The Biden administration’s fears about the 2024 presidential election explain its pivot away from support for Israel’s war against Hamas. According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, the Democrats’ belief that they are losing to former President Donald Trump is behind the recent statements of U.S. President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer attacking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and seeking to make the eradication of Hamas impossible.
He’s joined by author and former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer who says that, contrary to the myth of the bipartisan consensus on Israel, there’s been a stark divide on support for the Jewish state between the parties for decades. “It’s gotten to the point today because of the cancer, the rot inside the Democratic Party, particularly among young people and progressive base,” said Fleisher. “There is only one pro-Israel party left in America. And it’s not the Democratic Party. This has been a 20-year crumbling of Democratic support for Israel and it culminated in Senator Schumer’s speech.”
Fleischer says the beginnings of erosion in Democratic support for Israel dates back decades ago but grew worse under former President Barack Obama and his desire to create “daylight” between the two nations, as well as his appeasement of Iran. Both sent a signal to his party that it was OK to break with the Jewish state. Fleischer argues that a growing number of Democrats—not just the members of the left-wing congressional “Squad”—see Israel as an “oppressor.” Biden’s pivot and Schumer’s speech are motivated by a belief that they must bow to the demands of young, progressive Democrats who oppose Israel.
Still, Fleischer said he was shocked by what he was hearing from Democrats. “Have these people never been to Israel? Have they not been to Israel post-Oct. 7? Do they not understand how unified the Israeli people are? Do they not understand that Israel, regardless of what party you are in, wants to destroy and will destroy Hamas? This is bigger than Bibi … but it’s not working. It’s not working because Israel is unified.”
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