US President Joe Biden "is a Zionist to his core, he feels it in his kishkes as much as I do," US Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres said Thursday on The Jerusalem Post Podcast with Zvika Klein and Tamar Uriel-Beeri.
Torres, in his first visit to Israel after the October 7 massacre, was asked by Klein about what it's like to be in the Democratic Party during the war. His answer was that despite all the clashes with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden is still acking the Jewish state.
"President Biden has been fundamentally supportive of Israel," Torres said. "He's the first president to travel to Israel at a time of war. He sent not one, but two aircraft carriers to deter threats like Hezbollah. And he's providing Israel with the supplies it needs to win the war."
The congressman then further affirmed the strong ties between the US and Israel.
"here's been no change in the US Israel relationship. What we're witnessing is a clash of personalities between the Biden administration and the Netanyahu administration," Torres said. He admitted, however, "I wish those disagreements were unfolding in private. It's constructive and healthy to have disagreement, but it should be done in private. But we should not over interpret a personality clash, as a seismic shift in [relations]."
Israel left betrayed
Torres further commented about the betrayal experienced by the Israeli left from the progressive movement.
"I would submit to you that the Israeli left was betrayed a long time ago," he said. "The post-October 7 world did not change the far Left – it revealed what the far Left had become. I mean, you had so called intellectuals like Judith Butler, right back in 2006, describing Hezbollah and Hamas as 'members of the global Left,' which is absurd, right?"
The congressman further addressed the influence of intersectionality. "There's an antisemitic form of intersectionality, which holds the you cannot be both progressive and pro-Israel... In order to be progressive, you have to be anti Israel. And so I would go to immigration reform rally, and someone would utter the words 'From Mexico to Palestine.' And I would ask myself, 'What does Mexico have to do with Palestine?' I would go to a criminal justice reform rally and someone would say, 'From Ferguson to Palestine,' and I would ask myself, 'What does Ferguson have to do with Palestine?'
"Over time, it became obvious to me that there was a concerted effort by the BDS movement, to make everything about Israel to transform everything into an Israel derangement syndrome. And that's what's unfolding in progressive circles."
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