[Peace-discuss] [Peace] Jewish Insider: AIPAC pouring 100K into attack ads against young Jew Alex Morse

[Robert Naiman]

Btw, If Not Now doesn't "support BDS" either. They're officially agnostic
on it, which I think is smart. They don't have a position on BDS, they
don't have a position on ZIonism, they don't have a position on a two-state
solution or a one-state solution. They are "young Jews against the
occupation." They work with everybody, they work with J Street, they work
with Jewish Voice for Peace. They don't take a position on the ideological
divides, so they can work with all Jews who are against the occupation,
like type O blood. :)



On Thu, Aug 20, 2020 at 1:19 PM David Green <davidgreen50 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I will definitely follow If Not Now and see what they're up to. I wish
> them luck in pursuing such an agenda in relation to more Woke issues that
> are at the forefront of the current agenda, not to mention basic survival
> issues in the Covid economy.
>
> DG
>
> On Thu, Aug 20, 2020 at 12:07 PM Robert Naiman <naiman.uiuc at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Alex Morse doesn't "support BDS." He supports "leveraging U.S. aid to
>> Israel to support Palestinian rights."
>>
>> I think the most important thing here is that AIPAC is coming after him,
>> like they came after Bernie, like they came after Jamaal Bowman, like they
>> came after Cori Bush.
>>
>> It's a proxy war between AIPAC and If Not Now. The important question now
>> is which one will prevail.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 20, 2020 at 12:59 PM David Green <davidgreen50 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> It's good that Alex Morse supports Palestine, whatever that might mean
>>> in practical terms, both in terms of his own goals and that of the
>>> legislature at large.
>>>
>>> It's also good that Morse withstood a slanderous attack by the Woke:
>>> Here is an entertaining and informative podcast on the subject of the
>>> political effects of me-too-ism, which provides more support for the idea
>>> that feminist and gay have seen their day, while black and trans are at the
>>> head of the Woke Pack.
>>>
>>> https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5maXJlc2lkZS5mbS9iYXJwb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw/episode/ODFhNmQ0OWEtYjkxYi00Yjg4LWJlY2QtYmNhZWE0ZDA1NDU5?hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwijn6v3nqrrAhU5AZ0JHaM2CkYQieUEegQICxAE&ep=6
>>>
>>>
>>> Regarding Israel, it's good that Israel is seen with a more open mind;
>>> this has been at least a 20-year process in the current iteration, dating
>>> back to the 2nd intifada in the Fall of 2000.
>>>
>>> Nevertheless, Wokeness has folded the Palestinian rights movement and
>>> strategy into another check on the Wokelist, related of course to virtue
>>> signalling support for BDS. In other words, there's not much to be excited
>>> about here in realistic terms, in relation to the Squad, Democratic Party
>>> politics, or foreign policy.
>>>
>>> When Palestine was added to the Woke checklist, any real, sustained
>>> interest subsided into the background. Locally, that would coincide with
>>> the rise and fall of Steven Salaita.
>>>
>>> I do, however, wish Alex Morse well; hopefully he is more intelligent
>>> and savvy than AOC, however low a bar she has set for him.
>>>
>>> DG
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Aug 20, 2020 at 7:22 AM Robert Naiman via Peace <
>>> peace at lists.chambana.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> If you're an American who cares about Palestinian rights, the most
>>>> important thing happening in America right now is the Showdown between
>>>> Jewish Insurgency and Jewish Establishment in Massachusetts One.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> https://jewishinsider.com/2020/08/can-rep-richard-neal-fend-off-a-challenge-from-alex-morse/
>>>>
>>>> Can Rep. Richard Neal fend off a challenge from Alex Morse?
>>>> The longtime Massachusetts congressman is facing a formidable
>>>> Democratic primary challenger
>>>> By Matthew Kassel
>>>> Jewish Insider
>>>> August 20, 2020
>>>>
>>>> With less than two weeks remaining until Massachusetts’s primary
>>>> election on September 1, Democratic Majority for Israel is pouring more
>>>> than $100,000 into advertising against Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse, a young
>>>> progressive challenger running against longtime incumbent Rep. Richard Neal
>>>> (D-MA) in the state’s 1st congressional district.
>>>>
>>>> If that sounds familiar, it may be because DMFI, a pro-Israel group,
>>>> recently reared its head in another race, spending nearly $2 million on
>>>> attack ads targeting Jamaal Bowman, a former middle school principal who
>>>> defeated Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) in New York’s June 23 primary by 15
>>>> percentage points.
>>>>
>>>> Mark Mellman, DMFI’s president and CEO, isn’t cowed by Engel’s loss,
>>>> and defended his organization’s effort to boost Neal in an email statement.
>>>> “Chairman Neal has consistently supported a strong U.S.-Israel
>>>> relationship. Mayor Morse does not,” Mellman told Jewish Insider. According
>>>> to Mellman, Morse — who supports conditioning aid to Israel — “fails to
>>>> meet the standard set by over 95% of House Democrats.” Mellman added that
>>>> Morse had “enthusiastically accepted support from IfNotNow,” a group that
>>>> Mellman characterized as “an organization that refuses to recognize
>>>> Israel’s right to exist, in any borders.”
>>>>
>>>> Mellman did not respond to a follow-up question asking how DMFI would
>>>> spend the money.
>>>> IfNotNow, for its part, did not hesitate to taunt DMFI’s failure in New
>>>> York. “They spent $2 million trying to defeat Jamaal Bowman,” said Yonah
>>>> Lieberman, a co-founder of IfNotNow. “This is another last-ditch effort
>>>> that will fail again.”
>>>>
>>>> Morse himself, who is Jewish, appeared unbothered by the ad spend at a
>>>> moment when pro-Israel donors are struggling to adapt to a new campaign
>>>> finance and advertising landscape.
>>>>
