Why does Fetterman support Israel so strongly?
Senator John Fetterman’s support for Israel is a surprise to many people, because he’s a “progressive” Democrat. These days that seems to go with being anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian, and in some cases even pro-Hamas. But Fetterman has been something of an Israel booster.
I don’t have any special knowledge that answers the question as to why. But I do have a few observations on the subject. The first is that he has a history of strong Israel support, although of course things like that can change when someone enters Congress and is pressured by the Democratic leadership. In this case the Democratic leadership, Schumer, is at least relatively pro-Israel as well. More significantly, Schumer no doubt realizes that the Democratic Party has a lot of Jewish donors (the Jewish voters constitute a rather small number; it’s the donors that really matter), and he might think that having a visibly pro-Israel Fetterman is a nice foil against people like Tlaib in the House.
Fetterman himself, despite being a leftist Democrat, is also somewhat of an individualist. My sense of him is that he’s not afraid to be different; he is different. His clothing, for example, is very different. His illness makes him different, too, but he was an atypical guy even before that.
It’s interesting that Fetterman is openly supportive of Isreal, but I wonder if it matters. I have no sense of how Fetterman is truly viewed by his voters or the wider Democrat electorate for that matter. Do they like and respect him? Or do they look at him as merely a placeholder, and a slightly embarrasing placeholder at that due to his obvious deficiencies. Does Fetterman’s open support of Israel move the needle for typical Dem voters? My suspicion is not really.
Nonapod-
Better to have the compass needle move a hair instead of its pointing straight to hell.
As to typical Democrats, as I’ve said before, they are stupid, ignorant, or evil, often in combination. And they are secular materialists. I wish I and we did not have to share the USA with them.
I’m not a fan of Fetterman. Nonetheless, I give him some credit. He is taking a stand here.
Hillary has also denounced Hamas with extreme prejudice.
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Hamas Must Go
The terror group has proved again and again that it will sabotage any efforts to forge a lasting peace.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/11/hamas-israel-ceasefire-humanitarian-pause-gaza/675992/
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The real import of Fetterman and Clinton is that they reflect a real division among Democrats, which I would argue redounds in Republicans’ favor. Perhaps this reflects a difference between the Clinton and Obama wings of that party.
Jews are a small percentage of American voters, but they carry far more clout, financially, to the Democrats.
This matters.
I have to admit I’ve been impressed with Fetterman on this issue. He is showing genuine courage in his steadfast support of Israel, even in the face of a tidalwave of screeching progressive, pro-Hamas cranks. I never thought I’d say this, but at the moment he’s one of my favorite Democrats (granted, a very low bar).
Times have changed. When I was a teeny-bopper, the number of prominent Democrats who were not adamantly pro-Israeli could be counted on the fingers of a hand- or two hands. Back then Fetterman’s support of Israel would not have been an outlier, but solidly mainstream Democrat. When Israel showed in the Six Day War that it wasn’t going to be a victim, sympathy for Israel slowly diminished among the Democrats.
But that was long before Obama came on the scene.
While as a former Democrat turned yellow-dog Republican I’d never vote for Hillary or Fetterman, I appreciate their support of Israel.
(Regarding anti-Semitism: in my time in Latin America as tourist and oilfield engineer, I was shocked at the number of gratuitous anti-Semitic remarks I heard. Not to mention seeing portraits of Adolf in two homes.)
@Gringo,
Yeah, it was Democratic President Harry Truman who recognized Israel about 20 minutes after it declared itself. Democratic support for Israel runs deep, right on through the old school pols like HRC and Sen. Fetterman. It’s the new gen, Squad pols, who are drifting towards Hamas.
And yeah, South America was the place where old Nazis ran to escape the war crimes tribunals. Check out “The Boys From Brazil” for a rather whimsical, sci Fi look.
He defeated a Turk soundly in his election. Maybe he decided to stick to the same role in office.
