printA delicious divide has opened up, one that strengthens the Trumpian, populist, anti-globalist, national-sovereignty impetus. The divide is between American establishment politicians and Israel, BUT it’s a divide that both highlights and strengthens the MAGA, America-First movement.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Democrat from Florida, Joe Lieberman, former Senator and bosom buddy of neocons John McCain, and AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee): They’ve all shown their anti-nationalist, globalist, leftist, values-enforcer credentials, coming out in opposition to the nationalist faction in Israeli politics, which wishes to bar America’s most repulsive political agitators from acting out in the Jewish State.
Israel actually wanted to “send them home.”
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Thursday broke with Israel’s decision to bar Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar (Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) from visiting the country, saying “every member of Congress should be able to visit.”
“We disagree with Reps. Omar and Tlaib’s support for the anti-Israel and anti-peace BDS movement, along with Rep. Tlaib’s calls for a one-state solution. We also believe every member of Congress should be able to visit and experience our democratic ally Israel firsthand,” AIPAC tweeted Thursday.
… the first and only Jewish candidate on a major party’s presidential ticket in US history called it a “serious mistake” for Israel to bar the first two Muslim women elected to Congress from visiting the country.
“It’s a serious mistake because it’s contrary to the values of the state of Israel, the values to the United States of America which has been the underlying foundation of our relationship,” Lieberman, who was Al Gore’s running mate in 2000, told CNN’s John Berman on “New Day” Friday.
I think this is demonstrative of the dangerous slippery slope that President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu have placed Israel on. When you have two free countries who allow for the freedom of speech, the freedom of travel, really without conditions and to — to have suggested — to have prohibited my colleagues from traveling to Israel, I think was a sign of weakness, I think it was unfortunate, I think it — I think it allows for Israel to be exactly what we don’t want it to be, and that is a political wedge and a political football. We need to make sure that Israel remains a Jewish and democratic state, and that we make sure we can promote and expand people’s awareness of the importance of both of those statuses.
IMPORTANT, RELATED READING: “Beware The Values Cudgel.”
* Image courtesy the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
UPDATE (8/17/019): Oh, POTUS. You’re killing me. LOL.
Brilliantly funny, vintage @POTUS #RashidaTlaib https://t.co/NIUpeR4aAs
— Ilana Mercer (@IlanaMercer) August 17, 2019