>>>> “As a congressman, I will use my voice to amplify the grassroots
>>>> activism of Palestinians and Jewish Israelis to achieve a just future for
>>>> both peoples, as well as make sure that U.S. support for Israel is used to
>>>> address security concerns, not perpetuate human rights violations,” Morse
>>>> told JI through a spokesperson on Wednesday.
>>>>
>>>> The 31-year-old upstart congressional candidate, who has served as the
>>>> mayor of Holyoke since 2012, has reason to think that he can dethrone Neal,
>>>> the powerful chair of the House Ways and Means Committee.
>>>>
>>>> This cycle, a number of upstart challengers — including Bowman in the
>>>> Bronx, Cori Bush in St. Louis and Marie Newman in the Chicago suburbs —
>>>> have succeeded in toppling long-serving Democratic incumbents. Each
>>>> candidate was backed by Justice Democrats, the progressive political action
>>>> committee that previously described Israel as a “human rights violator.”
>>>>
>>>> Morse, who was endorsed by Justice Democrats when he launched his
>>>> campaign last summer, is hoping he can join his compatriots in the House.
>>>>
>>>> “I certainly admire the members of ‘The Squad,’” Morse told JI in an
>>>> early August interview, referring to the quartet of left-leaning
>>>> congresswomen including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar
>>>> (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA). He added that he
>>>> “would be proud to be among their progressive voices in Washington.”
>>>>
>>>> Though there is scant publicly available data on the race, an internal
>>>> poll from Morse’s campaign, released this week, put Morse just 5 points
>>>> behind his opponent, with 41% of the vote and 13% of voters still
>>>> undecided. “We’re confident we have a pathway to victory,” Morse declared.
>>>>
>>>> Still, Morse’s campaign, which has pulled in approximately $841,000,
>>>> was nearly upended about two weeks ago, when the College Democrats of
>>>> Massachusetts alleged in a letter that Morse, who is gay, and worked as an
>>>> adjunct professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, had taken
>>>> advantage of “his position of power for romantic or sexual gain.”
>>>>
>>>> Since then, reporting from The Intercept has challenged that narrative,
>>>> suggesting that the College Democrats were in cahoots with the state
>>>> Democratic Party to sabotage Morse’s campaign. Neal has denied that he knew
>>>> anything about such plans.
>>>>
>>>> Rather than tanking his prospects, the scandal only appears to have
>>>> increased Morse’s profile.
>>>>
>>>> “It drew more attention to Morse, not just within the district but from
>>>> people outside,” said Robert Boatright, a professor in the department of
>>>> political science at Clark University in Worcester. “Before the scandal, I
>>>> think he would have probably come up a little bit short,” Boatright told
>>>> JI. “Now, it’s pretty hard to predict.”
>>>>
>>>> Morse, who supports Medicare for All and the Green New Deal, cites his
>>>> nearly decade-long tenure serving Holyoke as evidence that he is prepared
>>>> to represent the 1st district, a vast swath that includes western and
>>>> central Massachusetts.
>>>>
>>>> “I would arrive with nine years of governing executive experience on so
>>>> many issues that people think are reserved for the federal government or
>>>> national issues,” he said, alluding, among other things, to his support for
>>>> recreational cannabis use as well as his efforts weaning Holyoke off of
>>>> fossil fuels.
>>>>
>>>> When it comes to foreign policy, Morse holds views that have become de
>>>> rigueur among members of his far-left cohort — particularly as they relate
>>>> to Israel. He supports, for instance, conditioning aid to the Jewish state.
>>>>
>>>> “As an American, I believe our foreign policy must be grounded in our
>>>> values, and U.S. support for Israel must be used to address security
>>>> concerns,” he said, adding, “We should be very clear about not allowing our
>>>> tax dollars to be used to subsidize the expansion of settlements, the
>>>> destruction of Palestinian homes or the detention of Palestinian children.”
>>>>
>>>> Morse has visited Israel once, on a Birthright trip in 2008 during his
>>>> freshman year at Brown University. His brief visit to the Jewish state, he
>>>> said, was a meaningful one.
>>>>
>>>> “The Holocaust museum, in particular, was a really powerful
>>>> experience,” he said of his visit to Yad Vashem. “It made me feel more
>>>> connected to fellow Jews in a way that I hadn’t been connected before, just
>>>> given our people’s common struggle for freedom and humanity and what
>>>> happened in history and just knowing and realizing the evil that humans can
>>>> perpetuate against others. I think that’s a lesson that we have to live
>>>> with every day.”
>>>>
>>>> While he doesn’t back the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
>>>> movement, Morse told JI that he would not take action, if he is elected to
>>>> Congress, to legislate against the views of those who do. “Despite my
>>>> personal position,” he said, “I would continue to oppose legislation that
>>>> would criminalize or prevent other folks from exercising their free speech
>>>> and First Amendment rights in regards to BDS.”
>>>>
>>>> Neal positions himself as a firm supporter of the Jewish state. “Israel
>>>> is a representative democracy,” he told JI in a recent interview. “They
>>>> embrace the tenets of a constitutional democracy, free speech, freedom of
>>>> the press and the right to assemble. And I’ve seen the debate in the
>>>> Knesset. It’s pretty stormy.”
>>>>
>>>> Candy Glazer, a longtime Democratic activist in Massachusetts and an
>>>> AIPAC national council member, said Neal has been a reliable ally of the
>>>> Jewish community in western Massachusetts.
>>>>
>>>> “We can always depend on Richie Neal,” she told JI, noting that the
>>>> congressman has been a strong advocate against the BDS movement. “He has
>>>> just been a very loyal supporter on almost every issue.”
>>>>
>>>> [...]
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>>>
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