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Jewish Democrat quits progressive caucus over Israel criticism
Lois Frankel, Jewish Florida Democrat, quits progressive caucus over Israel differences.
Florida Rep. Lois Frankel, a Jewish Democrat, quit the party’s progressive caucus, one of the largest in Congress, as the Israel-Hamas war has brought to the surface long simmering differences over Israel among progressives.
Frankel’s departure was first reported Monday by The Intercept, and later confirmed with her office by Axios. Both publications cited anonymous sources as saying that Frankel quit over how progressives were treating Israel since Hamas terrorists invaded the country on Oct. 7, launching a war.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus, which numbers 100 or so members out of the 212 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, has long avoided Israel issues to keep the peace among members. Frankel, Axios reported, has a 96% rating of voting with the progressive agenda on issues not related to Israel.
In the weeks since the war, Frankel, along with other Jewish Democrats, has pushed back bids by other progressives to condemn Israel’s wartime conduct and to call for a ceasefire.
Earlier this month, she was one of six progressives among 22 Democrats who joined Republicans in censuring Palestinian American Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib for chanting, "From the river to the sea," a phrase used to encourage the destruction of the State of Israel. Two other progressive caucus members voting to censure Tlaib are Jewish: Steve Cohen of Tennessee and Dan Goldman of New York.
Israel has long been a fault line among progressives, but it has not riven the caucus until now. Members of the caucus’s small left wing, the “Squad,” which includes Tlaib, have led calls to defund assistance to Israel and since the war to call for a ceasefire. Others, like Ritchie Torres of New York — who also voted to censure Tlaib — have vigorously defended Israel as a pluralistic democracy and have accepted the endorsement of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which Tlaib and others have made a bogeyman.
Tensions among progressives occasionally burst to the surface, for instance in July, when the caucus chairwoman, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, sought to calm a crowd at a Netroots Nation conference in Chicago that protested that members of the caucus were not outspoken enough in their criticism of Israel. The protests brought a panel to a standstill for more than 20 minutes.
A specific target of the protests at that conference was Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who is Jewish. “Maybe I should just walk off,” she said, until Jayapal urged her to stay.
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Thousands march against anti-Semitism in London
Watch: Thousands attend march against antisemitism in London
Tens of thousands of people have marched through central London at a demonstration against antisemitism.
Organisers estimated 100,000 took part in the first march of its kind since the Israel-Gaza war began, including former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The rally comes amid a steep rise in hate crime, especially against the capital's Jewish community.
English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson - who was asked not to attend by organisers - was arrested by police.
There had been concern that he might disrupt the demonstration.
The Met Police later said in total two people had been arrested. As well as Mr Robinson, 40, who was detained at the start of the march, police arrested a man for making antisemitic comments when crowds were leaving Whitehall.
The large crowd gathered outside the Royal Courts of Justice and made its way along Whitehall to Parliament Square, where a rally was held.
Placards bearing slogans like "Shoulder to shoulder with British Jews" and "Never again is now" were seen being carried by those taking part.
Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis told the crowd at Parliament Square British Jews "will not be intimidated" by antisemitism.
He said: "We call for a strengthening of community cohesion and we will forever be proud to champion the finest of British values."
The Campaign Against Antisemitism estimate Sunday's march to be the largest gathering of its kind since the Battle of Cable Street in 1936, when British Union of Fascists supporters were stopped from marching through east London, an area with a high Jewish population at the time.
Tracey-Ann Oberman, Eddie Marsan, Rachel Riley and Maureen Lipman were seen at the march
Tommy Robinson was led away by police officers - organisers had made clear he was not welcome
Several recognisable faces were spotted in the crowd, including TV personalities Vanessa Feltz and Robert Rinder, and actors Tracy-Ann Oberman, Elliot Levey and Maureen Lipman.
Countdown host Rachel Riley told the crowd: "We've learned from history the sharp price to be paid when good people stay silent and I'm grateful to each and every one of you here today for refusing to be bystanders."
Actor Eddie Marsan gave a speech urging "moderate people in this country to stand up and face down extremism and bigotry and antisemitism and Islamophobia and all forms of racism".
Comedian David Baddiel, who attended the march, described the day as "emotional, bonding, well-attended and shambolic".
He joked: "No-one had any idea where we were going or who was speaking. It was indicative, as ever, of how Jews really don't run the world."
As well as Boris Johnson, security minister Tom Tugenhadt, immigration minister Robert Jenrick and Labour's shadow science minister Peter Kyle were among political figures in attendance.
