A brief note about my absence. I was banned from Twitter for threatening to break the neck of the owner and editor of the neo Nazi Daily Stormer website. I admit, I named him and said I would do it. I should not have tweeted that but I don’t regret being banned from Twitter. My life is significantly better without it. I should have quit it a few years ago when I first pondered it and wrote a blog post about it.
I am somewhat hesitant to give any attention to Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar as garnering internet attention seems to be the only real skill they have. Well, that and a persistent victim complex. This reminds me of another thin skinned perpetual victim who entered politics relatively recently.
By now most people following national politics are likely familiar with Mses. Omar and Tlaib for having been prohibited from visiting Israel. Anyone even remotely familiar with their support of B.D.S. (the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction movement against Israel) would be forgivably confused at the desire of presumed boycotters wanting to enter the entity they ostensibly want others to boycott. But having the courage of their stated convictions has never been a strength of the Israel hating rabble.
To provide some clarity it must be known and understood that the BDS movement is an anti-Semitic undertaking. Without delving too deeply in its history, the founder, Omar Barghouti has said as much publicly countless times that the goal is to end the Jewish state; the only Jewish state. A reasonable person could inquire as to the other countries BDS attempts to destroy. Other countries with egregious human rights abuses, regressive theocracies, ethnic cleansings, LGBTQ oppression. A reasonable person would be stunned to learn that BDS ignores these things and focuses solely on Israel; where none of those things are happening. To seek to harm the only Jewish majority nation on the planet, when objectively more harmful places exist is an anti-Semitic double standard. This is inarguable. Sure, there are the JVP’s and If Not Now Stockholm Syndrome sufferers that are only too eager to offer the slightest bit of cover. These groups are insignificant and pitiable, much like the DSA who a couple years ago adopted BDS as an official position. How unnerving it must have been for Jewish members of the DSA to see their organization adopt this position and then hear that age old “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” chant reverberate through the room. The mind boggles that any Jewish person could stand with an organization that so enthusiastically calls for the displacement of almost 8 million Jews. On a very personal note, I wonder what will happen once they are no longer useful to whatever deplorable organization they are in. We all know how it went for those close to Stalin.
When I initially heard that Omar and Tlaib had been prevented from visiting Israel, I was initially disappointed. True, states always have an interest to make decisions on visitors that could have a desultory effect in some way. Even so, I saw their visit as an opportunity to show that Israel is able to withstand a visit from hostile actors as a show of stren8gth. The world would have an occasion to see that maybe boycotting this nation isn’t a reasonable thing to do. Then Bibi announced they would be denied entry. I was disappointed. Though Trump tweeted that letting them in would be weakness, I saw the opposite. Those in a position of strength can withstand the chattering of tiny fisted nuisances. As I later learned, the Representatives had no official or state visits planned. It was curious they weren’t adhering to a boycott, but it is peculiar they had no diplomatic or state function either. Naturally the outrage machine was activated. Ms. Omar intimated that it was akin to Trump’s non-existent Muslim ban (Israel’s 17.8% Muslim community must have been quite surprised to learn they had been suddenly banned). Ms. Tlaib tearfully claimed that she was being prevented from visiting her nonagenarian grandmother. It soon came to light that Israel had in fact given her permission to do just that, but to not engage in boycott promoting activities while in the country. This was somehow unacceptable to Ms. Tlaib, who decided to pass on visiting her grandmother because she felt she was being treated as a “criminal.”
In a very real sense, Ms. Tlaib is behaving in the tradition of Palestinian leadership. Complain about Israeli policy, Israel offers a compromise, compromise is summarily rejected, and victimhood complex remains indignantly intact. There is only one conclusion, the Congresswomen only planned this trip in an attempt to try and make Israel look bad. They failed. Much like their votes against the recent anti-BDS resolution that passed with overwhelming bipartisan support were in a losing effort. I am happy to report my Congressman voted the right way, as did most Representatives from Illinois. (But not hapless former Chicago mayoral candidate Chuy Garcia. We see you Chuy, and you would’ve been an awful mayor).
However, though the Democratic Party is not in the state of disarray some outlets would have you believe, the other side has an effective strategy in this. Trump and the Republicans are not going to run against whomever the Democratic nominee actually is (here’s hoping for Biden or Harris) they are going to run against the “squad.” Much like Hillary Clinton was not any of the myriad of ghastly things the Republicans said about her in 2016, the B Team is not representative of the Democratic Party as a whole. Republican voters don’t care about that, and they’re hoping independents won’t care either. Trump is hoping that there will be enough headlines about (undeservedly) prominent Democrats that have ties to anti-Semitic movements; which again, is true. This is why it is imperative that the Democratic Party as a whole distance itself from them. This is the quagmire that Justice Democrats/DSA wanted. They think it will revolutionize the party. It won’t, it will give us another four years of Trump.
There is hope. It lies in in Democrats like Lauren Underwood. Ms. Underwood, a woman of color, ousted a long Republican held, mostly white district in Illinois. To provide further context, this was the district that used to be held by the loathsome Dennis Hastert. Ms. Underwood has 2 master’s degrees from John’s Hopkins and worked on policy in the Obama administration and was a senior advisor in the Department of Health and Human Services. She also happened to vote the right way on the anti-BDS resolution. Ms. Underwood is an undeniable expert in policy who has proven herself more than worthy of her position. She is the type of Democrat we should all rally around, because I am not going to defend the indefensible.
