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The Shift: Staunch Israel-backer

Hakeem Jeffries to lead House Dems
BY MICH AE L ARRI A
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D ECEM B ER 1 , 2 0 2 2
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REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES, WHO HAS SAID, ISRAEL TODAY, ISRAEL TOMORROW, ISRAEL FOREVER.

Old Wine, New Bottles

This week Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) was unanimously elected to lead the House
Democrats. He will take over for departing Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

This torch passing has naturally upset the Democratic party’s left flank, as Jeffries repre-
sents the anti-Bernie centrist wing. “There will never be a moment where I bend the
knee to hard-left democratic socialism,” he told The Atlantic last year. In a 2021 inter-
view he said that, “The extreme left is obsessed with talking trash about mainstream
Democrats on Twitter, when the majority of the electorate constitute mainstream
Democrats at the polls. In the post-Trump era, the anti-establishment line of attack is
lame…”

On Twitter, New York State Senator Jabari Brisport criticized Jeffries impact on the
Democratic party and declared that he shouldn’t become leader. “In 2021, Hakeem
Jeffries started the Team Blue PAC ‘to defend incumbents facing primary challenges'”, he
explained.” In 2022, he used the PAC to tip the scales in an open primary (Maloney v.
Biaggi), and also decided to endorse against a sitting progressive State Senator (Robert
Jackson). Democrats who lie about their intentions in order to attack the left wing of the
party should not be confirmed to lead it.”

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There’s at least one group of Democrats happy to see Jeffries rise: staunch supporters of
Israel. A piece by Marc Rod at the Jewish Insider declares that pro-Israel Dems see Jeffries
as a “reliable successor” to Pelosi and Steny Hoyer (D-MD). “He came to Congress as a
voice of pro-Israel activism. And he served with the same voice and he has an ability to
organize coalitions across a very diverse spectrum that will support U.S.-Israeli rela-
tions,” former Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) told Rod. “So his continued leadership, assuming
that the caucus comes to agreement on his candidacy, is a very positive and heartening
step in the right direction for U.S.-Israeli relations.”

“We’re very lucky to be, in all likelihood, getting him as the new leader of the Democrats
in the house, because he too is a great friend of the American Jewish community and of
the American-Israeli alliance,” says former U.S. ambassador Norm Eisen.

They’re right. In fact, Jeffries is arguably even more pro-Israel than Pelosi. He’s backed by
AIPAC and DMFI. He takes money from lobby groups like Pro-Israel America. He attends
AIPAC delegations to the region, where he’s met and posed for pictures with Netanyahu.
He refers to Jerusalem as New York City’s “sixth borough.” He opposes the BDS move-
ment and any attempt to condition U.S. military aid to Israel.

This was Jeffries during Israel’s brutal 2014 attack on Gaza, which killed over 2,000
Palestinians, more than 500 of them children: “We know Israel lives in a very tough
neighborhood, and there are certain realities to that. We mourn the loss of civilian life
on both sides of the conflict. But when you live in a tough neighborhood Israel should
not be made to apologize for its strength. You know why? Because the only thing that
neighbors respect in a tough neighborhood is strength…Israel has a right to exist as a
democratic Jewish state and no one can take that away. Israel has the right to defend it-
self against aggression – particularly when that aggression is directed at its civilian pop-
ulation. Israel is here to stay and it will remain forever.”

New York State Assembly Member Zohran Kwame Mamdani noted a distressing histori-
cal parallel to Jeffries’ remarks: “After at least 2,251 Palestinians were killed over the
course of July 2014, Hakeem Jeffries got on stage at a rally in NYC and paraphrased
George Wallace. ‘Israel today, Israel tomorrow, Israel forever.’ If Jeffries is considered a
progressive, the term has lost all meaning.”

Here Jeffries is on Amnesty International’s historic Israeli apartheid report: ““Israel is a

democracy. It is not an apartheid state. Any conclusion to the contrary is demonstrably
false, dangerous and designed to isolate Israel in one of the toughest neighborhoods in
the world. The special relationship between the United States and Israel is anchored in
our shared democratic values and geopolitical interests. I strongly support that special
relationship, and look forward to redoubling efforts in the region to bring about a lasting
two-state solution, with a safe and secure Israel living side by side in peace and prosper-
ity with a self-governed and demilitarized Palestinian state.”

When one of Jeffries’ constituents asked him why he hadn’t support Rep. Betty
McCollum’s historic legislation aimed at stopping Israel’s detention of Palestinian chil-
dren, he said he had never heard of the bill.

“A new day is dawning — and I am confident that these new leaders will capably lead our
Caucus and the Congress,” said Pelosi when she announced her departure. On Palestine
the sun is certainly not coming up.

AJP Action Report

A new report from AJP Action looks at Israel lobby spending in the recent U.S. midterms.
Pro-Israel groups spent over $30 million on the contest and the candidates who got the
most are not really surprising:

1. Shontel Brown (D-OH): $1,038,202

2. Haley Stevens (D-MI): $790,729

3. Elaine Luria (D-VA): $731,038

4. Glenn Ivey (D-MD): $697,205

5. Chuck Schumer (D-NY): $689,375

6. Steven Irwin (D-PA): $687,367

7. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ): $548,262

8. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY): $459,670

9. Maggie Hassan (D-NH): $436,625

10. Valerie Foushee (D-NC): $429,305

You’ll notice that these are all Democrats, which makes sense given the growing anxiety
among Israel groups about Dem support for Israel slowly thawing.

