CT Blue

Sometimes I think our big name Democrats stay awake at night trying to figure out ways to lose elections. What issues can they ignore that people care about? What arguments can they fail to make that would work? Who can they alienate who would otherwise vote for them?

Case in point discussed in this article, the headline for which reads: “Biden attacks ‘ferocious surge of antisemitism’”. He was speaking to a group at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

There has not been a ferocious surge of antisemitism in this country, and it is both factually wrong and politically stupid to imply that the protestors at various universities are anti-Semites. They are speaking out against a government that is committing what is almost universally recognized as a form of genocide. The fact that Jews were themselves the victims of genocide does not in any way justify what the government of Israel is currently doing. There are plenty of Jews in this country that have made it clear that they oppose what the Israeli government is doing, Bernie Sanders being one. Are they anti-Semites?

This really got to me:

“This ancient hatred of Jews didn’t begin with the Holocaust,’’ he said. “It didn’t end with the Holocaust, either.’’

…

But, he added, “there is no place on any campus in America, any place in America, for antisemitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind.’’

Biden also denounced attempts to minimize the Hamas attack last October, which killed some 1,200 people in Israel and sparked a war that has killed an estimated 34,000 people in Gaza.

“Now here we are, not 75 years later, but just 71?2 months later, and people are already forgetting,’’ Biden said. “They are already forgetting. That Hamas unleashed this terror. It was Hamas that brutalized Israelis. It was Hamas who took and continues to hold hostages.

I’m sure there are some anti-Semites among the demonstrators, but hate speech and threats of violence have not been a particular feature of the demonstrations. This sounds an awful lot like the Republican lies about Black Lives Matter demonstrations.

Just as it is unfair to equate the government of Israel with all Jews, it is unfair to equate all Palestinians with Hamas, but that is what he is doing by making the “they started it” argument. Indeed, the people of Palestine have less control over Hamas than the citizens of Israel have over their government. Biden is essentially arguing that Israel is entitled to take vengeance on an entire group of people because some of them committed war crimes. The underlying logic is clear: anti-Semitism is bad, but anti-Palestinianism is okay. It’s okay to engage in mass murder of people who did nothing to you if someone of their ethnicity did something you don’t like. Just don’t try that argument in reverse when in comes to Israel.

I suspect that Biden’s actual feelings about what Israel is doing are a bit more nuanced, but for some reason he feels its a political necessity that he engage in this sort of rhetoric. It may come back to haunt him, and could be a factor in the overthrow of democracy here in this country. Those kids that are demonstrating are, most of them, potential Democratic voters, as are those who agree with them. The numbers are not trivial. Biden is pushing them toward voting third party, which means they will functionally be voting for Trump. The upcoming election is too important to throw away be attacking people who are simply calling for an end to a campaign of violence toward an entire group of people.