I wonder how much of Schumer’s pro-Israel stance comes from his being Jewish himself? Not that anti-Israel Jews don’t exist, but I’ve never seen any reporting on the type and seriousness of Schumer’s faith. Does he have any, or is he simply Jewish by genealogy? I’m not finding much on a quick internet search on “Chuck Schumer” and “Judaism” or “faith”.
It is possible that Fetterman sees there is little room out on the crowded far left, but there might be room towards the center. Of course, the Manchin and Sinema might be warnings that this strategy is no longer viable.
Yeah, it was Democratic President Harry Truman who recognized Israel about 20 minutes after it declared itself.
BJ:
And what a story that is. Here’s Truman’s grandson’s account:
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In 1948, with pressure mounting to recognize the nascent state of Israel, Grandpa was beset by both sides. The State Department, chiefly in the person of Secretary of State George Marshall, feared alienating the Arabs and their oil. Marshall, whom Grandpa greatly admired, went so far as to tell Grandpa that if recognition was granted, he wouldn’t vote for him in the coming election. On the other side were American Zionists led by Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, a great orator and leader, but also aggressive and uncompromising. The story that he pounded on Grandpa’s desk in the Oval Office is untrue, though apparently he did everything but. As a result, the Zionists lost access.
In a panic, they turned to Eddie, imploring him to convince Grandpa to see Dr. Chaim Weizmann, former head of the World Zionist Organization and the movement’s spiritual leader.
For the first few minutes of that meeting, Eddie and Grandpa chatted amiably. Then Eddie brought up Weizmann and Grandpa became so annoyed that his former partner said it was the closest he’d ever seen his old friend come to being an antisemite. Sitting behind his desk, Grandpa swiveled in his chair, turning his back. In desperation, Eddie scanned the room and found a small statue of Andrew Jackson on horseback.
“Harry,” he said. “You have a hero, Andrew Jackson. I, too, have a hero, Chaim Weizmann. He’s the greatest Jew who ever lived. He’s an old and sick man and he’s traveled all this way to speak to you and you won’t see him. That’s not like you.”
At that point, Grandpa started drumming his fingers on his desk, which Eddie knew meant he was changing his mind. Finally, he swiveled back around.
“All right, you baldheaded son of a bitch,” he said. “You win. I’ll see Weizmann.”
At 11 minutes after midnight on May 14, 1948, the United States became the first country to recognize the independent state of Israel.
Grandpa bemoaned the fact that he was too emotional, but as far as I know, [Truman] was only seen with tears in his eyes three times—at the death of his childhood friend and press secretary, Charlie Ross; at the death of Eddie Jacobson; and when Rabbi Yitzhak Herzog, Israel’s first chief rabbi and the ambassador’s grandfather, told him that God had put him in his mother’s womb to help bring about the founding of Israel.
https://www.trumanlibraryinstitute.org/israel/
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Could republishing this story make a difference today?
Huxley & BJ, I’d heard that story years back. But the current generation is likely to ask, “Who’s Harry Truman?”
Too bad YouTube algorithms don’t push the good stuff like this to the top of the list.
But the current generation is likely to ask, “Who’s Harry Truman?”
Bill K:
I fear so.
Not all Democrats were enemies of Western Civilization … once upon a time.
Related (taking a stand):
“Wilco frontman’s pro-Israel son says he left Sarah Lawrence College after becoming ‘pariah’ over views”—
https://nypost.com/2023/11/16/metro/wilco-frontmans-son-ditches-sarah-lawrence-after-becoming-pariah-for-supporting-israel/
+ Bonus:
The War WILL—MUST!—continue:
“Pro-Palestinian group shares ‘reprehensible’ antisemitic map of NYC targets on social media”—
https://nypost.com/2023/11/16/metro/pro-palestinian-group-shares-reprehensible-antisemitic-map-of-nyc-targets-on-social-media/
And NYC is a genuinely “target-rich” environment (along with other large cities in the US, Canada and around the world).
Another “fringe benefit” of the Hamas’s atrocities? (I.e., smoking these bastards out into the open….)
