On Wednesday, leftists discovered that the website for former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign took a stand against the virulently anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and they could barely control their fury.
The website states that Biden will “firmly reject the BDS movement, which singles out Israel — home to millions of Jews — and too often veers into anti-Semitism, while letting Palestinians off the hook for their choices.”
Despite the fact that the website also takes aim at President Trump, stating Biden would “reverse the Trump Administration’s destructive cutoff of diplomatic ties with the Palestinian Authority (PA). the opposition to the BDS movement triggered leftists. Some examples:
I really don't know what to say about this. Holy shit. pic.twitter.com/wNAaUIqttn
— jordan (@JordanUhl) May 20, 2020
He’s going to run a militarist, pro-imperialist, jingoistic, xenophobic campaign — because that’s what his whole career has been and what the Democratic Party is — and anyone who notes this is a privileged fascist.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 20, 2020
Biden is gonna be so bad on Israel. Not as bad as Trump. But bad nevertheless. #depressing https://t.co/iS2hcpYoZn
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) May 20, 2020
Oh my god. Is this real? https://t.co/uWjlczUlb0
— Leila Molana-Allen (@Leila_MA) May 21, 2020
In July 2019, the House overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution stating the House’s opposition to the BDS movement, 398-17. Among those opposing the resolution were anti-Israel Congresswomen Ilhan Omar (D-MN) Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
Ocasio-Cortez hinted that passage of the resolution would foment Palestinian terrorism against Israel, saying, “My concern with being overly punitive on nonviolent forms of protest is that it forces people into other channels and I would hate to be a part of, you know, paving that kind of path.”
Ocasio-Cortez, on BDS resolution: “My concern with being overly punitive on nonviolent forms of protest is that it forces people into other channels and I would hate to be a part of, you know, paving that kind of path.” https://t.co/7Sgdu00Og8
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) July 24, 2019
Ed Morrissey of HotAir pointed out:
The emergence of a BDS caucus among House Democrats isn’t an accident or coincidence, though. It comes from an increased strain of anti-Israel sentiment among hard-Left progressives, the Bernie Sanders wing of the party. AOC in particular has claimed to represent those progressives in the party when it comes to uniting behind Biden in the election. She has already expressed some reservations about Biden’s commitment to the progressive agenda; this won’t help her retain her credibility with that wing if she ignores this language on Biden’s platform.
Biden does seem to want it both ways; in the appeal to Muslim-Americans on Biden’s website, it states that Biden will actively oppose Israel’s right to the Biblical lands of Judea and Samaria and seemingly legitimize Palestinian sovereignty in East Jerusalem, as it states, “He will continue to oppose Israeli settlement expansion and has spoken out against annexation in the West Bank. He will reopen the U.S. Consulate in East Jerusalem, and restore economic and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians.”
In 1982 Biden reportedly banged on a desk and berated Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin that if Israel continued building settlements in Judea and Samaria, the U.S. would cut off financial aid. Begin fired back:
Don’t threaten us with cutting off your aid. It will not work. I am not a Jew with trembling knees. I am a proud Jew with 3,700 years of civilized history. Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid when we were striving to create our country. We paid for it. We fought for it. We died for it. We will stand by our principles. We will defend them. And, when necessary, we will die for them again, with or without your aid.
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