"A small wave developed during those same 2018 midterm elections: A group of charismatic, female, community-oriented fighters for the poor and disenfranchised whose platforms revolved around Medicare for all, quality housing and free college tuition, ran for office and resoundingly won. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, candidate-elect for the U.S. House of Representatives from the 14th District of New York was first, creating a groundswell of euphoria with her primary win against the House’s No. 4 Democrat, Joseph Crowley. Rashida Tlaib, member-elect of the House of Representatives from Michigan’s 13th District, beat out a large field of African-American political royalty to win the primary and take over the seat vacated by John Conyers after he stepped down in the midst of sexual harassment accusations. Both women are card-carrying members of Democratic Socialists of America. As is Julia Salazar, newly elected member of the New York state Senate. Another up and comer, Ilhan Omar, a Somali-American, is the representative-elect from Minnesota’s 5th District, who ran as a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
These women’s wins have been the subject of hundreds of adulatory media stories on the left. Liberals are excited by the new life injected into the party in the time of Trump by these young candidates whose resumes have taken on an added gravitas in light of the #MeToo movement and the interesting idea that immigrants (like our parents and grandparents?) possess a more pointed and legitimate appreciation of this country—its strengths and weaknesses—better, fresher, more vibrant—than our own.
It turned out, though, that these populist heroines were also Israel haters.
Both Tlaib and Omar made policy statements about Israel during their campaigns that they changed after their elections. While running, Tlaib got the endorsement of J Street by saying she supported a two-state solution. After her election, the lawyer and community organizer announced she supported a single state. “One state,” she said to In These Times magazine. “It has to be one state. Separate but equal does not work. I’m only 42 years old but my teachers were of that generation that marched with Martin Luther King. This whole idea of a two-state solution, it doesn’t work.” The day before, she told Britain’s Channel 4 News that she wanted the U.S. to slash funding to Israel. “Absolutely, if it has something to do with inequality and not access to people having justice,” she said. J Street later pulled its endorsement of the candidate.
Somali-born Ilhan Omar, who took over the seat vacated by Keith Ellison when he decided to run for attorney general, said during her campaign that she did not support BDS, opining that pressure on Israel would be counterproductive to peace. Now, she says both are true: She doesn’t think pressure is productive, yet she supports BDS. She was indignant when a tweet she’d penned in 2012 surfaced, which stated that Israel had “hypnotized the world” and was guilty of “evil doings.” When offered the chance to clarify or separate herself from these comments, Omar said, “these accusations are without merit.” She blamed Islamophobia for the strong reaction against her words. “They are rooted in bigotry toward a belief about what Muslims are stereotyped to believe.”
Because of her celebrity aura and up-by-the-bootstraps story, the headscarf wearing Omar has been given a pass on these comments, and she has been treated with kid gloves over her eyebrow-raising tweet about VP Mike Pence during the recent, heated, Oval Office exchange between Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and President Trump on the border wall and a possible government shutdown. Under a photo of Pence with his eyes closed she tweeted: “Jesus Take the Wheel.” The Federalist’sDavid Harsanyi asked, “I wonder what would happen if Pence made fun of Omar’s belief in Muhammad?”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old former organizer for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, beat U.S Rep. Joseph Crowley, a veteran congressman who had not faced a primary opponent since 2004. The upset win of fresh-faced, bright, Ocasio-Cortez, lit up the left across the country, which appreciated the energy and earnestness she brought to the election—as a young woman, a person of color (her family hails from Puerto Rico) and a champion of the working class. She gathered an impressive number of endorsements from national progressive groups. During the campaign, she, too, offered some anti-Israel palaver, including a remark that IDF attempts to keep Hamas protesters from breaching the fence along the Gaza border was a “massacre,” before admitting on PBS that she really wasn’t an expert on the issue. Jewish Insider recently reported that she declined AIPAC’s invitation to travel to Israel with the group later this year with her freshman congressional colleagues.
What unites these candidates is their youth, their powerful media presences, and the Democratic Socialists of America, which has its roots in the venerable Socialist Party of America, led by activist, trade unionist, and five-time losing presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs. But to understand Berman’s apprehension, one need only listen for a bit to the young people who, in the last five years, have resurrected this group, swelling its ranks fourfold.
Olivia Katbi Smith and Emily Rose Golden are the co-chairs of the Portland chapter of DSA. Before a Pussy Riot concert last March, they took the stage together to welcome their comrades and talk to them about a very important issue: “Palestine.” Olivia, who shares more than a passing resemblance to the stunning Amal Clooney, with long wavy hair, large eyes, and arched brows, wore a very short dress and black leather jacket. She took hold of the mike and introduced herself as “an Arab.” She then handed the microphone, relay-race style, to Emily, who wore jeans and a red DSA T-shirt, who said, “And I’m Jewish.” Now that their bona fides had been established, Emily continued, and, reading from a script, said: “So we want to debunk any myths surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that paint it as a complicated conflict, something that has always been around and is unsolvable and we can just let them fight it out over there.” The crowd offered murmurs of approval as if they were familiar with this call and response. “Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking that there is anything other than an illegal and brutal occupation, designed and bankrolled by Western imperialist powers.” Cheers and whistles. “The United States gives Israel $4 billion a year while Israel subjects Palestinians to unspeakable crimes. Thanks to Capitalism, American arms manufacturers and other U.S. corporations profit directly from the occupation of Palestine. As Socialists, we reject all forms of exploitation and oppression including the profit-driven militarism that has directly led to the dire situation in Palestine today.” She stepped back from the mike to yips and applause.
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