It was a busy week with the third election in Israel this year and the AIPAC annual policy conference in Washington, D.C.
In Israel, the election was as close to a victory for Prime Minister Netanyahu and the right wing bloc as a political entity can get. The updated count says that the right now has a secure 59 Knesset seats. That means that two defectors from one party or another is required in order to form a government.
At the AIPAC meetings in Washington D.C., where 18,000 supporters of Israel gathered, AIPAC president Betsy Berns Korn said that the Israel lobby group is in a fight with forces in Congress who have not just dedicated themselves to undermining the U.S.-Israel relationship, but are stoking the coals of antisemitism to a new level.
The American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has always been in the lead on promoting bipartisan support of Israel and its shared values with the United States. The comments by Ms. Korn on Monday seemed to indicate that while the organization is still rightfully dedicated to bipartisanship on Israel, it is no longer that simple.
Take the recent Trump “Deal of the Century” drawing lines on the map including the creation of a Palestinian state. The Democratic Party that has been calling for two states for decades has been critical and denigrated the plan for the sole reason that it is a plan that emanated from the Trump administration.
As U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman told his AIPAC audience on Monday, “If the only reason you don’t like our policy and Israel is that you don’t like our president, regrettably we will remain unnecessarily endlessly divided and potentially miss a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
That reality was on display when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer suggested that the Trump Middle East peace proposal was created for the exclusive reason of political expediency. Schumer sprinkled his remarks at AIPAC with an assortment of Yiddishisms and other Hebraic references in a patronizing and even condescending fashion. We can be assured that a large majority of those present did not understand his Borscht Belt colloquial references in his hope to curry favor with so many Jews gathered in one large room.
Schumer, like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has been nothing less than unstatesmanlike to President Trump for three years now. If, as they claim, they are so pro-Israel, where is their repudiation or even mild disagreement with Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders when he calls Prime Minister Netanyahu a racist and labels the government policies of Israel as racist as well?
In Israel, the back-room negotiations and horse trading to form a right wing government is getting underway. The issue that needs to be dealt with primarily is how to stretch the Likud victory to achieve a majority of 61 seats in the Knesset. As of Tuesday, the right is at 59 seats with several pathways to get to the magic number 61.
The quickest and perhaps easiest way to get there is to court several philosophically Likud-leaning members of Blue and White and convince them to join a Likud coalition.
In times gone by, former Defense Minister and Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman with his 7-8 Knesset mandates would have joined the right, giving Netanyahu a comfortable majority in parliament. But Lieberman, who faced indictment in the past, refuses to serve in a government with Bibi who is about to go on trial for fraud in a few weeks. In addition, the religious parties, specifically the Chareidi United Torah Judaism (UTJ) also refuse to join a coalition with Lieberman so it is a virtual two-way street. Also UTJ has made it clear that they will not serve in a government with Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid, which is part of Blue and White.
Schumer and Pelosi made it clear that the only way in their opinion to achieve peace in the Israel region is with their tired and worn down idea of two states. Yes, the Trump plan calls for two states as well but you can be assured that the Democratic plan leans much more in the direction of candidate Sanders and his major House supporters Congresswomen Cortez and Omar—neither friends of Israel.
Schumer, with his remarks peppered with Yiddish notwithstanding, would most likely support dividing Jerusalem and even returning the U.S. Embassy to Tel Aviv. There is no way the senior senator from New York would support Israel extending sovereignty over Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, ever after 53 years of virtual sovereignty.
So it is not really about bipartisanship, it’s about creating a new disaster for Israel that would roll the tape back to the Obama administration. In other words, no thanks Chuck, you’re no longer fooling anyone.
This week also included Super Tuesday, which features Democratic primaries in 14 states. After a sub-par showing, Mike Bloomberg decided to drop out of the race and throw his support behind Joe Biden. The race is now about Mr. Biden and Bernie Sanders.
Bloomberg has said in the past of Mr. Sanders that it is impossible for him to beat Donald Trump. On Monday night at a town hall style meeting on Fox News, Bloomberg was asked who he would vote for if the race came down to be one between Mr. Trump and Mr. Sanders.
Surprisingly and even sadly Mr. Bloomberg thought for a brief moment and then said in a competition in November between those two he would vote for Bernie Sanders. I guess it was a tough decision for Mr. Bloomberg to make but it looks like it was the wrong answer.
Bernie Sanders has made it clear that he firmly believes that Michael Bloomberg represents and typifies everything that is wrong with America and that he has pledged to repair if he is elected president. Sanders holds every aspect of Bloomberg as a problem. Bloomberg is extraordinarily wealthy and supports Israel and unlike Sanders has said that U.S. aid for Israel should never be conditioned on any policy or anything else.
But Bloomberg was trapped by a perhaps unanticipated and certainly tricky question. Had Bloomberg said he would vote for Trump, it would have been big news and could have totally undermined his candidacy.
How can Mike Bloomberg unabashedly say he would cast his vote for Bernie Sanders? Aside from a Sanders presidency seeking to undo Bloomberg’s wealth, he would also deconstruct the state of Israel one kilometer at a time.
Bloomberg’s comment about Sanders is a demonstration of Democratic political folly. It is really nothing more than something between a partisan charade and a full-blown three-ring circus.
The way it looks today, the momentum is moving in the direction of designating Joe Biden as the ringmaster or the nominee for the presidency. Some genuinely feel that Mr. Biden has the best shot at beating Mr. Trump. While that is unlikely, if nothing else it will be entertaining.
Contact Larry Gordon at lg5tjt@gmail.com.