File under: “Good and hard”.
@ huxley > “Not all Democrats were enemies of Western Civilization … once upon a time”
There is a reason for the proverb that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
Sadly, the people building the road don’t heed the people who try to point out that the bricks that comprise it, many of them good by themselves, are heading in a bad direction.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f5a27d89ce9e5a3ed853f773d1525af3faa1b0e07fb823a97cc2fdaf48529442.jpg
Heh…
“More than 100 Harvard professors slam university president for bowing to donor ‘pressure’ and condemning antisemitism”—
https://nypost.com/2023/11/16/news/more-than-100-harvard-professors-sign-letter-condemning-president/
They DO have a point actually: one should NEVER have to bow to pressure to condemn anti-Semitism. Oh, wait…
File under: Dis-Civilization and its Well-Contents.
+ Bonus
The seamier side of America’s Great universities…
“US universities including Cornell, Harvard and MIT raked in $13B in ‘undocumented contributions’ from foreign donors…”—
https://nypost.com/2023/11/08/news/us-universities-including-cornell-harvard-mit-raked-in-13b-in-undocumented-contributions-from-foreign-donors/
Caroline Glick on the “larger picture”…
“Israel’s strategic imperative;
“We need to think about what the Oct. 7 attack represents within the Iranian blueprint for the annihilation of the Jewish state.”—
https://www.jns.org/israels-strategic-imperative/
…In which Glick raises, with admirable clarity, what Israel might be having to consider given recent events, the meticulously-crafted Damocles’ sword that hangs above the Jewish State, the reasons for the exhilaration and excitement galvanized globally amongst Israel haters, and the curious predilections of the “Biden” administration, especially WRT “its” alliance that cannot be named…especially the “humanitarian” aspects of this seemingly BIZARRE alliance. (To be sure, given “Biden”‘s goals, it is not bizarre at all.)
Meanwhile in Britain (one hopes that but wonders if “Great” continues to apply…), Melanie Phillips warns about worrisome implications of the most recent political developments there.
“Is Britain going wobbly on Israel?
“Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been outmaneuvered by the poisonously anti-Israel liberal establishment.”—
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/380482
neo – to which Fetterman are you referring – the original or the stand-in?
Fetterman 2 has noticeable physical differences from Fetterman 1, enough that the likelihood of a switch must be considered.
huxley: “Not all Democrats were enemies of Western Civilization … once upon a time”
Yes, there used to be Democrats like Pat Moynihan, Scoop Jackson and Sam Nunn who were New Deal liberals but also forthright patriotic Americans. It reminds me of my own “change” story when I quit the Democrats because I felt that not only had the hard anti-American left had taken over the party, but the party “elders” who should have known better let it happen for political reasons.
The one in the hoodie.
Even JFK, even RFK even HHH…and yes, even Jimmuh….
Fetterman is fairly typical of a certain type of Pennsylvanian. He’s crude, opinionated, and, in his mind, absolutely correct. And he’s not going to take crap from anyone.
So Fetterman telling Republicans to “go hump another leg” is exactly the same phenomenon as Fetterman waving an Israeli flag at pro-Hamas demonstrators while they are being arrested. That’s just how he is. And a lot of Pennsylvanians like him that way.
In a lot of ways, Fetterman is the mirror image of Donald Trump. He also appeals to a lot of the same demographic as Donald Trump. After seeing how he’s performed in office, it’s really not that surprising that he won. He was always going to carry the left. PA is a blue-leaning state. Any Republican who hopes to win with a Trump-type coalition has to sweep the working class. The crudite-loving TV doctor from New Jersey never stood a chance. It’s more than curious that Trump didn’t realize that.
Positives – Credit where credit is due – Fetterman is on the correct side of the Israel/anti-semitism issue. Also, this is evidence that Fetterman may be his own man and may not be completely in thrall to the hard left (note caveats).
