The year the Democrats turned against Israel

By Post Editorial Board

Mark this as the year the Democratic Party turned decisively anti-Israel.

The party’s ever-more-dominant liberal base has turned increasingly against the Jewish state — while Bernie Sanders is using his movement to push for Israel-bashing language in the platform.

And Israel’s remaining Democratic friends are afraid to speak up.

A new Pew Research Poll discloses that, for the first time ever, more self-proclaimed liberal Democrats sympathize with the Palestinians than with Israel.

As recently as 2001, this group favored Israel by 48 percent to 10 percent. Today, 40 percent say they’re pro-Palestinian to just 33 percent favoring Israel. In just the past two years, support for the Palestinians has nearly doubled.

But the trend’s been building for years. The initial 2012 Democratic platform, recall, dropped long-standing language declaring Jerusalem Israel’s capital.

When embarrassed party officials tried to reinstate that clause on the convention floor, they were met with raucous boos from the delegates. They gaveled the measure through as passed — even though it clearly hadn’t.

Now Sanders — who has regularly denounced Israeli policies — has used three of his five picks for the 2016 platform committee to name outspokenly harsh critics of Israel.

Their proposed Middle East platform plank will surely be hostile to Israel. Will Hillary Clinton push back?
Maybe not: She wants to avoid any public convention fights. Indeed, her own committee pick, Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.), says he sees room in the platform for more avowedly pro-Palestinian language on “their hope for justice.”

But even if Hillary does choose to stand up for her own professed commitment to Israel, will the convention delegates follow?

Source: http://nypost.com