Crimes against Jewish people motivated by racism have increased dramatically since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza conflict.
There were 554 reports of antisemitic offences in London between 1 October and 1 November in London, compared with 44 in the same period last year.
Islamophobic hate crime is also on the rise, with 220 offences in the same period, compared to 78 last year.
Sunday's rally against antisemitism comes after the latest large pro-Palestinian demonstration to be held in London since renewed fighting broke out in the Middle East.
The Met Police said 18 people had been arrested "during a significant policing operation" that was put in place around the pro-Palestinian march on Saturday, though the "overwhelming majority" protested lawfully, a statement said.
The force has come under pressure over its policing of pro-Palestinian demonstrations, and has pledged to crack down on placards and chanting which are judged to constitute a hate crime.
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Members of Congress blast joint chiefs chair for Israel comments
By Jon Levine
America’s top general should keep his opinions about Israel’s military strategy private, members of Congress and a Medal of Honor recipient told The Post this week.
Gen. Charles Q. Brown, the recently installed chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said earlier this month that knocking out the terrorist organization would be “a pretty large order,” and that he was “very much” concerned Israel’s war in Gaza would only generate new terrorists among the civilian population.
The comments caused a stir among elected officials, who said it was inappropriate for the general to air such divisions in public.
“If General Brown is worried about how long it may take the Israelis to accomplish this mission, he should advise the president to drop his push for a ceasefire – which would only benefit Hamas – and work to ensure that Israel has the lethal aid it needs to destroy Hamas as quickly and efficiently as possible,” Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) told The Post.
Gen. Charles Brown with President Biden.AP
A four-day ceasefire between Hamas and Israel went into effect Friday after heavy pressure from the United States.
Israel has to be given the space to carry out the mission, said Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY.), a member of the House Foreign Relations Committee.
“As the United States and our allies did with respect to ISIS, Israel must have the latitude needed to eliminate the threat,” Lawler said. “The chairman must recognize his words carry enormous weight in his new role and they undermine Israel, our greatest ally, at the very moment much of the world has turned against them as they defend themselves.”
Brown made his remarks to reporters during a Nov. 9 visit to Tokyo, and showed an early indication of divisions between the Biden administration and Israel over how best to prosecute the Hamas conflict.
“When we talk about time — the faster you can get to a point where you stop the hostilities, you have less strife for the civilian population that turns into someone who now wants to be the next member of Hamas,” he said.
Brown’s statement also drew fire from retired U.S. Army General Patrick Brady, a Medal of Honor recipient who successfully evacuated 51 critically injured men from multiple locations in a single day under enemy fire while serving as a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War.
“There is no way that we can describe how Israel should do it. They know better than we do how to fight that enemy. We ought to just stand by and support them without quibbling about it and let them do their job,” said Brady.
“There is no such thing as peace with certain kinds of enemies, you just have to kill them. It seems to be like these people.”
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A Jewish professor at USC criticized Hamas while confronting pro-Palestinian students. He’s now barred from campus
By Matt Hamilton Staff Writer
John Strauss, a USC economics professor, has been at the center of a brewing firestorm on campus over his comments about the militant group Hamas.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Until recently, USC professor John Strauss was known mostly for his research on the economics of developing countries, with decades of fieldwork in Indonesia and China.
That changed Nov. 9, when Strauss stopped before students staging a walkout and protest calling for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and holding a memorial to thousands of Palestinian civilians killed in the Israel-Hamas war.
The economics professor’s interactions with students that day ended with the 72-year-old Strauss, who is Jewish, declaring: “Hamas are murderers. That’s all they are. Every one should be killed, and I hope they all are killed.”
Students captured those remarks on their cellphones, almost instantly seeming to recognize a viral moment. “Can you say that for the camera?” one pressed.
Within hours, Strauss’ comments were posted online, shared and reshared on X, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
As his remarks raced across the internet, his condemnation of Hamas was often excised, leaving only his “hope” for “all” to be killed. Captions and comments online framed his demand for “every one” to be killed in myriad, at times deceptive, ways. One Instagram post shared to millions of users claimed falsely that Strauss told the students, “[I] hope you get killed....”
Within a day, an associate dean told Strauss that he was on paid administrative leave, barred from campus, and that he would no longer teach his undergraduates this semester.
Within the week, a petition demanding that USC fire Strauss for his “racist, xenophobic behavior” and comments that “promote and incite violence” had collected more than 6,500 signatures.
