Democrats Shouldn’t Be Surprised Young Leftists Are Anti-Israel

by | Dec 12, 2023 | Israel

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Late last month, Chuck Schumer delivered a speech on the Senate floor excoriating antisemitism. While I welcomed his belated sentiments, I found the remarks either astoundingly ignorant or dishonest. How can the country’s highest-ranking Jewish official be surprised that many of his left-wing allies are (suddenly) anti-Israel?

 

Any sentient person realized that Israel’s reaction to the Hamas pogrom of 67 days ago would divide older pro-Israel liberals and younger anti-Israel leftists.

 

Pew asked Americans in March 2022 if they viewed Israel and the Palestinians favorably; in all three older age groups, the share favorable to Israel topped the Palestinians’ share by over 10 points. Only among the 18-29 group did Palestinians finish slightly ahead.

 

That’s noteworthy because younger Americans overwhelmingly vote Democrat. If they favor the Palestinians, the party will move that way.

 

A month after the massacre of 1,300 Jews by Hamas, the shock of the Hitlerian actions apparently wore off, and headlines began to focus on Israel’s judicious counteroffensive in Gaza.

 

Quinnipiac conducted a poll, and suddenly, 60% of Democrats disapproved of Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 slaughter. Many of these same people supported Israel a few weeks prior. Among young Democrats, the split was an astonishing 74-16 against Israel. By comparison, Democrats over age 65 were 20 points likelier to sympathize with Israel.

 

When asked if America should send more military aid to the Israelis, young adults opposed the idea at more than a 2-1 clip. All other age cohorts wanted to keep the aid flowing.

 

There were enough revelations of jihadist depravity in the conflict’s first month that one presumed could affect even leftists’ rooting interests. There was the false allegation that Israel bombed Al-Ahli hospital, a lesson that Hamas’ accusations can’t be trusted. There was the exposure of Hamas tunnels under Al-Shifa hospital, precisely where Israel said they would be. There was audio and video evidence of how ghoulish Hamas has been. And, of course, there was hostage-taking of women and young children.

 

It’s hard to square hope for a better Palestinian future with disingenuous demands for a ceasefire that began before the bodies killed on Oct. 7 were buried. One can’t be pro-Palestinian and anti-anti-Hamas. Ousting Hamas is what morality calls for.

 

Rogue international bodies and “women’s groups” are inexplicably silent about rapes carried out by Hamas, despite abundant evidence they happened, including videos made by the perpetrators and horrific eyewitnesses or forensic accounts.

 

If Israeli troops committed crimes like these against Palestinian women, condemnations would emanate from every institutional body in the world. If those bodies are silent in the wake of Hamas’ barbarity, it’s because within the execrable hard left moral framework of “oppressor and oppressed,” victim status can’t be granted to the former. Condemning modern Nazis would risk giving political cover to the Israeli military to continue its “aggression” against the Palestinians. Stopping that preposterous concept is a higher priority for so-called progressives than stopping Hamas from brutalizing Jewish women.

 

The political revolt brewing among lefties will catch up to Democrats. You can never assuage people who support fascism.

 

The ugly base has already reached Washington, with Sens. John Fetterman, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren being pushed by bigoted aides to call for a ceasefire. Lawmakers tend to be older than their congressional staff; the age gap over Israel and the Palestinians is playing out quite often.

Misunderstanding Joe Biden’s waning support for Israel, Pro-Palestinian thugs still recently scribbled graffiti dubbing him “Genocide Joe” on the White House gate. This unrelenting antisemitism is suboptimal for a man who needs the dumbest voters turning out for him next year.

Schumer might believe that educating ignoramuses on Israel’s history will lead to a saner position on the conflict; however, the rift between (older) pro-Israel Democrats and (younger) pro-Palestinian Democrats is irreparable because they’ll never agree on who is “the victim” — even after a modern Holocaust. To the older faction, the conflict is not about race since their historical knowledge actually began before yesterday. Thus, they are under no TikTok-influenced illusions about which side is genocidal.

 

For the “intersectionality” faction, it’s always black and white and a hierarchy of oppressor and oppressed. It started at the universities, continued with Barack Obama’s divisive identity politics, then worsened with antisemitism from Black Lives Matter Critical Race Theory, and changed the character of identitarian Democrats for the worse. You can’t fix stupid and brainwashed, Chuck.

 

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Ari J. Kaufman is the managing editor of the Tri-Cities Business Journal. He’s written for several newspapers, authored three books, is a frequent guest on radio programs, contributes to Israel National News, and is a featured columnist at The Lid.

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