Barbara Lee & ‘Jewish Hate’

The greatest threat to mankind is the cowardice of the Democratic Party.

– Corbin Trent

The Dissing of Barbara Lee

When Kamala Harris was elected Vice President in 2020 – leaving the US Senate without a single woman of color – it was up to Gov. Gavin Newsom to appoint her successor. Rep. Barbara Lee was the obvious choice to take Harris’s place, but Newsom instead chose Alex Padilla, a Chicano from the San Fernando Valley, who had been California’s Secretary of State.

When Sen. Diane Feinstein finally gave up the ghost in 2023, Newsom again declined to appoint Barbara Lee, claiming that incumbency would give her an unfair advantage in the 2024 election. Instead he chose a woman named Laphonza Butler. 

You’ve heard of a “two-fer” – say, an African-American woman whose hiring makes her employer seem more inclusive in two categories. Laphonza Butler is a six-fer! Black – check. Female – check. LGBTQ – check. Soccer mom – check. Union leader – check. Corporate consultant – check! Sen. Butler promptly promised not to run for the office in 2024. She is just keeping the seat warm for Rep. Adam Schiff, the smooth, smug “centrist” who showed his fealty to Clinton and the Democratic National Committee by fearlessly pursuing “Russiagate,” the scandal that wasn’t. 

Remember Russiagate? The Justice Department spent a lot of time and money trying to prove that Putin’s agents had somehow cost Hillary Clinton the election in 2016. Media preoccupation with “Russiagate” helped us forget that the DNC had insisted on running Hillary, the most disliked woman in America, although Bernie Sanders was beating Trump by 20% in the polls while she and Trump were neck-and-neck. The DNC wouldn’t let us have Bernie in 2016 and they won’t let us have Barbara Lee in 2024. They evidently promised Katie Porter something very good to get her to enter the Senate race and split the woman/progressive vote.

In his new book “The Squad,” Ryan Grim recounts how the DNC dissed Barbara Lee in 2018 when she hoped to become head of the Democratic Caucus. The position, held by Rep. Joe Crowley of New York, had become available when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez upset Crowley in a primary. The DNC preferred Hakeem Jeffries, who Grim describes as ”a machine politician… with a visceral hostility toward the radical left.” He elaborates:

“A number of members of Congress who supported Lee, as well as some who backed Jeffries, were convinced that Pelosi had recruited Jeffries to run against her… Concern that Pelosi was behind Jeffries mounted as the race tightened. With her vaunted whip operation, it was assumed that if she wanted Lee to win, she had the tools to make it happen, but she didn’t lift a finger to help Lee.”

The vote for Jeffries to head the caucus was 123 to 113. He is now positioned to be the next Democrat Speaker of the House, even though, Grim points out, “he had broken with Democrats to back Wall Street on key votes, including one high profile measure written by Citigroup lobbyists in 2013.” 

Jeffries is “one of the most vocal supporters in Congress of charter schools… A prominent supporter of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign, he savaged Sanders in particularly aggressive terms, dubbing him a ‘gun loving socialist’ who provided ‘aid and comfort’ to Donald Trump.”

And of course Jeffries is “one of the most outspoken defenders of the most aggressive Israeli policies inside the Democratic caucus,” which guarantees ample funding from the Israel lobby. When Rep. Ilhan Omar suggested in a tweet that many politicians’ support for Israel was “all about the Benjamins, baby,” Jeffries and Pelosi issued a stern rebuke: 

“Congresswoman Omar’s antisemitic tropes and prejudicial accusations against Israel’s supporters is deeply offensive. We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments.”

(Bonus track: Google “Gardner Youtube 420-to-1”)

‘Jewish Hate’ 

If you watch TV, you’ve seen the ad featuring a Blue Square emoji and the profoundly deceitful slogan “Stop Jewish Hate.” Created by the Wunderman Thompson agency (200 offices in 90 markets), the ads are being paid for by the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, a front created by Robert Kraft, billionaire owner of the New England Patriots. 

The slogan twists the language out of shape. Consider the term “Gay Pride.” It’s an assertion of self-respect. The gay pride parade is a celebration by women who love women and men who love men (and everybody who wishes them well). Similarly, when Stokely Carmichael and Rap Brown called for “Black Power” in the ‘60s, they were demanding that African Americans control the civil rights movement and their own communities. By analogy, “Jewish Hate,” if it means anything, means animosity felt by a Jewish person or Jewish people towards… whatever.

There are plenty of real, murderous Jew haters in the US, but the “Jewish Hate” Blue Emoji campaign is not aimed at them. The ads are obviously in response to the wave of sympathy and support for Palestine sweeping many parts of the US and many campuses. They define opposition to Zionist aggression as “Jewish Hate.” But the exact opposite is true. The genocide being carried out by Israel in Gaza is a product of Jewish Hate.