Meanwhile, more than 9,000 signed a counter-petition decrying USC’s treatment of Strauss as “unjust,” saying he was the victim of online misinformation, and demanding that the university reinstate him.
Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Los Angeles, called for USC to launch an investigation into Strauss and to take actions to protect “Muslim, Palestinian and Arab students as well as any others who are targeted by hate and bigotry.”
Jonathan Friedman, director of free expression at PEN America, criticized USC for “a shocking overreaction,” adding in a statement, “What USC has done runs counter to the university’s obligation to foster dialogue and debate.”
By now, millions have viewed portions of Strauss’ remarks, and his statements — and USC’s response — have become a Rorschach test for a war raging 7,500 miles away.
With its political, ethnic, generational and religious fault lines, the incident has reignited intractable debates over campus censorship, academic freedom and student safety. Nearly every student who spoke to The Times for this article would do so only on condition of anonymity, citing a fear of online harassment.
But at a fundamental level, the episode is also a debate over what exactly transpired.
On that Thursday in early November, Strauss walked across USC’s brick-paved campus to teach an undergraduate course on the economics of sub-Saharan Africa.
He saw a large crowd by the university’s landmark statue, Tommy Trojan. At first he thought it was a demonstration for grad students who are negotiating their first union contract and threatening a strike.
He got closer and said he saw “that it was a big Palestinian demonstration.” He told The Times that he heard slogans such as “Destroy Israel” and calls for the U.S. to revoke funding for Israel.
“That’s what I heard and I got angry,” said Strauss, who has worked at USC since 2004 and has tenure. “I am Jewish and very pro-Israel, so I shouted, ‘Israel forever. Hamas are murderers.’”
The demonstration was part of a national “Shut It Down for Palestine” action and included a student walkout from class, a march through campus and a rally where some students chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a phrase that is viewed as either a call for Palestinians to have equality or a call for the destruction of Israel, depending on the listener.
Near a busy campus corridor, the event also included a memorial to Palestinians killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, a death toll that was then about 10,000 and that has since grown to more than 13,000, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. Partly enclosed by a fence, the memorial featured four long rolls of paper, at least 18 inches wide, unfurled several feet across the ground. On the paper were printed thousands of names.
Students said that when Strauss came to the demonstration, he stepped on the paper. One student said he was “desecrating the names.”
“All I did was walk through the crowd,” Strauss said, insisting he never saw the list of names but spotted the memorial later in the day after the crowd had dissipated. He acknowledged that he “might well have accidentally walked on” the list but said it was “completely unintentional.”
No one appears to have recorded the first interaction, but students say his presence caused a stir.
When Daphne, a USC student who asked to be identified only by her first name, came to help at the memorial and stand by a table for the event, she said she was told about an older man who seemed to be a professor and had shouted something like, “Long live Israel.”
“At that point, we didn’t know who he was,” she recalled.
Strauss’ undergraduate class ended around 3 p.m. and he planned to return to his office, on the western edge of campus, by passing by the Tommy Trojan statue and pro-Palestinian demonstration.
By that point, a cluster of Jewish students had begun to stand about 50 feet from the demonstration.
One of the students, who described herself as Jewish and a Zionist and also spoke on condition of anonymity, said she had seen the rally and memorial for Palestinians after her class let out. She said that although she felt “horrible for the innocent lives lost on both sides,” she was also upset that the event made “no mention of Hamas, a terrorist organization.”
She recalled seeing a fellow Jewish student nearby. “We just decided to stand and hold our flag. We weren’t saying anything,” she said.
In the center of campus, the two Jewish students held their mini Israeli flags aloft and were eventually joined by a rabbi and other Jewish peers wearing kippahs. Fifty feet away, Daphne and her peers watched over the memorial for slain Palestinians. A metal fence separated the two groups.
Each accused the other side of taunts and “harassment.”
Just after 3 p.m., Strauss walked by after leaving his class.
Among the Jewish students, he was greeted warmly.
Strauss continued, rounding the corner toward USC’s bookstore when witnesses say at least one student yelled out, “Professor Strauss, shame on you.”
Clad in cargo pants and a plaid-green dress shirt, he said he bellowed, “No, shame on you.”
Then the cameras started rolling again.
Within a day of his Nov. 9 remarks to students holding a pro-Palestinian demonstration, Strauss learned that he was on paid administrative leave, barred from campus and no longer allowed to teach his undergraduates this semester.
