Democrat leadership. JVP?

Democrat leadership, Jewish Voice for Peace

Part of the democrats problem is that both of their leaders in the House and Senate are from New York. In the House the republicans’ leaders are from Louisiana (Mike Johnson) and South Dakota (John Thune). In the House, Mike Johnson (Louisiana) is speaker, Steve Scalise (Louisiana) is majority leader, Tom Emmer (Minnesota) is whip and Lisa McClain (Michigan) is conference chair. For the democrats Hakeem Jeffries (New York) is minority leader, Katherine Clark (Massachusetts) is whip and Pete Aguilar (California) is caucus chair. All the republicans are from the heartland. All of the democrats are not. Couldn’t the democrats find someone from middle America or the south?

In the Senate, John Thune (South Dakota) is majority leader, John Barrasso (Wyoming) is whip, Tom Cotton (Arkansas) is conference chair, Shelley Moore Capito (West Virginia) is policy committee chair and Tim Scott (South Carolina) is senatorial committee chair. For the democrats Chuck Schumer (New York) is minority leader, Dick Durbin (Illinois) is whip, Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota) is policy chair, Cory Booker (New Jersey) is strategic communications chair, the vice chairs of the conference are Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts) and Mark Warner (Virginia). Only Warner is from a southern state while Durbin and Klobuchar are from middle America. Interestingly, these three were right in the middle of senate democrats who voted for Trump’s nominees. There were 6 democrats who voted for 10 nominees and 8 who voted for only one. Durbin voted for 5, Klobuchar voted for 7 while Warner voted for 6. So I guess you would call them “moderates.”

Isn’t it interesting that all the blow back on Schumer’s voting for the continuing resolution is coming from the usual loud voices on the left and from democrats in the House. We have heard from the usual suspects, Jasmine Crockett and AOC but nothing from the senate side. Chris Murphy – who only voted for one of Trump’s nominees – usually one of the loose cannons in the senate said that he still supports Schumer as leader.

Did you notice that one of the leading groups in the pro Hamas demonstrations is something called Jewish Voice for Peace? It has been especially prominent at Columbia University and lead the protest at Trump Towers in support of Mahmoud Khalil. I know that Jews are divided between Zionists and non Zionists. I know that some like Chuck Schumer have called for Netanyahu’s resignation. But I can’t conceive of a Jew shouting “intifada!” and “from river to sea!” which advocate the erasure of Israel. Since Jewish Voice for Peace does these things, I was wondering if there were any Jews in Jewish Voice for Peace? That organization is pro Palestinian and supports the boycott, divestiture and sanction campaign against Israel. Not surprisingly the Times of Israel says that JVP is neither Jewish nor for peace. Consider that in response to the attack on Israel by Hamas on Oct 7, Jewish Voice for Peace said that “the source of all this violence” was “Israeli apartheid and occupation — and United States complicity in that oppression” and that Hamas’s actions were consistent with “Palestinians’ right to resist.” It is difficult to imagine a Jewish group tweeting that. Here is a statement from them about Trump’s efforts to deport noncitizen students who are engaged in pro-Hamas activities.

Donald Trump is reportedly planning to continue his violent crusade aimed at gutting freedom and democracy with an Executive Order today calling for the deportation of non-citizen anti-war activists, with a particular focus on students. This is a vile attempt to sow fear and crush political dissent to the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, as well as to further the far-Right’s broader anti-immigrant agenda. Should there be any attempt to enforce this authoritarian, unconstitutional, and violent executive order, we call on elected officials, university administrators, and all people of conscience to boldly reject these orders. 

Polls indicate that they have very little support amongst Jews themselves. Yet there are a number of American Jews who question Israel’s war effort. While 89 percent of American Jews support Israel’s fighting Hamas only 62% find acceptable Israel’s war conduct.

Still I wonder if members of JVP wear Star of Davids or signs of their Judaism in these protests? Can a Jew in JVP walk to class at Columbia without being harassed? 

Did you see where several Columbia professors canceled classes to show support for Khalil? Beats me why this shows support. One even canceled an exam and gave every student an “A”. So much for academic excellence at one of our former “elite” universities. One professor tweeted “Given that the College and Columbia University has neither issued a public statement with any clear explanations as to why or how this arrest was allowed nor offered any serious reassurances for international students who might be targeted further, many professors feel it is unsafe to continue teaching as usual. Many students are afraid to go on or even near campus. To ensure the safety of all, I am canceling classes this week.”

I guess any international student involved in violent demonstrations should be afraid and rightly so. But “unsafe to continue teaching as usual?” Hey, he probably wanted to get a head start on spring break.