Beware! The pro-Hamas, anti-American forces are pulling off a great con. Empowered by how much Joe Biden and Kamala Harris fear them in Michigan, encouraged by sniveling academics who gave them amnesty for trashing campuses, they think they’ve got momentum. They claim to represent the American people and the Democratic Party: They don’t! Most Americans remain pro-Israel and anti-Hamas. Most Americans don’t want to see Chicago burning, with hooligans using American and Israeli flags as fuel for the fire.
Even The New York Times reported that a University of Chicago and GenForward poll “showed that the Gaza war ranked near the bottom of young voters’ concerns, well below immigration, economic growth and income inequality.”
This election will be won – like most – in the Center. It will pivot around swing centrist voters in swing states who want to build America up, not burn it down. To win, Democrats should appeal to them, by defying the masked cowards who hate America, Israel, and the West.
So beyond that pragmatic argument – that victory will come from mobilizing the pro-Israel majority and not pandering to the anti-Israel, anti-American minority – here are the most important principled arguments pro-Israel Democrats should make in Chicago.
1 – Oct. 7 justifies Israel’s war
The October 7 horrors keep reverberating and defining this war’s morality. Hamas started the war with a bloodbath. Hezbollah, the Houthis, and the Iranians joined. All attacked Israel not because of what Israel did or does but because of what Israel is. Hating Israel for being the Jewish state and for being a liberal democracy, they seek its destruction. That gives Israel every right to defend itself in its fight for survival against genocidal forces – who ironically and absurdly yell the charge of “genocide” against Israel, projecting their sick behavior and perverse ambitions onto the Jews.
2 – Holding hostages proves Hamas’s evil
Dozens of hostages are still being held, abused, tortured. That further justifies Israel’s actions morally. What kind of person tears down hostage posters – of infants snatched from their mothers, of young girls enslaved sexually? Do you want people like that in your political Party? And, how could it be that so many hostages have been held by “innocent” Gazans? The Palestinians’ complicity in Hamas’s kidnapping and abuse proves that Israel’s war is against those Gazans, not just Hamas. Note, the “journalist” and “doctor” – and others who held innocent Israelis and were killed in rescue operations – count among the “innocents” in the Hamas-inflated body count.
3 – Hamas hides behind civilians
Given these evil threats to Israel’s existence – Israelis, Left and Right, have fought honorably. The loss of thousands of innocent Gazans is tragic – but who’s to blame? Note how Hamas hides behind civilians. So echo the question of the Israeli leftist Amos Oz, who in 2014, seeing the Gaza buildup, asked, “what would you do?” Don’t just criticize Israel for attacking civilians unintentionally – suggest alternative methods for dislodging an evil force, supported by the civilians, and hiding behind them.
4 – Israel is held to unfair standards
Similarly, compare how Israel fights, trying to minimize civilian casualties, and how the US and other Western democracies fought in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. Note that we don’t compare Israel to dictatorships. Ask why Israel is held to standards no other Western military is expected to meet. Perhaps the systematic campaign against Israel’s right to exist – that Israel is, not what it does – has an impact. Note that no matter what is thrown at Israel – genocidal rapists, thousands of Hezbollah rockets, hundreds of Iranian ballistic missiles – even Americans tell Israel “take the win,” “don’t be so aggressive,” “ceasefire.” And when it pulls off pinprick assassinations, it’s accused of “retaliation” and “escalation.” So what’s a legitimate response? And why is Israel held to such impossible standards?
5 – Unhinged charges against Israel
Moreover, why are the political attacks against Israel so disproportionate? Three million civilians recently died in the Congo. Hundreds of thousands died in Syria, in Yemen, in Iraq. Even if we accept Hamas’s exaggerated numbers – and ignore that at least 17,000 among the 40,000 supposedly killed were terrorists – this horrific number is a rounding error in the list of twenty-first century calamities. Yet “experts” call Gaza the “deadliest conflict in the twenty-first century.” Every civilian death is a tragedy – but “the worst”? Or “genocide” – which means systematically destroying a people. Shouldn’t the unhinged rhetoric make Democrats suspicious?
6 – Denounce violent protests
Finally, ask: “which side are you on?” Do you want to be on the side of the masked, flag-burning, pro-Hamas, pro-rape, pro-hostage-taking, anti-American, anti-Western, Jew-hating, rampaging snowflakes? Are those your people? Moreover, do we want to import Third World street politics into America’s streets and onto our campuses? When Republicans rioted, Democrats objected, justifiably. It’s time to consistently and passionately condemn all violent protests. Not because it might elect Donald Trump – that’s a whiny plea about “me.” Denounce this assault on democracy unequivocally.
On Thursday, Kamala Harris will accept the Democratic nomination, hoping to become America’s president. Listen to her acceptance address with these arguments in mind. See how many of these pro-Israel arguments she makes – judging if she makes any of them passionately, or just phones them in.
See if she condemns Iran boldly, really understands the mullahs’ threat, and is ready to confront them. And listen: will Democrats chant “Bring Them Home” about the hostages as ardently and unanimously as the Republicans did?
Make your voice heard: You can be the change. Make sure the Democratic Party continues the tradition – of Harry Truman and Eleanor Roosevelt, of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Betty Friedan, of Bella Abzug and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, of Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton – by being America’s leading pro-Israel party.
The writer is a senior fellow in Zionist thought at the Jewish People Policy Institute. These arguments are further developed in his latest book, The Essential Guide to October 7th and Its Aftermath: Facts, Figures, History, available for download on the JPPI website and Amazon Kindle.