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| Democratic Party nominee for Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Axios) |
My political views are completely informed by my religious
views. Which are based on the Torah. The
Torah is neither liberal or conservative. But on most issues the Torah is better
served by a conservative approach. Which is why Evangelicals tend to be politically
conservative. They too see the values of the Torah (what they call the old
testament) better served that way.
I’m sure that my liberal friends will challenge me on this with an analysis of their own. And that’s fine. But I stand by my
view. Being a
liberal does not in and of itself make one anti religion or anti Torah. Clearly
there are some very religious Jews – even some Charedim that describe themselves
as liberal or hard core Democrats. The party of their choice in the 2 party system
of American politics.
But liberal political parties are being taken over of late by a form antisemitism disguised as legitimate criticism of Israel. For liberal Jews - that comes in the form of bashing its current Prime Minister, Benjamin
Netanyahu. While some of their grievances with him might be legitimate, liberal
criticism does not stop with Netanyahu. The more liberal one is the less
likely they will be to support Israel regardless of who the Prime Minister is. They will more likely support the critics
of Israel. And although this is not an absolute - the reality is that as far as liberalism goes - the less religious one is (whether Jewish or not) the more likely
they will be anti Zionist. (Unless they are of the Satmar mentality who are anti Israel for reasons
beyond the scope of this post).
This is what came to mind as I saw a protest of President
Trump during his visit to England on this morning’s newscast. As the cameras were focusing on the protesters carrying anti Trump placards I saw at least one that was anti Israel - Pro Palestine.
It seems as though those signs were as welcome there as any of the others.
Unfortunately that didn’t surprise me. Since England’s 2
party system has its own version of
Democrats called The Labour Party. Whose leader, Jeremy Corbyn has been called an antisemite by
Jonathan Arkush, the outgoing leader of the Jewish Board of Deputies in
England. And for good reason! Of course he vehemently denies
it. But ‘denial’ in his case is nothing more than a river in Egypt.
This is reflected by the fact that there is a internal
dispute among Labour Party members to get Corbyn to more fully reject all forms of antisemitism which has has thus far resisted.
Furthermore… as the
New York Times recently noted:
In Britain, the once center-left Labour Party has become so infused with anti-Zionist sentiment that Jews recently took to the streets of London to protest a drift in the party toward anti-Semitism.
I think this clearly indicates where liberal-left thinking and
the political parties identifying with them lies.You will not see anything remotely close to that among
conservative parties.
One might counter by saying that this is England… and
the Unites States is different. Because here there has always been 2 party
support for Israel.Democrat and Republican alike. That was true. Until it wasn’t.
Which is not that long ago.
Liberal Jews - even very religious
ones might take umbrage at this. Claiming that the 2 party support has been
weakened by the Prime Minister of Israel who has cast his lot with Republicans
thus alienating Democrats that otherwise support Israel. I don’t think Netanyahu can be blamed for this. Although he may have contributed to it.
It is true that
the Democratic leadership still strongly supports Israel. Both the Senate and
House minority leaders (Chuck Shummer and Nancy Pelosi) are ardent supporters.
But the same cannot be said for some of the other party leaders
like the Deputy Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Keith Ellison - a onetime
supporter of Louis Farrakahn. And it is certainly not true for 28 year old Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez who challenged the Democratic Party’s establishment and won by a huge margin - ending
the 20 year career of her opponent, Congressman Joseph Crowley - who was seen
as a possible successor to Nancy Pelosi.
Is Ocasio-Cortez an antisemite? I doubt it since she
supported a Jew (Bernie Sanders) for President. But she is clearly anti Israel
whose narrative is right out of the BDS playbook. Hard to be pro Israel and pro BDS at the same
time.
It seems pretty clear where the young liberal-left blood of
the Democratic Party is going. And it isn’t Israel. Nor is it going in any kind
of a religious direction. It is going the way of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. And I don’t think the old Democratic guard can
stop it.
Blaming Netnayahu for all this is a bit naïve. Since much of criticism of Israel by the liberal-left is for
things Neatnyahu did that were supported by the political opponents to his
left. Such as Ocasio-Cortez calling Israel’s defensive measure at the recent
border clash with Gaza terrorists posing as protesters - a massacre. It wasn’t a massacre . Israel’s defensive measures at the Gaza border were
supported by Israel’s main opposition parties.
The lament by some of my liberal friends about
losing 2 party support for Israel is something I sympathize with. I’d love to
still see that. And as noted think it’s technically still there. But the handwriting
is on the wall. I don’t see it lasting in light of what I believe is a reasonable analysis of the increasing move
to the left by mainstream liberal parties. Who see humanism as the highest ideal of all, trumping religion considering it to be an ancient and archaic value system countering the
higher values of humanism. And in the process seeing a conservative Orthodox friendly Israel the same way. They otherwise see Israel only as a Nazi-like occupier of an indigenous people.
This is why I am glad that at least the political
conservative parties (Republicans in the US and the Conservative Party in the
UK) are in power now.
As a religious Jew it is also quite gratifying to see that
conservative justices will now become the majority on the Supreme Court. Thus
stopping the swing away from religious freedom. And if Republicans can retain
the executive branch for the full 2 terms - possibly adding more conservative
Justices to the Supreme Court as the current aging liberal ones retire - that’s even better. God bless America.
