‘We have a serious problem in our party right now,’ said Maryland congressional candidate Joe Vogel
The Democratic Party is divided over pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian factions in a major split that may tear the party apart for a “generation,” according to a recent Wall Street Journal report
Some of the biggest names in progressive and leftist politics are expressing concerns that the Democratic Party is no longer unified as politicians and commentators continue to battle it out in the public square over Israel. The article, headlined “The Left Is Tearing Itself Apart Over Israel,” was published on Tuesday.
“It has been an incredibly clarifying and terrifying moment at the same time for many progressive Jews,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt told the WSJ’s Molly Ball. “They’re calling me, tweeting, messaging, expressing shock and sadness that the people they marched with, the causes they marched for, have abandoned them in their hour of need.”
Others were disappointed that the Democratic Party was not doing enough for pro-Palestinian factions.
“If you are Arab-American, Muslim-American or Palestinian, you feel like you don’t matter, you feel invisible,” said Waleed Shahid, former spokesman for the Justice Democrats. “If you are advocating at all that Palestinian and Israeli lives should be treated equally, there’s a feeling that the party doesn’t care about you at all.”
Shahid also pointed to flagging poll numbers for President Biden among “young and minority voters,” according to the story. A recent Gallup poll found that Biden’s “job approval rating among Democrats has tumbled 11 percentage points in the past month to 75%, the worst reading of his presidency from his own party. This drop has pushed his overall approval rating down four points to 37%, matching his personal low.”
“It shouldn’t be that hard to condemn the murder of innocent women and children and seniors, yet many have either said nothing or equivocated,” said Maryland state delegate and congressional candidate Joe Vogel. “We have a serious problem in our party right now.”
According to Ball, the debate over the Israel-Hamas war has also “spilled into the White House, where Biden on Thursday met with Muslim leaders who chided him for not showing more empathy for Palestinians in his remarks on the conflict.”
“A top State Department official resigned Oct. 18 in protest of the administration’s approach, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Oct. 19 sent a letter to diplomatic staff seeking to quell internal dissent,” the story noted.
