In the last couple of elections we have seen a swing – not a huge one but enough so that the dam has been broken and it is likely to continue – from Black voters, Latino voters and Asian voters away from the Democrat Party.
And there is very good reason to believe that, although it seems to be a harder sell, the same dynamic is – or at least should be – taking place among Jews.
Over recent years I have shown that Democrats, as a group, are dramatically less pro-Israel than Republicans. In case you’ve forgotten, here is just one example, from Elliott Abrams’ article for the Council For Foreign Relations in June of last year:
A decade ago, by margins of about 2-to-1, Democrats said their sympathies were more with Israelis than with Palestinian Arabs. Polling in February showed Democrats now closely divided, with 42 percent saying their sympathies were with Israelis and 39 percent citing the Palestinian Arabs. That compares with a 79 percent to 11 percent split in favor of Israelis among Republicans.
But, you can argue, that was a year ago. And Joe Biden has made it clear he is strongly supportive of Israel. So it probably is changing.
If that is your argument, however, save your breath. Like most of what Joe Biden is trotted out by his puppeteers to say, his words have little relation to reality.
Want an example? How about this, from Israel National News, about today’s editorial in the Wall Street Journal (which is behind a pay wall, so I can’t get it directly from there):
The American newspaper Wall Street Journal dedicated its editorial today (Friday) to the harsh criticisms hurled this week by the American administration towards Israel and in its title asked “What does Biden have against Israel?”.
“Why does President Biden go out of his way to criticize and try to impose orders on the Israeli government? At least rhetorically, the president and his administration treat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ruling coalition worse than the Islamic regime in Iran,” the article reads.
It also noted in it that “Mr. Biden again this week publicly refused to invite Mr. Netanyahu to the White House and excused it from the Prime Minister’s coalition partners. Tom Neids, Mr. Biden’s outgoing ambassador to Israel, said that the U.S. must intervene to prevent Israel from ‘going off the rails.’ . When Mr. Netanyahu was most vulnerable, at the end of March, Mr. Biden stated regarding legal reform – an internal Israeli issue – that ‘Israel will not be able to continue on this path.’ Netanyahu has already changed course and moderated the reforms – and it should be remembered that this is an internal Israeli affair in which the American president has no legitimacy to interfere. Instead, Ambassador Naides was sent to publicly order Netanyahu to ‘press the brakes’ on the reform.”
Now add in the Israel and Jew hatred of “squad” members like ilhan omar and rashida tlaib. Hatred that the Democrat Party will not – WILL NOT – specifically denounce. And what do you have?
Look, my eyes are wide open here. There are still a large number of Jews who will find it difficult to the point of near-impossibility to walk away from the Democrat Party. I certainly know friends and relatives who fit this description.
But I have also seen, also among my friends and relatives, breaks in the armor. And if the Democrat Party continues its path regarding Israel, and other issues that are important to most Jewish voters, my guess is that those breaks are going to become more significant in the near future.
As they damn well ought to.