(Handout)
“You people are ignorant, really ignorant,” Strauss said, holding a file of papers in one hand and a bottle of water in the other.
A student in a gray Lululemon waffle-knit hoodie and black pants is heard telling Strauss that the event was to “pay respects” to those killed. A classmate wearing a red kaffiyeh wrapped around his head rushed over and inserted himself between the professor and the students.
That was the moment when Strauss uttered the words that precipitated the uproar: Hamas are murderers. That’s all they are. Every one should be killed, and I hope they all are killed.
“I got that on video. Thank you!” a student says.
Strauss drove home and when he checked his email later that evening, he saw messages from Jewish students expressing support and realized that an Instagram page, Trojans for Palestine, had posted some of the video.
Strauss said that video was “heavily doctored.”
Daphne, who made one of the two videos circulating online, denied the recording was edited. “I do not possess the ability to doctor a video like that. And also we have a second video that matches so, like, there’s no way on God’s green Earth that I would have been able to doctor that video.”
To Strauss and his supporters, “doctored” means edited or clipped in a deceptive way. The Times could find no evidence that his voice had been altered or his words substantively changed in the video.
But as the clip circulated online, it was at times trimmed to a few seconds of Strauss uttering, “Every one should be killed.”
The captions and superimposed text in social media posts could be minimal, misleading or wrong.
“This zionist econ professor purposefully stepped on the list of martyrs before our march and came by again after & said ‘everyone should be killed,’” a student group posted on Instagram.
Another post on Instagram, shared by @CravingPalestine and activist Shaun King, among others, said Strauss “threatened these students ‘hope you get killed and I hope they all are (*Gaza)” during a campus rally for Gaza.” That post has been viewed more than 3.2 million times.
At one point, the group Trojans for Palestine clarified on Instagram that Strauss “did not say he wanted Palestinians to be killed, but Hamas,” according to screenshots of the post.
Then, the group appeared to walk it back: “With his hateful rhetoric, you can draw your own conclusion about whether or not he wished death upon just Hamas or civilians as well.”
Within hours of Strauss’ recorded comments, USC’s Muslim Student Union issued a statement saying that Strauss was “repeatedly calling for the murder of the entirety of Palestine” and expressing “a desire for the death of those supporting Palestine.”
“Such remarks are not only beyond the boundaries of academic discourse, but also dangerously incite violence and contribute to a hostile campus atmosphere,” the Muslim Student Union declared in its statement, which called for USC administrators to “ensure a safe space for students to express themselves.” It listed the email addresses of USC’s president, provost and other officials.
Strauss said his rhetorical target was Hamas.
“The allegation was that I said, ‘Kill all Palestinians.’ I never said that and I never would say that. I said, ‘Kill all Hamas.’ That’s quite different,” Strauss asserted.
Strauss learned about 24 hours later, on Nov. 10, that USC’s provost was placing him on paid administrative leave. He said he was told by a university dean that he could continue to teach graduate students via Zoom, but he would not teach undergraduates for the rest of the semester.
The provost told Strauss four days later that he was the subject of multiple complaints to USC’s equity, diversity and Title IX office and that he would continue to be barred from campus while complaints were investigated, according to a letter from the provost obtained by The Times.
In the meantime, Strauss was deluged with hateful emails, prompting USC to have a team review the messages for security threats.
The Academic Freedom Alliance provided legal counsel to Strauss and sent a letter to USC’s leaders on his behalf dismissing the notion that it was he who posed a threat to anyone on campus.
“The university becomes the instrument of a heckler’s veto when it punishes a member of the faculty when other members of the campus community or of the general public react vociferously enough to a professor’s lawful speech,” the alliance wrote.
About that time, USC lifted some of its measures against Strauss and allowed him to resume teaching undergraduates via Zoom. Still, the university kept in place his ban from campus.
A USC spokesperson declined to comment on the specifics of Strauss’ case. Asked about USC dropping its prohibition of Strauss teaching undergraduates, a spokesperson said in a statement, “The university is always willing to change its approach as it receives and considers more information; our north star is protecting the safety of our community.”
Strauss is being helped by fellow Jewish faculty and a network of students and alumni. Among them is Daisy Kahn, an alumna based in New York who said she became alarmed by posts online, including a slew of negative reviews on the Rate My Professors site.
“The relentless misinformation campaign has unfairly tarnished professor Strauss’ reputation but has also fueled division,” Kahn said.
