happen to be a Democrat who supports Israel is that every one of the “against” votes, without exception, were cast by members of your party.
And don’t think that this is just a one-and-off aberration. Gallup’s latest polling data, from March 6 – just one month ago – show Republicans are more in sympathy with Israel than “the Palestinians” by 75% to 10%. By contrast, Democrats are more in sympathy with “the Palestinians” by 59% to 21%.
That’s a +65% in favor of Israelis for Republicans, compared to a +38% in favor of “Palestinians” for Democrats. That is a swing – a huge swing – of 103%. Huge.
The Democrat Party used to be where supporters of Israel could feel fully comfortable. Now the exact opposite is true.
It seems to me this is a pretty clear message for supporters of Israel who still feel disposed toward the Democrat Party.
I wonder how many are paying attention…and thinking about what it means regarding their support.
