Tough choices

 (Originally published in The Times of Israel)

A few months ago I came across a Facebook group entitled “We are Progressive, Liberal, Woke and Pro Israel!”  I used to think of myself as progressive although, given how that concept has been hijacked and polluted, I certainly would not fit in with the current movement.  I am still fairly liberal on a good number of social and economic issues.  I’ve never really known what “woke” means.   Intrigued with the group, I joined up.

My conclusion after reading many posts and joining in a few conversations:  these are by-and-large decent, civil people who care deeply about preserving American democracy and about supporting a democratic, Jewish Israel that has at least a chance of living at peace with its Palestinian neighbors.

My other conclusion:  Many of the members of the group are tortured over what to do in the upcoming election.

They are terribly afraid that a continuing Republican majority in both houses of Congress, combined with two more years of the Trump presidency, threatens permanent damage to American democracy.  They care about immigration, equal rights, reproductive rights, health care, the poor.

And they care about Israel although, like many Israelis, they would love to see a different Israeli Prime Minister and government.

Some have argued that preserving American democracy and stopping the Trump/MAGA agenda is so important that they will put their concerns about Israel aside and vote for Democratic candidates who are anti or weak on Israel but whose other positions they support.  Their argument, or rationale, is that after these candidates are in office, their pro-Israel supporters will be in a good position to educate them more on Israel and to influence their position.

My response to these well-intentioned but naive pro-Israel Democrats:

“The only way that the Democrats will change directions is if they lose elections as a result of their turn to anti-Israel/anti-Jew positions. Helping them win and then trying to persuade them will not work.

“I was a lobbyist in California for 30 years before making Aliyah, so I have a pretty good sense of how politicians act and respond. As a former boss used to say, ‘If you smile when they’re kicking you in the ass, they’ll think you like it.’ Votes are the equivalent of smiles to politicians.

“They’re kicking us in the ass. Don’t smile. I know the thought of the Republicans maintaining a majority in the House or Senate greatly pains many in this group. But if the Democrats win, do not expect them to deviate from the path they are on. Victory will be perceived as confirmation that they are on the right path.”

Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s race against Republican Mike Rogers has become a primary focus of the group’s anguish and debate.  They see this race as possibly determining who controls the Senate, and they see him as the most extreme of the Democratic anti-Israel candidates. But they support many of his other positions.

The Republican candidate, Mike Rogers, formerly a mainstream Republican and supporter of Israel with impressive foreign policy credentials, has made it even harder for them by, in a transparent reading of Republican political winds, leaning toward Trump in recent years, even to the extent of questioning the results of the 2020 election.

I have chimed in, telling them El Sayed is an easy decision:  When a candidate questions and undermines the right of Israel to exist, i.e. the right of Jews to self-determination in the land in which we are an indigenous people, and when he repeatedly targets and demonizes an organization primarily made up of American Jews who participate in the political process in support of an issue of utmost importance to them, he has crossed a red line.  End of story.

Thirty Senate Democrats and two independents who caucus with the Democrats, out of 47 in total, recently voted to block all arm sales to Israel.  Forty Democrats voted against the sale of military bulldozers. Thirty-six voted to block 1,000-pound bombs.

House and Senate Democrats have pushed back on the Trump Administration’s $2.8 billion bomb sale to Israel.

One hundred and three out of 214 House Democrats voted to immediately cut off all funding from the National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act from going to Israel.  That clearly includes the annual $3.3 billion that comes from the Foreign Military Financing, and it presumably includes any funding of any other program that involves or benefits Israel.

Some have argued that these votes were just performative, the members of Congress knew they would not pass, they were just sending a message to Netanyahu.

Would you bet your kids’ lives on that?

Even if one believes, as I do, that financial support from the U.S. to Israel should be phased out, this immediate, broad cut-off would have caused substantial damage to Israel’s defense capabilities and would have sent a terrible message to the region.

Democratic control presents a real possibility that arms sales to Israel could be curtailed or halted.

Some in the progressive, liberal pro-Israel group attempt to minimize the threat, arguing that the possibility of Israel being without arms to defend itself is a “future potential danger,” and that when push comes to shove, the United States will not leave Israel defenseless. They argue that Israel will find other sources for the arms it needs and that it will more fully develop its own military manufacturing capabilities, both possibilities that take significant time.

They believe that the threat of two more years of Republican control of the houses, along with Trump in the White House, poses an immediate threat to American democracy and values they hold dear and that that must be the first priority.  As one commenter put it:

“But the GOP under Trump is tearing down democracy itself in the U.S.  We [Jews] don’t do well in authoritarian dictatorships which, on its present trajectory, America is heading for, and is trying to implement in the rest of the free world. Everyone’s first priority should be to do whatever they can, to totally root out this rotten-to-the-core ‘administration’.”

I countered that the possibility of there being enough votes to stop arms sales to Israel is not a “future potential danger” or some theoretical possibility. It is an immediate, concrete, real danger of Israeli soldiers not having the arms and equipment they need, which means dead soldiers and dead Israelis civilians, Jews, Muslims, and Christians.

Almost if not as important as the military arms and equipment is the incredibly close cooperation between the Israeli and U.S. military and the intelligence that is shared.  Congressional action to curb that cooperation would constitute a severe blow to Israel’s defense capabilities, and it would send a very dangerous message to Israel’s enemies and America’s allies.

The commenter concluded that we have different perspectives because of where we are sitting.  I could not agree more.

There is nothing like running to a shelter night after night with the sirens blaring and babies crying and praying you will hear the Iron Dome hit the missile to give perspective and to set your priorities. From this perspective, those who assert that a Democratic majority is more important than the candidate’s position on Israel are foolhardy. They are risking Israeli lives, Jewish and non-Jewish.

From my perspective, the highest priority is having a Congress that will not restrict arms sales. The distinction between offensive and defensive arms is meaningless in the real world. Israel needs weaponry to take out and destroy the military infrastructure of its enemies.  Shooting down missiles and trying to build a fortress to defend against attack does not work.  Israel learned that the hard way. The lesson was deadly.

I feel badly for many of the members of “We are Progressive, Liberal, Woke and Pro Israel!”  They really seem like a well-intentioned, serious group of people who care about both the United States and Israel.

For them the decision to vote for a Congress that reflects many of their values and priorities but may jeopardize Israel’s security or to vote for a Congress more likely to provide the arms Israel needs to defend itself but contributes to the decline of American democracy and advances policies they find loathsome, is a very tough one.

Many are in anguish.  Me, not so much.