Strauss wants USC to allow him back on campus and to issue “a factual statement of what I did not say.”
Asked whether he had any regrets, Strauss told a reporter, “No. I don’t. I did nothing wrong, and I’d probably do it the same way.”
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Would not be surprised if he forces Israel into ceasefire because he has no guts to do what is right.
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Biden About To Betray Israel?
by Con Coughlin
While the release of the first groups of hostages held by Hamas has inevitably raised hopes about the fate of the remaining Israeli hostages, it also exposes the Biden administration's worrying lack of commitment to supporting Israel's declared aim of destroying the Islamist terror group.
In the immediate aftermath of Hamas terrorists committing the worst terrorist atrocity in Israel's history on October 7, US President Joe Biden was quick to reassure Jerusalem that Washington fully supported Israel's right to defend itself.
After speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House issued a statement declaring:
"The United States unequivocally condemns this appalling assault against Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza, and I made clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu that we stand ready to offer all appropriate means of support to the Government and people of Israel.
"Terrorism is never justified. Israel has a right to defend itself and its people... My Administration's support for Israel's security is rock solid and unwavering."
Biden emphasised his commitment to Israel's defence by dispatching two aircraft carrier battle groups to the region to deter other malevolent actors, such as Iran, from seeking to exploit the crisis by escalating the conflict into a broader Middle East war.
Seven weeks into Israel's military offensive to destroy Hamas as a military and political entity, the Biden administration now seems to be adopting a very different stance, one where it appears ready to scale down its commitment to supporting Israel's right to self-defence, and destroying Hamas, in favour of a ceasefire deal that would essentially gift victory to Hamas.
The Biden administration has made clear that it pressured the Netanyahu government into accepting the Qatar-sponsored hostage deal, which has resulted in a number of Israeli women and children being released in exchange for the release of convicted Palestinian terrorists from Israeli prisons.
Biden also expressed hope that the four-day "pause" in Israel's military offensive, which is being observed to allow the hostage release deal to take place, might ultimately lead to a broader ceasefire. Asked by reporters whether the four-day pause could be extended, Biden replied, "I think the chances are real."
While conceding that Israel's quest to destroy Hamas was "legitimate", Biden revealed that his administration's key objective was to end the fighting at the earliest available opportunity.
"My expectation and hope is that as we move forward, the rest of the Arab world and the region is also putting pressure on all sides to slow this down, to bring this to an end as quickly as we can," Biden said.
Netanyahu has made no secret of his personal reservations about the hostage deal, arguing that any pause in Israel's military offensive would simply allow Hamas to regroup. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in particular, had been opposed to the deal because they wanted to maintain the pressure against Hamas on the ground in Gaza.
Israeli commanders certainly understood the fickleness of Washington's declared support for their military offensive from the start, as Washington has an undistinguished record of abandoning its Israeli ally in times of peril.
During the IDF's military incursions in Gaza in 2009 and 2014, for example, the Israelis were forced to stop fighting within three weeks, with ceasefires brokered on both occasions by Egypt and forced on Israel by Washington.
Indeed, Washington's willingness to impose ceasefires on Israel when its forces have clearly established a military advantage on the battlefield against their enemies has been a constant feature throughout Israel's 75-year existence.
And, judging from the Biden administration's current enthusiasm for a ceasefire, it appears Washington is determined to follow a similar path of appeasement with regard to the current Gaza crisis, even if the Israeli government remains determined to maintain its offensive until Hamas' terrorist infrastructure in Gaza has been completely eradicated.
Israel will certainly be under no illusions about the pitfalls of the hostage deal that has so far resulted in the release of only a small proportion of the estimated 240 Israeli hostages seized by Hamas during the October 7 attack.
The Israelis will certainly be concerned at the role played by Qatar, which is one of Hamas's main military backers, in the negotiations. While the Qataris like to claim that they are simply using their contacts with Hamas to defuse tensions, the fact that Ismail Haniyeh, who masterminded the massacres, directed the attacks from his five-star hotel in Qatar, where he has been granted a safe haven, means the Israelis have every reason to be wary of Qatar's motives.
Israel will also, with good reason, have concerns that the hostage deal as currently constructed, with Israel being obliged to release convicted terrorists in return for innocent Israeli civilians, will simply bolster Hamas' credentials.