The report breaks down the party disparity. “This election, pro-Israel organizations do-
nated to Democrats at twice the rate of Republican candidates, collectively contributing
$20 million to Democrats compared to $10 million to Republicans.8 Democrats also re-
ceived a higher average contribution of $62,651 compared to Republicans’ $31,215,” the
authors explain.” Republican Senate candidates were the exception, raising more than
Democrats by receiving an average of $36,505 more than their Democratic counterparts.

“The disparity indicates that rightwing Zionist groups give to Democrats to counteract
the growing influence of pro-Palestinian members of the Party,” it continues. “Currently,
32 Members of Congress, all of whom are Democrats, are cosponsors of H.R.2590—A bill
that would restrict U.S. aid from being used for the: (1) military detention, interrogation,
abuse, or ill treatment of Palestinian children; (2) seizure, appropriation, or destruction
of Palestinian property and forcible transfer of civilians in the West Bank; or (3) unilat-
eral annexation by Israel of West Bank. After the murder of Palestinian-American jour-
nalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli military forces in May, it was a sizable minority of
Democrats that advocated for accountability in Abu Akleh’s murder. Nearly-half (24) the
U.S. Democratic Senators urged President Joe Biden to investigate the murder of Abu
Akleh and several letters were led in the House, including a letter signed by 57
Democrats urging President Biden to investigate Abu Akleh’s murder. No Republicans
led similar efforts.”

There’s two ways to read this kind of spending. On one hand, groups like AIPAC continue
to have a disturbing amount of influence on the electoral process. On the other hand,
these groups have had to spend more and more money because support for Palestinian
self-determination is clearly growing among Democratic voters. “‘Dark money’ may de-
ceive many in the meantime, but it will not stop the truth from eventually coming to
light, and from justice ultimately prevailing with our diligent and dedicated struggle,”
concludes the report.

Odds & Ends

?? The Israeli and United States Air Forces simulated attacks on Iran this week.

?? The Zionist Organization of America protested Philadelphia’s second annual

International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

? Former U.S. ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer and former State Department official
Aaron David Miller have an op-ed in the Washington Post calling on the Biden adminis-
tration to stop providing Israel with “offensive weapons or other assistance for malign
Israeli actions” in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

“Biden should also make it clear to Israel that his administration will have no
dealings with Ben Gvir, Smotrich or their ministries if they continue to es-
pouse racist policies and actions,” they write. “U.S. support for Israel in inter-
national forums, including the U.N. Security Council and the International
Court of Justice, has its limits. And Israel should know that the Biden adminis-
tration will be on the alert for Israeli actions that deserve to be called out and
condemned.”

? Extremely cursed sentence from Axios’ Barak Ravid: “Netanyahu tells Bari Weiss that
Trump’s dinner with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes ‘was just wrong and misplaced. I
think it’s a mistake. He shouldn’t do that…I hope it’s not repeated.'”

? The Adelson family is dramatically reducing its donations to Birthright, seemingly

putting the program in a precarious situation. This from an eJewishPhilanthropy post
about the development:

“Birthright is facing steep cuts next year. The organization, eJewishPhilan-

thropy has learned, is expecting to take approximately 23,500 participants on
trips in 2023, less than half the number it took in 2019 and a significant de-
crease from the 2022 figure of 35,000. Its budget will drop to roughly $120
million, from roughly $150 million in 2022. Tapoohi said his foundation is
now placing a new emphasis on growing its endowment and on planned
giving.”
?? Palestine activists have launched a new awareness campaign to free the Holy Land
Five members who still remain in prison.

? Al-Haq launched its inaugural coalition report, Israeli Apartheid: Tool of Zionist Settler
Colonialism:

“This ground-breaking apartheid report is the product of four years of re-

search and advocacy by the coalition of Palestinian human rights organisa-
tions. In this time, and from the efforts of this coalition, there has been grow-
ing acceptance of the reality that is Israel’s oppressive apartheid regime by the
international community. While Al-Haq is encouraged by the growing global
recognition of Israeli apartheid, we note that Zionist settler colonialism and its
eliminatory and population transfer logic remain absent from recent analyses
and reports on apartheid by Israeli and international human rights organisa-
tions such as Yesh Din, B’Tselem, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty
International. It is this gap that the present report seeks to fill.”

“This report aims to expand on the current apartheid discourse, and push for
the recognition of the colonial practices of Israel, both past and present, and
its consistent use of settler colonial policies against the Palestinian people,
recognizing the connection between the Palestinian struggle for self-determi-
nation and the wider, global movement of indigenous liberation against both
colonialism and other associated forms of structural and institutionalized
racism.”

Stay safe out there,

Michael

B ID EN A D M INISTRATION D EM OC RATS H A KEEM JEF F RIES N A NC Y P ELOSI

TH E SH IF T

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