Ardent anti-Israel Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D) thanked and praised one of the anti-Zionist Jewish groups that violently assaulted the Democratic National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill on Nov. 15, where six officers were injured and Tlaib’s Democratic colleagues had to be whisked away by police for their safety.

She told a Nov. 20 organizing webinar by the group If Not Now:  “As someone who is the only Palestinian American in Congress, when I am looking through and see you doing all of this,  it makes me march on floor a little bit stronger.  When I go on the house floor, despite being censured, your group makes me feel I am not alone.”

Tlaib made no mention of the more than 200 Israeli and international citizens, including infants, who Hamas took hostage in its Oct. 7 assault on Israel, nor the more than 1,200 Israelis killed including decapitated babies and girls sexually mutilated at a kibbutz outside Gaza  

But she said:

“One day, I pray that everything we are doing, my grandmother will be able to pick her olives and figs in a free Palestine.”

Six Capitol police officers were injured in the assault, causing all House and Senate buildings to be locked down for the evening.  House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and pro-Israel Jewish Democrats Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL) and Brad Sherman (CA) were among those at the DNC HQ gathering, which is just a stone’s throw from the House office buildings.  They condemned the actions of the protesters

But in the video, Tlaib appears undaunted, even about her Nov. 10 House censure, which was supported by 22 Democrats, for stating: “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

Founded in 2014 during the Hamas rocketing of Israel, a conflict that lasted three months, If Not Now takes its name from Rabbi Hillel’s immortal words during Roman times: “If not now, when?” It opposes the “Israeli government system of “apartheid” but touts the lofty goal of Jews and Arabs living together in peace.  It largely comprises younger Jews who also support socialism, “environmental justice,” and other far-left causes.

While in the minority of Jewish opinion on Israel, the group’s confrontational street protest tactics and aggressive lobbying has achieved a modicum of success in the last few weeks. Tlaib and others noted on the call that the number of U.S. House members calling for a ceasefire in Gaza has grown from 13 to 41, and two U.S. senators also are “coming on board.”

Webinar attendees included a group leader, who called herself “Gen,” and described herself as a “mixed race, queer, Asian American Jewish woman” whose pronounces are “She and her” and is part of If Not Now’s BIJOCSM “space,” which stands for Black, Indigenous, Jewish of Color, Sephardic and Mizrahi 

Two callers identified themselves in the chat as being from “unceded land” from Native Americans, i.e. East LA and New Mexico.

Gen raveled off a list of the group’s “accomplishments” during the week, including shutting down the Israeli consulate and a train station in Chicago, leading to 100 arrests;  blocking a bridge in Boston, leading to 100 arrests, and occupying the lobby of a federal building in Oakland, CA, leading to 300 arrests.   

Some 1,600 were on the call and 600 volunteered to join other “ceasefire Circles” where another speaker said “you will be supported by experienced ‘coaches’ and  a powerful series of trainings and action takings…”

In other words, attendees will learn how to be physical with police and threaten opponents.  They also planned a Chanukah celebration Dec. 7, with each branch of the menorah spelling out C E A S E F I R E.

The big National March for Israel on Nov. 14 drew a very diverse gathering of 300,000 Jews from across the nation supporting Israel, opposing a ceasefire and anti-Semitism and demanding release of the hostages.  I attended and it was peaceful and there were no visible counterprotests.  It drew bipartisan speakers such as Sen. Joni Ernst, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. 

It was largely organized by the nonpartisan, nonprofit, tax-exempt Jewish federations and synagogues from around the nation.  As such, none of these groups engage much in political action the likes of the pro-Palestinian groups on the Left, which might be having more impact on the Biden administration and Democrats in seeking at least a pause in Israel’s assault on Gaza to free hostages. 

One notable defection is Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin, a liberal Democrat and Jew, who is now among three Jewish House members to call for a ceasefire.  Only a month before at a D.C.-area rally for Israel, he passionately supported the “total destruction of Hamas” and the right of Israel to defend itself.  His comments are between 58.34 and 104.3 of this video     

Sad to say, but establishment Jewish groups, like a number of conservative groups, do not use the pressure tactics of the activist Left, which work a lot to change public opinion (or at least stifle opposing views) and move elected officials in their direction.  

And, the constant fear among mainstream Democrats is to be primaried by a Democrat Socialist, which led to the elections of many Squad members, notably, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez in New York and Ayanna Presley in Massachusetts.  This hangs like a dagger over a number of them as America enters the 2024 election cycle.

Plus, these very Blue districts contain growing Muslim and liberal voters who are less likely to support Israel. Raskin’s district in liberal Montgomery County, MD, meets that description.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other pro-Zionist groups are vowing to fund people to primary Tlaib and other anti-Israel members, but for now, the activists are starting to make inroads.

Republicans, who are solidly united behind Israel with a few exceptions (like Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson), could stand to benefit from this, much like the split in the Democratic Party over Vietnam in 1968, which led to Republican Richard Nixon’s election as president. 

Left-leaning Democrats, disappointed with Biden over Israel and other issues, might support the Green Party next year.  Their 2016 candidate, Dr. Jill Stein, has announced a run in 2024. Her 1.4 million votes in 2016 helped give Donald Trump the presidency. Biden’s support among Arab American voters has dropped from 59% to 17%, according to one  national poll, and the latest national NBC News poll finds that more than two-thirds of voters ages 18 to 34 disapprove of Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas issue

Along with the presidency, Republicans could capitalize in House districts if pro-Israel moderate Democrats are defeated by extreme socialists, if the GOP handles this with the correct candidates. 

As such, GOP control of Congress and the White House in 2025 could temper the madness the far Left has stoked in this country, including anti-Semitism.  So there may be a silver lining in this cloud. 

Ken Reid is an Orthodox Jew living in McLean VA, a retired journalist and former elected Republican official in Northern Va.

Image: Jennifer Hasegawa