California Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna had to backtrack after claiming in an interview on MSNBC this past Friday that Israel was "burning down Palestinian villages." Khanna claimed what he meant to say was Israeli settlers had burned Palestinian orchards and olive trees.
The long and short of it is that Khanna lied and did so willfully. He knew exactly what he was saying and intended to leave people with the impression that Israel wantonly kills Palestinian civilians so as to inflame hatred towards Israel and to Jews at large.
This is a disturbing pattern given the recent claims by Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and other Democrats that Israel has refused to provide Palestinians with COVID-19 vaccines when, in fact, the Palestinian Authority refused Israel's offer of the same.
This cannot be tolerated. Democrats cannot credibly decry the anti-Semitism of Republicans when they look the other way when their peers engage in defamation and spread hatred and are unable and unwilling to get their own house in order.
Obviously the same set of standards must apply to Republicans who are unwilling their own to account. All of which means neither party is serious about combatting anti-Semitism.
However, in recent months, I have been more receptive to Democrats having voted for Joe Biden as well as Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock despite reservations about the latter. But my patience is not limitless and if Democrats persist in making defamatory statements about Israel and willfully promoting hatred against Jews then I cannot support them in the long run.
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