Negative – He’s still a leftist by inclination on most issues and also a first class “jagoff,” as they say in Pennsylvania. He will be back to directing his crude gutter insults at Republicans in no time.
And what if I told you that Trump won PA in 2020…?
(Yeah, I know, I know…)
Barry Meislin said – “And what if I told you that Trump won PA in 2020…?”
I would ask you to explain Biden’s 80,000 vote margin in the final tally. Frankly, a Republican who loses Pennsylvania by only 80,000 votes actually did pretty well. Mastriano lost by 700,000 votes. Oz lost by 250,000. Romney also lost by about 250,000, but lost Philadelphia County alone by 500,000.
But man, if you’re going to claim that some sort of fraud or shenanigans shifted the final tally by 80k votes, you need some evidence.
For reference, the last three Republicans to win statewide in PA were Pat Toomey in 2010, Donald Trump in 2016, and Pat Toomey in 2016.
Toomey in 2010 – Won by about 80k votes
Trump in 2016 – Won by about 50k votes
Toomey in 2016 (on the same ticket as Trump) – Won by about 110k votes
I see nothing in these numbers that is inconsistent with Trump losing PA by about 80k votes in 2020. Sorry. If you are theorizing fraud, show me the evidence.
(I forgot Tom Corbett in 2010, who won by about 250k votes, but I don’t think that changes the analysis. Tom Corbett was not “Trumpy” in any way, shape, or form and that was back when the PA Governor’s mansion regularly alternated between parties.)
System changed unverifiable ballot flood hence golem
Bauxite
I suggest you peruse Dinesh D’Souza’s 2000 Mules, which is in movie or book form.
Miguel cervantes – I’m sorry. That’s not evidence. You’re absolutely right about unverifiable mail-in ballots. That’s a problem and it needs to change. But you also need to accept that Trump lost Pennsylvania in 2020 by a margin that was well within the the expected range, in terms of percentage and raw votes. The available evidence that we have is completely consistent with a high turnout election in PA. (And frankly, as I noted, Trump actually did better in 2020 than the generic Republican in PA over the past decade or so.)
It’s amazing to me how many ways Democrats’ voting “reform” serves their interests. It definately helps Democrats with GOTV. But it also provides a rationalization for Trump supporters to avoid admitting the electoral weakness of the coalition that they want.
Just take PA. The best performance by a PA Republican in a national election since Arlen Specter and George HW Bush was Pat Toomey in 2016. Toomey’s coalition was a combination of the “GOPe” coalition from the Philly and Pittsburgh suburbs with Trump’s coalition. The way to win is to add the Trumpers to the existing GOP coalition, not to purge the so-called RINOs.
All of the mail-in voting shenanigans allow Trumpers to believe that they would be some kind of electoral juggernaut but for those dastardly Democrats. You’ll get no argument from me about dastardly Democrats, but Trump and his movement are no electoral juggernaut. They are a welcome and necessary component of a winning GOP coalition, but on their own they are electoral toast. And that’s with or without mail-in ballots.
Apart of me wonders if Fetterman’s stroke, and subsequent mental difficulties, helped to cement his support for Israel in this instance. As in, it takes a certain amount of double-talk and mental gymnastics to claim that Hamas is in the right under these circumstances. A part of me wonders if Fetterman is capable of that.
we haven’t been allowed to see the evidence, they have just affirmed it, deplatformed or metered any video digital or other challenge, the helderman reports, touted on pbs the month before the election, came out after the murdochs took a dive,
I as a voter incur no burden whatsoever to “prove” election fraud. The burden is entirely on the people running elections to prove that elections are to be trusted. They will not do so. Defiantly so. Ergo, the elections are crooked.
Fetterman went to school just east of York City, PA. There’s a strong Jewish population there due to the synagogue. I’m guessing that he made lots of Jewish friends when he was younger, and that friendship stuck with him. Good for him.
See: Philadelphia.
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“…by only 80,000 votes…”
(AKA, essentially, he “lost” by the amount he needed to “lose” by.)