Opinion | Democrats Ignored Gaza and Brought Down Their Party - The New York Times

Opinion | Democrats Ignored Gaza and Brought Down Their Party - The New York Times For many years, American politicians have recited and acted in accordance with the "truism" that "no politician ever lost an election by being too pro-Israel." In his opinion article transmitted below, Peter Beinart makes the argument that Tuesday's election has dramatically and constructively proved the contrary, concluding: "In this new era, in which supporting Palestinian freedom has become central to what it means to be progressive, the Palestinian exception is not just immoral. It is politically disastrous." As a practical matter, unless one can imagine that Donald Trump, who cannot run for a third term and no longer needs campaign funding, might stun the world by implementing a true "America First" foreign policy, rather than perpetuating the traditional bipartisan "Israel First" one, any U.S. government's ever declaring independence from Israeli domination and control would require the Democratic Party leadership to conclude that, notwithstanding the traditional sources of most of the party's funding, their continuing to support ethnic cleansing, racism, apartheid and genocide is not in their personal and professional self-interest -- indeed, quite the contrary. I recognize that American liberation is unlikely to happen in my lifetime, but, particularly in light of the gaping generational gap regarding justice for Palestine cited by Beinart, there is now more reason to hope that it could happen one day than there has been for decades (https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/05/12/its-not-american-aid-to-israel-its-tribute and https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/07/25/american-obeisance). Decent people, both in the United States and abroad, who are seeking a potential silver lining in Tuesday's election result may find it here.