We must look at the results of 2018, think 2019 and 2020 and how we as individuals and as a minority group plan on moving forward if we wish to remain any kind of voice and power in any political party in the United States of America.
As a syndicated radio talk show host, columnist, journalist, activist and public figure, I get asked the same questions everyday.....Can I help raise money and/or awareness for an issue? How can any Jew vote Democrat? And..... Why are so many Jews self-hating anti-Semites?
All are good questions, all deserve great answers. You might like my responses, or might not, but I won't play you for fools either. Our truth hurts. And I will probably get lots of response from you, both positive and negative, but knowledge is power...... So here it goes.....
The 2018 Jewish Vote
Many published reports summarized that during the November 2018 elections, Jews voted for Republican candidates less than 30 percent overall.
Is this true? Probably. Look at maps of where Jewish populations live. Blue states became bluer. More Jewish Democrats were elected on local, state and national levels. In the Democratic Party, more anti-Semites were elected to office as well. That's scary, but what's worse, Jewish Democrats, whether elected officials, public figures and/or financial donors, supported these Israel haters. That's scary. Even scarier, how we as a group accept this as OK, even support it.
On The National Level
Since the election, we have seen newly elected officials already attack Israel. Congratulations to Morton Klein and The Zionist Organization of America for calling them out:
The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has condemned the anti-Israel record of newly elected Member of Congress, Ihlan Omar, and is seeking to alert the public to her record of hostile, anti-Israel extremism. Omar, a Muslim refugee from Somalia, was elected in the 2018 midterm elections to replace Rep. Keith Ellison (D–MI) in the state’s 5th Congressional District, a solidly Democratic seat. The ZOA has also called upon the Democratic Party and the media to criticize her anti-Israel extremism, something which reportage on her campaign and victory has totally ignored.
Since she been elected, Omar has now confirmed to the website Muslim Girl that she also supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement which, as openly admitted by its originators, seeks to delegitimize, economically harm and ultimately eliminate the Jewish state of Israel by criminalizing business relations with Israeli Jews. Her campaign told the website that, “Ilhan believes in and supports the BDS movement, and has fought to make sure people’s right to support it isn’t criminalized. She does however, have reservations on the effectiveness of the movement in accomplishing a lasting solution.”
Following her being elected, Omar told Muslim Girl magazine that she “believes in and supports the BDS movement,” adding that she has fought to ensure others are also able to openly support the movement. Omar is first Member of Congress to openly support BDS.
The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has also condemned newly-elected Congresswoman-Elect Rashida Tlaib (D–MI) for publicly wrapping herself in the flag of Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority (PA) at her election win party last week. The ZOA has also condemned her numerous lies about Israel and her support for its elimination. ZOA is urging the Congressional Ethics Committee to investigate her actions.
The ZOA believes that it is thoroughly inappropriate for any Member of Congress to wrap themselves in the national flag of a foreign entity, especially at one's election victory party, even one with whom one is associated by birth or ethnicity, and that it is especially wrong and offensive when done in connection with the flag of a terrorism-supporting dictatorship that is hostile to the United States and which has only recently had US aid to it cut on account of its pro-terror, anti-peace acts.
Rep.-Elect Tlaib, newly elected to Congress in Michigan as a Democrat, appeared wrapped in the PA flag during her primary victory speech in August as she pledged to “fight back against every racist and oppressive structure” (Astead W. Herndon, ‘Rashida Tlaib, With Primary Win, Is Poised to Become First Muslim Woman in Congress,’ New York Times, August 8, 2018). She repeated the appearance wrapped in the PA flag during her victory speech last week.
The ZOA also condemned Rep. Tlaib’s record of anti-Semitic extremism, which includes support for “one-state”, that is, the revocation of Israel’s rightful independence and sovereignty and supplanting it by a single state in which Arabs would predominate.
Kudos to Klein and ZOA, but where are our other leaders? Our rabbis? Our so-called "moderate Democrats" like Senators Ben Cardin, Chuck Schumer or Congresman Josh Gottheimer?
The New York Example
I can best support the theories based on New York, where I live and advise multiple campaigns on all levels. I heard multiple times, "You can vote for Donald Trump, but vote for Democrats for everything else. Jews voted for Governor Cuomo, Senator Gillibrand and the rest of the statewide candidates. They overwhelmingly voted to keep a Democratic Assembly and overturned a State Senate, which now has a Democratic majority. Republican judges on local levels lost. Long term incumbents, whose records show them supporting our needs, lost.
All this when Andrew Cuomo publicly announced he won't travel to Israel last spring, Gillibrand has a horrible voting record and voice against Israel and anti-Semitic acts are rising all over the state. Since the elections, the first issues to be addressed in Albany in the next session are pay raises and more monies for public schools, as published in newspapers. How does this help our communities?
Who Votes D, Who Votes R?
Everyone, including paid political consultants and strategists tell me, "All non-religious Jews vote Democratic, all Orthodox Jews vote Republican." Really, in New York, the Orthodox communities of Queens and Brooklyn, the Five Towns, Great Neck and the areas surrounding Suffern, like Monsey, all have for the most part, Democratic representatives. Yes, they all stand in our shuls, our yeshivas and with organization leaders at events, but do they call out the classrooms teaching hateful propaganda, do they stop the discrimination in public jobs, or do they publicly call out CAIR, Linda Sarsour or any other public Israel hater?
Moslems, Asians, Hispanics, and Blacks are voting in record numbers for Republicans. Why aren't Jews?
have my theories, which come in part 2 of this Op-Ed. They are tied to our need to fit in, and how our Rabbis are not thinking about our future. I hope I laid out a summary to have you think about where I am going with this article. In the meantime, you can share your thoughts with me at [email protected]