Free Republic

Last week, Israel once again faced a barrage of rockets from Gaza while most of the mainstream Democratic candidates whistled and looked away. Candidates don’t have to comment on every event happening around the world, but the ­silence of much of the Democratic field feels like more than passing disinterest. And when Vice President Joe Biden offered even a bland message of support for Israel that would have been unremarkable a few years ago, he got massive pushback from the left on Twitter. And it’s those activists on Twitter, and in the campus fever swamps, who shape the progressive conversation...

Three leading Democratic presidential candidates recently endorsed a new policy regarding U.S. military aid to Israel: It should be conditioned on Israel embracing policies toward the Palestinians favored by American progressives. At the J Street conference last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) demanded that Israel "fundamentally change" its approach to terrorist-controlled Gaza, adding, "I think it is fair to say that some [U.S. military aid to Israel] should go right now into humanitarian aid in Gaza." Israeli officials believe such moves would enable Hamas to import more weapons and lead to another war. South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg...

2020 Dems Stand With J Street, Hamas and ISIS Against Israel Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders declare war on the Jewish State. Fri Nov 1, 2019 Daniel Greenfield 55 Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism. Not a single 2020 Democrat candidate from the massive field spoke at AIPAC’s pro-Israel summit in the spring. But 5 of the 2020 Dems, Sanders, Buttigieg, Castro, Klobuchar, and Bennett, were featured at the J Street conference alongside anti-Israel activists, BDS supporters, and terrorists. Those 2020 Dems who...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren has threatened that as president she would consider cutting off U.S. aid to Israel if the country moves against a two-state solution, but last year, she condemned President Trump for cutting off aid to intransigent Palestinians. The Democratic front-runner said regarding aid to Israel, "Right now, Netanyahu says he is going to take Israel in a direction of increasing settlements. That does not move us toward a two-state solution." She added, "It is the official policy of the United States of America to support a two-state solution, and if Israel is moving in the opposite direction, then...

INDIANOLA, Iowa — Elizabeth Warren issued a warning to Israel if it continues building settlements in the West Bank. The Massachusetts senator was asked after a town hall in Iowa whether she was open to making U.S. aid conditional on an agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt construction in a territory Israel won in a defensive war in 1967, which is home to about 3 million Palestinians and roughly 400,000 Jews. "Right now, Netanyahu says that he is going to take Israel in a direction of increasing settlements. That does not move us toward a two-state solution....

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) took a hard line on Israel Saturday saying "everything is on the table" in imposing a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. "It is the official policy of the United States of America to support a two-state solution, and if Israel is moving in the opposite direction, then everything is on the table," Warren said during a press availability with reporters Saturday. In a formulation more commonly deployed by previous presidents in threatening the use of force against America’s enemies, Warren repeated the phrase but did not clarify precisely what pressure—military or otherwise—might be brought...

This week, four of the top candidates for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination -- Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Julian Castro and Bernie Sanders -- gathered at the J Street Conference to explain why the United States ought to pressure the state of Israel to make concessions to terrorists, why the Obama administration was correct to appease the Iranian regime and why American Jews ought to value the opinions of Bernie Sanders over those of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the future of Jewish safety. Two other top Democrats -- Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden -- sent video messages in...

Two Democratic lawmakers told a liberal Jewish conference on Monday they support the inclusion in the 2020 party platform of language on Israeli “occupation” of territories claimed by the Palestinians. One of them also argued that their party has not shifted on the Israeli-Palestinian issue; rather the Republicans have veered away from what he suggested used to be the “mainstream” position. Speaking at the J Street national conference gala dinner in Washington, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) expressed strong support for the idea – now being actively championed by J Street – of inserting opposition to “occupation” in the platform. “I...

Ben Rhodes, President Obama's national security adviser, said on Monday that Obama sought to use the United Nations as a vehicle to isolate and pressure the Jewish state. Rhodes, speaking at the anti-Israel group J Street's annual conference in Washington, D.C., discussed efforts by the former administration to weaponize the U.N. to force Israel into concessions to the Palestinians. Obama, near the end of his tenure in office, drew sharp criticism across the pro-Israel community for permitting the United States to abstain from a U.N. vote criticizing what it described as Israeli settlements. The U.N. was allowed to proceed with...

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders said Monday that part of the $3.8 billion in annual US military assistance to Israel should instead go toward humanitarian relief in Gaza. The Vermont senator, speaking at the annual J Street national conference, vowed to use American military aid as leverage to get Israel to roll back its settlement enterprise and enter peace negotiations with the Palestinians, an idea that has gained ground among some Democrats. “I would use the leverage of $3.8 billion,” he told the confab, referring to the US-Israel memorandum of understanding brokered under the Obama administration. “It is a lot...