The boost Hamas has received from the deal was evident when the first Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli prisons and returned to their homes in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
IDF soldiers guarding Ofer Prison, near Ramallah, fired tear gas to disperse crowds of Palestinians who chanted "the people want Hamas" while awaiting the release of the first batch of 39 convicted Palestinian terrorists.
One of the reasons the US and its allies have previously ruled out negotiating with terror groups is that, by doing so, there is a danger of legitimising the terrorists' activities.
The Biden administration's willingness to abandon this long-held principle in favour of negotiating with Hamas, therefore, runs the risk of boosting support for Hamas at the very time that Israel is actively seeking to destroy the terrorist group, a policy that completely undermines Washington's claim that it supports Israel's right to self-defense.
Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defense and Foreign Affairs Editor and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
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Now is the winter of Summer Lee’s discontent
By Salena Zito
The congresswoman, who has served in the 12th Congressional District for less than a year, has found her strident position on Israel not just turning off Jewish voters but a growing force of Democrats who find her behavior and positions untenable. This is in a district, mind you, that includes the Pittsburgh neighborhood that was rocked by the slaughter of 11 Jews at the Tree of Life synagogue five years ago.
Lee, a former state representative and community activist, cut her political chops in 2018 by ousting a longtime Democrat in a low-turnout closed primary in a heavily Democratic state legislative seat. She barely won the 2022 Democratic congressional primary against Steve Irwin last year. She would go on to handily defeat her Republican challenger in last year’s general election.
Lee's problems began when she was noticeably absent from the traditional events that local elected officials always attend, such as labor events, ribbon-cuttings, ethnic events, long-standing community celebrations, and even the annual Martin Luther King Breakfast. In a very parochial city, such absences get noticed.
They especially get noticed when she does find time to attend a Working Families Party event in Philadelphia, all the way across the state, but skips the people around here.
That problem came to a head the day after Oct.7 when Lee failed to show up in Squirrel Hill at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, where hundreds of Pittsburghers and state politicians rallied in support of Israel.
Since then, she has posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that there was "no moral ambiguity" in the "reprehensible" bombing of the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in the Gaza Strip. She was amplifying an Al Jazeera English news story that wrongly stated an Israeli air strike hit the hospital in the Gaza Strip. Lee also cast one of just 10 votes against a bill that asserted the House “stands with Israel as it defends itself against the barbaric war launched by Hamas and other terrorists.”
Lee has also joined a number of progressive House Democrats to support a resolution that does not mention Hamas terrorism in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. All these decisions have prompted local religious leaders to send her a letter requesting her to "exercise better leadership" on Israel and asking to meet with her.
Last week, an online post showed a fundraiser was to be held on Nov. 19for Lee along with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), who was recently censured by the House for her rageful antisemitism. Because you had to RSVP to donate to attend, it was not independently confirmed that the event actually happened; what can be confirmed is that Lee and Tlaib have a lot in common.
Two weeks ago, Lee sat behind and in support of Tlaib when she delivered her emotional speech begging the House not to censure her. Yet censure her they did, for amplifying stories and opinions on social media that call Hamas’s actions justified “resistance” as well as calling for Israel to be destroyed.
Tlaib pushed the ludicrous line that her use of the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which in no uncertain terms means the elimination of the Jewish state, was really “an aspirational call for freedom.”
Last month, Lee earned a Democratic primary challenge from Edgewood Borough councilwoman Bhavini Patel, 29. Patel, the daughter of an immigrant Indian mother who grew up in the blue-collar suburb of Monroeville, hit the ground running long before her announcement. In the tradition of longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, who represented this region for decades, she is everywhere, introducing herself and listening to voters' concerns.
Last week, she drew nearly 200 people to her office opening — quite the feat considering it was done in the middle of a Steelers-Browns football game.
A survey conducted by Embold Research between Oct. 21 and Oct. 23 showed Lee’s approval ratings underwater, with 43% of voters in Pittsburgh holding an unfavorable view of the former community activist.
Of the survey’s 860 respondents, most of whom identified as Democrats, only 38% of them held a favorable view of Lee.
Muhlenberg College professor Christopher Borick explains that there is a fissure between far-left Democrats and traditional Democrats over the issue of Israel: “You are likely going to see elected officials with progressive credentials who were swept into office the past few years now face their first big challenges in next year's primary races.”
Lee isn’t the only member of the far-left "Squad" to face a credible primary challenge. Reps. Cori Bush (D-MO), Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) are also facing challengers over their vocal and often strident criticism of Israel's war against Hamas in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
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