My friend Emily Mayer from IfNotNow has written me on Tuesday that there’s been a lull in the group’s efforts to get leading Democratic presidential candidates to say outrageous things against Israel which they don’t really mean and are taken out of context.
Turns out that three leading candidates refused to even mention the word “occupation” in front of the IfNotNow buzzing phone cameras, and they were open and clear about wanting to have nothing with the dedicated ant-Zionists whose notion of Judaism is to destroy as many Jews as possible.
All we can say is: Thank you, Mark Mellman. As we told you earlier this week, Mellman, president of Democratic Majority for Israel, on July 9 sent a warning letter to the Democratic presidential candidates regarding a “strongly anti-Israel organization, IfNotNow, which has refused to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist at all,” and which is “asking young people to run up to candidates and ask some variant of, ‘will you push Israel to end the occupation.’”
Mellman recommended to the Democrats in the presidential race what he called “A principled, Democratic, pro-Israel response” to the “occupation” question, that goes: “I strongly support a two-state solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. That solution must give Israelis security and Palestinians a state, but it must also be negotiated directly by the parties, not imposed by outsiders.”
Incidentally, the very term, “if not now” is an example of taking a quote out of context. These three words are picked out of a statement made by Hillel the Elder, in Mishna Avot 1:14: “He used to say: If I am not for myself, who is for me? But if I am for my own self only, what am I? And if not now, when?” The group IfNotNow is an example of blatant political terrorism, self-centered by definition, spreading their agenda by throwing fear in the hearts of educators (Camp Ramah) and political leaders – not because their message is convincing, but because their simplistic slogans can appeal to young voters and cause real harm to real communities.
It is safe to say that Hillel the elder has been rolling in his grave for several years now over this misuse of his wisdom, but knowing what a nice man he was, he’s probably not even complaining.
The following are three failed interactions between the nice anti-Semites from IfNotNow, as reported by my friend Emily Mayer. As Emily was complaining, Joe Biden stuck by his talking points, Beto O’Rourke said he had no intention of forcing a peace agreement on the two sides, and Cory Booker, God bless him, told her to vote for someone else.
And you thought we couldn’t lick these fools.
Yesterday our member, Sarah Kate, pressed on the specifics of how he‘ll pressure Israel to end the occupation. She asked 3 times. The more she pressed the more Biden retreated into AIPAC’s anti-Palestinian & false talking points. pic.twitter.com/GdURA3r1FF
— IfNotNow? (@IfNotNowOrg)
Yesterday, we asked “Do you believe the Occupation is a human rights crisis for Palestinians?” He got visibly frustrated.
He admits: “If that’s your issue I would understand if you want to support somebody else”
Looks like he’s choosing over the grassroots. pic.twitter.com/vPX5WH1P2O
— IfNotNow? (@IfNotNowOrg)
This weekend, Aviva asked if he would pressure the Israeli government to end the Occupation. In his four minute answer, he didn’t the word ‘Occupation’ once. Here’s a clip >>
(Full video here https://t.co/HvMq8iAVmR) pic.twitter.com/099soTktKt
— IfNotNow? (@IfNotNowOrg)