Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, on Saturday condemned Israel as a racist state, warning activists that there is an organized opposition against progressive critics of Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians.
The sharp criticism from the lawmaker from Washington state marks among the highest-level condemnations of Israel, as several members of her caucus plan to boycott Israel President Isaac Herzog’s address to a joint session of Congress later this week.
Speaking on a panel at Netroots Nation, an annual progressive activist conference in Chicago, Jayapal was addressing pro-Palestinian attendees interrupting the session.
Trump upset the balance. Support for Israel used to be bipartisan, but Trump was so extreme in his pro Israel support that Democrats took the opposite position.
Edit: not sure why people are downvoting for this. Support for Israel used to be nearly unanimous in Congress before Trump. The Squad and others came into office as a result of Trump, and they weren’t afraid to criticize Israel. Trump told Israel to ban them and they did, blocking Rashida Tlaib from visiting her family and causing a wave of criticism in Congress, creating a visible rift between the parties. Democrats weren’t punished for criticizing Israel and the Israel lobby wasn’t able to pressure them as much anymore for fear of angering Biden.
Far right trolls everywhere damn. We need a feature that hides severely downvoted comments.
Maybe it’s less about Trump and more about Netanyahu and his very conservative buddies dismantling the only checks to his power while stepping up settlements. There are lots of reasons to criticise Isreal that have nothing to do with American political divisions. The Israeli’s themselves were protesting in large numbers just last week.
