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commentary
What Does A Democratic
House Mean For Israel?
M
uch of the talk
this election
season about a
new crop of Democrats
who hold views on
Israel that run the
gamut from skeptical
Michael
to hostile focused
Koplow
on politicians who
are about to become
newly minted House members. And
so Democratic control of the House
will undoubtedly spark angst in some
quarters. For a variety of reasons, this
angst will be misplaced.
A Democratic-controlled House
is not going to mean a raft of anti-
Israel legislation or even a spate of
anti-Israel invective; the fact is that the
Democratic Party remains strongly
pro-Israel despite some new discordant
notes along the edges. If anything, the
greatest impact on Israel as a result
of the shift in control in the House is
going to come not from Congressional
Democrats, but from President Trump.
There is no question that Israel
is now a partisan issue in a way
that it was not in the past. It has
become an election issue largely
because Republicans believe it to be
politically advantageous to them to
portray Democrats as anti-Israel BDS
supporters, whether the charges are
warranted — which in some cases they
are — or not.
The Democratic response to these
charges, however, has not been to
launch a debate over Israel’s benefit as
an ally or to defend alleged anti-Israel
positions, but to argue that Democratic
candidates are just as supportive of
Israel as their Republican opponents.
Two of the most high-profile races
this cycle involving dynamic progressive
Democrats in which Israel became a
campaign issue — the gubernatorial
race in Florida and the Senate race
in Texas — saw Democrats Andrew
Gillum and Beto O’Rourke rejecting the
anti-Israel charge entirely rather than
leaning into it.
The anti-Israel charge also did
not stick across the board with the
constituency it was targeted toward, as
79 percent of Jewish voters cast their
Congressional ballots for Democrats.
There is a predictive lesson here for
how Democrats want to talk about
Israel, and it is not that Democrats view
Israel-bashing as a winning campaign
strategy.
This is even more so the case when
looking at House Democrats and how
they want to govern. The leadership
of the party has as strong pro-Israel
bonafides as anyone; not even Sheldon
Adelson would accuse once and
future Majority Leader Steny Hoyer or
incoming Foreign Affairs Committee
Chairman Eliot Engel of wavering on
their support for Israel.
House Democrats do not want to
run against Israel and do not want
to pick high-profile fights on Israel-
related issues. They do not support
BDS, are not looking to cut military
aid to Israel, and are not going to put
themselves in the position of having
to take controversial votes on Israel-
related issues that are going to come
back and bite them down the road. The
few Democrats for whom this is not the
case are all backbenchers whose focus is
on local issues.
No matter how galling Ilhan Omar’s
tweets and comments about Israel are,
Israel is nowhere near the top of her list
of priorities, and the greatest possible
extent of her influence on Israel issues
in this Congress would be as the most
junior majority member on a relevant
committee.
Now that they have the power to set
the legislative agenda, expect House
Democratic leaders to bundle votes
on Israel issues with other broadly
popular items and to try and create
an environment in which Israel is
minimized as a campaign issue in 2020
for the party writ large.
The one area where a Democratic
House may be more vocal on pushing
back against the Republican agenda on
Israel is with the U.S. relationship with
the Palestinians. Nearly all Democrats
support a two-state solution and realize
that forcing the Palestinian Authority’s
collapse is a recipe for disaster not
only on the two-state front but also for
Israel’s security.
The White House has demonstrated
over the past year that it has the power
to do what it wants on funding issues in
the West Bank and Gaza irrespective of
the money that has been appropriated
by Congress. But I expect Democrats to
use their committee perches to revisit
these issues and point out the dangers
of the Trump administration’s approach
more forcefully.
Democrats are in a position to do
this in a smart way, by making the
distinction between measures that are
intended to lead to reform like the
Taylor Force Act, and measures that are
intended to make Palestinians suffer
and risk causing a backlash like ending
continued on page 10
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