The two most powerful Democratic politicians in America, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, will headline the annual conference of J Street, the left-wing Israel lobby group. The conference, which drew 3,000 people last year, is among the most prominent liberal Jewish gatherings of the year. It will take place in late October, and Pelosi and Schumer will speak on the night of Oct. 28. Pelosi recently launched an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. Schumer’s presence at the conference is especially notable because he has established a reputation as a traditional pro-Israel voice in the...

The Knesset, Israel’s parliament, passed a law last year declaring Israel “the national home of the Jewish people, in which it fulfills its natural, cultural, religious, and historical right to self-determination.” One might suppose that this “Basic Law” (akin to a constitutional amendment) would be as contentious as the Vatican proclaiming itself Catholic. To the contrary. Although the “nation-state law” changed no policies and affirmed a relationship between Jews and Israel that had been manifest since the country’s founding in 1948, the legislation was exceptionally controversial. One of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main political opponents, opposition leader Tzipi Livni, charged...

A holdover from the Obama administration who helped broker the Iran nuclear deal continues to work in the Trump State Department as a member of the “policy planning staff,” according to her biography on the agency website. “Prior to joining the Policy Planning Staff, she served as a Director for Iran and Iran Nuclear Implementation on the National Security Council Staff from 2014-2016,” Sahar Nowrouzzadeh’s bio states. “Sahar also previously served as a Foreign Affairs Officer at the U.S. Department of State and a Team Chief and Senior Analyst at the Department of Defense.” In an October 2016, Nowrouzzadeh was...

Hat Tip: Robert M "What is truly macabre is the behavior of sections of Diaspora Jewish communities. Fringe groups in both the U.S. and U.K. have been publicly demonstrating in favor of the Hamas killers and even holding surreal recitations of the mourner’s kaddish, naming the individuals killed. This is the equivalent of reciting kaddish for dead SS soldiers who shared the same genocidal objectives against the Jews as Hamas – truly a chilul Hashem, a desecration of God’s name.Even beyond this demented fringe, many Jews are publicly expressing grief at the death of the terrorists. Yet they do not...

Want to know why Israelis have little patience for Jewish Democrats? First, none of their leaders accepted the invitation to attend the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, Israel's capital. Second, Bernie Sanders just agreed with Hamas that they have the right to return to Israel, which would spell the end of Israel. ..... So when Jewish Democrats wonder why Israel ignores their views on Israel or take their protests to be pro-Israel with a pinch of salt they will understand why. These actions from their political leaders are as lame as they were when they backed the awful...

The back-to-back bombshells of abuse allegations against New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman and President Donald Trump's decision to leave the Iran nuclear agreement dealt a tough blow today to Amy Spitalnick, who before signing on as press secretary for Schneiderman worked for nuclear deal advocate group J Street. The news that Trump would be leaving the Iran deal came just a few hours after Spitalnick had to alert reporters that her boss wouldn't be coming in to the office after he was accused by four women of nonconsensual sexual violence and resigned. Spitalnick had called Schneiderman a "proud feminist"...

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2016 election but lost out to Hillary Clinton, on Monday criticized Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his policies. "As someone who believes absolutely and unequivocally in Israel's right to exist... we must say loudly and clearly, that to oppose the reactionary policies of Prime Minister Netanyahu does not make us anti-Israel," Sanders told the annual conference of the J Street organization. He took issue with Israel’s response to the recent riots along the border with Gaza, claiming Israel "massively overreacted" to the protests. "The presence of Hamas members...

You may have heard: President Donald Trump replaced his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, with John Bolton. You may have heard because of the mixed reaction to the prospect of Bolton running national security — “mixed” as in apocalyptic among leftists and heaven-sent to many on the right. Look no further than the pro-Israel spectrum for each extremes: “We are horrified by his selection to be national security adviser and believe this move by the president gravely imperils our country’s national standing and the fundamental security of the United States and its allies, including Israel,” said Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president...

'Pompeo is a hawkish ideologue'The far-left J Street lobby announced that it opposes CIA Director Mike Pompeo's nomination for Secretary of State and urged Senators to scuttle appointment. "We oppose Pompeo’s nomination and urge Senators to vote against his confirmation," said J Street. "Pompeo is deeply ill-suited to manage US foreign policy and, in particular, the future of the JCPOA nuclear agreement with Iran." "Even in an administration known for its fundamental hostility to diplomacy, Pompeo stands out as a hawkish ideologue and an extreme advocate for the use of military force," continued the statement. "He called for the use...

Two high-level Iranian government backers, including a former Islamic Republic official and another accused of lobbying on Tehran’s behalf, were hosted at the Obama White House for more than 30 meetings with top officials at key junctures in the former administration’s contested diplomacy with Iran, according to White House visitor logs that provide a window into the former administration’s outreach to leading pro-Iran advocates. Seyed Mousavian, a former Iranian diplomat and head of its national security council, was hosted at the White House at least three times, while Trita Parsi, a pro-Iran advocate long accused of hiding his ties to...