Jewish politicians shouldn’t bash Israel to get to the White House

Could a Jew be our next president? Three Jews — Rahm Emanuel, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) — have indicated interest in the job. Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff (D) whose father is Jewish, says he is not running — a signal that maybe he is. 

Could any of them even be nominated with the backing of the pro-Palestinian “from the river to the sea” left wing of the Democratic party? The Constitution says there shall be no “religious test” for office. For almost two centuries, this proved to be only a declaration of pious intent. 

In 1928, conspiracy theorists whispered that the “Happy Warrior,” Catholic candidate Al Smith, if elected president, would build a “tunnel to the Vatican.” Smith went on to electoral defeat. 

We thought the issue was settled in 1960, when candidate John F. Kennedy told Protestant clergy, “I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party’s candidate for president, who happens also to be a Catholic.” He said presciently, “this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew or a Quaker or a Unitarian or a Baptist.”

Kennedy was elected. But today, with antisemitism surging, and support for Israel plummeting, a Jewish president would appear to be a longshot. 

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become the lightning rod for the Israel bashing. I have no brief for Netanyahu. He should have anticipated the barbaric Oct. 7, 2023 attack on his people and protected them. Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 Jews and kidnapped more than 250 innocents. His savage retaliation in Gaza engendering a........

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