It’s now official. The Democratic Party no longer views Israel as an alley. Instead, they have embraced Senator Bernie Sanders’ resolution to punish Israel for its involvement in our War against Iran. Forty of 47 Democratic Senators including a few Jews, voted to deprive Israel of much needed military aid in terms of sales, not donations. Of the Seven Democrats who voted with the Republicans on this resolution were three Jewish members: Chuck Schumer of New York, Jack Rosen of Nevada, and Rich Blumenthal of Connecticut. Their days in office may be numbered for this “crime.”

This is the same Bernie Sanders who ran for President alongside Hilary Clinton in 2016 and came close enough to winning the primary to make moderate Democrats sweat. (He garnered 43% of the vote versus Clinton’s 55%). The same Bernie Sanders who scared the bejeezus out of the Democratic Party with his initially strong numbers early in the race with Hillary, who just squeaked by to win the Iowa caucus. This caused the Democratic Party power brokers to rally with Hillary and engage to make sure Sanders wasn’t nominated. Because Bernie, with his talk of campaign finance reform and economic inequality, was considered way too Left, too extreme.

Well, Bernie has had the last laugh. He is now the official kingmaker of the Democratic Party, even though he is officially an Independent (whatever that means!) and it seems he is the one pulling the strings with nearly all Party senators hewing the line, including the Jewish ones like Adam Schiff of California (as expected) and newcomer Elissa Slotkin of Michigan (who declares herself a “moderate”). Most of them, with the exception of the three mentioned earlier, voted with Sanders. (Tellingly, there are NO Jewish Republican senators).

Especially poignant was Slotkin’s official post on Facebook on how she considers herself to be “a strong supporter of a Jewish and Democratic State of Israel” and how tough it was for her to vote this way. If this is what support of Israel looks like, I wonder how opposition to the Jewish State would play out! She uses the word “complex truth” to justify her vote and goes on to say, “The people of Israel, like all people throughout the region, deserve long-term security and peace.” But by her logic that translated into  withholding necessary military means for that........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)