The Israel Lobby and the Cancel Culture
It's not anti-Semitic to oppose Israel's slaughter of children and other innocent lives in Gaza. It's not anti-Semitic to call for an immediate ceasefire. You can advocate the downfall of Benjamin Netanyahu's extremist government (as thousands of brave Israeli protesters did earlier this year before the war conveniently saved him) and still support Israel's right to safely exist. You can oppose the massive flow of U. S. weapons to the IDF when Israel drops 2,000-pound bombs on civilians and commits war crimes.
In other words, you can love your Jewish brothers and sisters -- as I do -- and still stand for life and hope in Palestine, as many of them do.
But war fever has driven the Israel lobby in the U.S. to take militant (and fearful) positions. The AIPAC crowd has targeted Rep. Jamaal Bowman and other progressive (and in many cases non-white) political leaders. Why is Bowman being primaried? Because he had the nerve to speak out for a Gaza ceasefire. Likewise, university presidents (all women) have come under withering fire to resign because they dared to defend academic freedom.
The Israel lobby has become a loud and well-financed part of the cancel culture. Free speech -- especially about Palestinian human rights -- can silence you.
This weekend, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden raised millions of dollars at Hollywood events, co-hosted in many cases by Jewish executives and celebrities. Biden's poll numbers in the nation are rapidly sinking, but he remains very popular in the entertainment industry. In his remarks at the Hollywood fundraisers, President Biden did not mention Gaza once, though the issue is tearing apart his political party. Jill Biden did obliquely refer to it at one party, when the shouts and chants of pro-Palestinian protesters floated faintly from a nearby park, where the demonstrators had been corralled by the police.
“I’m so grateful Joe is our president during these uncertain times,” she ad-libbed, prompting a standing ovation from the crowd.
This is the very definition of elite, bubble-think.... the Bidens presiding over a Hollywood soiree where the tickets cost up to $500,000, while antiwar protesters are fenced in far away by the police. Meanwhile, President Biden vetoes a ceasefire resolution at the UN, thereby assuring there will be more bloodshed in Gaza.
And Democratic pundits wonder why more and more voters consider Biden out of touch.
The pro-war lobby is fracturing the Democratic Party and isolating the U.S. and Israel from most of the world.
Who benefits from this widening tragedy?
The Bidens are still hot in Hollywood.