BY MOSHE HILL OPINION COLUMNS DECEMBER 06 2023
Anyone who has followed Joe Biden’s half-century in politics knows that he is a political weathervane – he will blow in the direction the winds take him. Every social issue, from criminal justice to gay marriage and abortion, Joe Biden has taken every side of. He was fiscally conservative in the 1990s and then became the highest tax and spend President in the last 100 years. So, it makes sense that in the shifting winds of the Democrats’ stance on the relationship with Israel, the weathervane is flying every possible way.
Nothing matters more to a politician than what the polls say, and the polls that Democrats are looking at show that their base of voters is against Israel. In a Gallup poll released this week, 67% of young voters (age 18-34), and 64% of people of color disapprove of the military action Israel has taken in Gaza. By Party ID, 63% of Democrats disapprove, 71% of Republicans approve. There are similar numbers regarding aid. Some 55% of Democrats want more humanitarian aid to Palestinians, despite overwhelming evidence that the aid is taken by Hamas, and only 12% say there’s not enough military aid to Israel.
This explains why Kamala Harris is trying to hedge against Israel in favor of the Palestinian Authority. Reminder: The PA is headed up by Mahmoud Abbas, who is in the 18th year of a four-year term in office. Abbas is a Holocaust denier. The PA has a ten percent approval rating in the West Bank. The PA pays a stipend to families of terrorists. The PA has a long history of collaborating and directing terrorist activities. Yet, it is the PA that Kamala Harris wants to prop up.
“We have to revitalize the Palestinian Authority,” says Kamala Harris, which means giving the support that is necessary for good governance, understanding the issues that must be resolved as we think of a plan for the day after.”
This simple-minded thinking is the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. According to the PA, sale of a Palestinian home to a Jew is punishable by death. According to the PA, Jews are to blame for the Holocaust. According to the PA, Jews cannot pray on the Temple Mount. In what way can the PA be revitalized, and into what? Everything Harris says is platitudes with no plan.
John Kirby, the National Defense Spokesman, echoed that sentiment. Speaking to George Stephanopoulos, he pushed the “two-state solution.” “Part of that means that you’ve got to have an informed and revitalized Palestinian Authority,” he said. He also admitted that “Right now the Palestinian Authority doesn’t have that credibility” and that he agrees with Netanyahu’s assessment that “We don’t believe the PA is in a position right now to be in – a credible control of governance in Gaza.”
It’s impossible to determine what is meant by a “revitalized PA” when they themselves admit that the PA is not credible. The PA is not like the government of another nation, that has a democratic process and a leadership class and the next generation ready to take over with fresh ideas and perspectives. They are not the tolerant, open, liberal democracy that the West desires. The PA, for all intents and purposes, is the politically correct sheepskin on top of the terrorist wolf’s body. They are a Trojan Horse. The Palestinian people overwhelmingly support Hamas. A “revitalized” PA cannot exist unless that changes.
The only possible solution forward is one that few politicians, and certainly no Democrat, would ever say aloud. The Palestinians need to be denazified, just like America did to Germany after the fall of the Third Reich. Their entire culture and worldview, as it stands now, is antithetical to a peaceful coexistence with Israel. From their grade school textbooks to the media they consume, it is filled with hatred of Jews and Israel. It’s impossible to revitalize a government without a revitalization of the people who empower that government.
This will not happen, because there is no pro-Palestinian movement, only an anti-Israel one. How many of these thousands of protesters, who take to the streets, shut down highways, and harass people, actually have any clue on what is happening in these areas? How many actually have a thought of what Palestinians should do to thrive that doesn’t include getting something from Israel? None?
The Biden team is only saying this, even though they know, or at least suspect, that it’s not possible to placate the young voters, voters of color, and other registered Democrats who are turning against Israel. They want those votes, and are scared of those people, going into 2024. They believe those people will stay home (because they certainly won’t vote for Trump). So, essentially, they are willing to sacrifice security of the greatest ally America has in the world for the chance to gain a couple more points in the polls.
