Protests on dozens of college campuses calling for divestment from Israel on behalf of the pro-Palestinian movement are starting to concern Democrats.
Heated protests ranging from support for people in Gaza to unveiled threats against Jews have sparked debate and split elected officials’ responses.
Some Democrats visited Columbia University last week to condemn antisemitism. The elite university was at the center of several controversies, with virulent antisemitism cropping up outside the school’s gates and among its protest’s central leaders, as well as the high-profile suspension of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) daughter at Barnard College.
But while criticism of the protesters has become more frequent, some Democrats have joined the pro-Palestinian protests in solidarity.
The split among the party reflects a problem President Joe Biden has been grappling with for months and could spell deeper problems for the way voters view Democrats’ ability to govern.
“The real question is, can the Democrats again portray themselves as the steady hand at the helm?” Dan Sena, a Democratic strategist, told the New York Times. “Things that create national chaos like this make that harder to do.”
This week, the House is set to vote on the Antisemitism Awareness Act, introduced by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY). The measure will likely pass due to its bipartisan support, but some Democrats are wary of embracing the bill’s antisemitism definition, which states “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination” and “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” are examples of antisemitism.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) visited Columbia University and said they did not see the antisemitism that has been reported.
“The provocative images painted by Republicans and antisemitic white supremacist platforms could not be further from the truth,” Bowman said.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) also visited Columbia University last week alongside other Jewish representatives. He said some in his party have been downplaying antisemitism on campuses.
“There are people who are peaceful, and there are not,” Moskowitz said. “But there’s a denial from my friends on the Left,” a view that “‘everyone’s peaceful, there’s no antisemitism.’”
He said he does not see the same amount of outrage from his party as he did in the antisemitic, white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
“I don’t see the same level of outrage,” Moskowitz said. “It’s politically inconvenient now.”
Omar, in the wake of her daughter’s suspension, also visited Columbia University. She said antisemitism should not be tolerated whether Jewish students are “pro-genocide or anti-genocide.”
“So I actually met a lot of Jewish students that are in the encampments,” she said. “And I think it is really unfortunate that people don’t care about the fact that all Jewish kids should be kept safe and that we should not have to tolerate antisemitism or bigotry for all Jewish students whether they are pro-genocide or anti-genocide.”
The remarks sparked backlash from many Jewish leaders, including Eyal Yakoby, a Jewish student leader at the University of Pennsylvania who spoke at a House GOP leadership press conference.
“Rather than her focusing on delineating between the proverbial good Jews and bad Jews, she should instead be actually effecting positive change for this country,” he said.
Democrats overall don’t seem to be unified. And Biden has faced extensive backlash from his base about how he has handled the Israel-Hamas war. A new CNN poll shows that 73% of Democrats view Biden’s presidency so far as a success, less than the 92% of Republicans who view former President Donald Trump’s presidency as a success.
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Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA), whose district encompasses much of Pittsburgh and was the target of the deadly, antisemitic mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018, visited the pro-Palestinian protests on the University of Pittsburgh’s campus over the weekend. She said young voters are not enthusiastic about voting for Biden in November because of his handling of the war.
“I think that the No. 1 goal for them right now is just listening to what they have to say, is that they want to see a ceasefire in Gaza,” Lee said. “They want to see the indiscriminate bombings and killings end.”
