Progressives Slam Appointment of Pro-Israel Lawmaker to US House Foreign Affairs Committee

US Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL). Photo: USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The appointment of US Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) to the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee has drawn backlash from a chorus of progressives and other anti-Israel voices, representing the latest internal conflict among Democrats regarding the Jewish state.

On Tuesday, Moskowitz, along with pro-Israel Democratic Reps. Wesley Bell (MO) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL) were appointed to the subcommittee overseeing the Middle East and North Africa. Moskowitz will serve as the subcommittee’s top-ranking Democrat.

House leadership also appointed Rep. Marc Pocan (D-WI), a progressive who accused the Jewish state of “genocide,” to the committee, in what observers argue represents a fig leaf to the growing prominence of anti-Israel voices in the party.

“I’m honored to be named ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa,” Moskowitz, who is Jewish, said in a statement. “At a moment of enormous change across the region, I’ll work to strengthen America’s relationships with Israel and our Gulf allies, expand regional peace, advance American diplomacy, and ensure our foreign policy is grounded in strength, security, and reality. I’m ready to get to work.”

The news of his ascent into the powerful foreign affairs committee was met with widespread backlash among progressive pundits and organizations, arguing that Moskowitz and pro-Israel Democrats are not aligned with the perspective of party voters.

The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU), an anti-Israel think tank, condemned the Democratic Party for selecting Moskowitz and other pro-Israel Democrats to the committee.

“Just as the Democratic Party is asking its voters to donate and volunteer for the midterms, party leadership in Congress elevated one of its most out-of-step members to block the changes most Democratic voters are demanding. This encapsulates so much about what’s wrong with today’s Democratic Party leadership,” IMEU said in a statement.

Ben Rhodes, a former Obama administration national security adviser and co-host of the popular “Pod Save the World” podcast, said the appointment represented “a giant f—k you from Democratic leadership to Democratic voters.”

Rhodes, who wrote speeches for former US President Barack Obama, has established himself as one of the most prominent critics of Israel and US foreign policy in the aftermath of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. He has falsely accused Israel of intentionally starving civilians, saying that “everyone knows” that the Jewish state is preventing Palestinian children from accessing food.

Dylan Williams, vice president for governmental affairs at the Center for International Policy, a self-described “progressive” foreign policy think tank, condemned the congressional appointment.

“Moskowitz is deeply out of touch with Democratic voters on the very issues the party’s House leadership just entrusted to him. He backed [US President Donald] Trump’s launch of the Iran war and supports unconditional aid and arms to Israel in stark opposition to the vast majority of Democratic voters,” Williams posted on X.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned the appointment, writing that “Rep. Jared Moskowitz strongly supports unconditional funding for the [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu government amid its ongoing slaughter of innocent men, women, and children in Gaza and he was one of the few House Democrats to initially oppose efforts to end the Iran war before changing course.”

In the 2000s, CAIR was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case. Politico noted in 2010 that “US District Court Judge Jorge Solis found that the government presented ‘ample evidence to establish the association'” of CAIR with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), “some of CAIR’s current leadership had early connections with organizations that are or were affiliated with Hamas.” CAIR has disputed the accuracy of the ADL’s claim and asserted that it “unequivocally condemn[s] all acts of terrorism, whether carried out by al-Qa’ida, the Real IRA, FARC, Hamas, ETA, or any other group designated by the US Department of State as a ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization.'”

The outrage over Moskowitz’s appointment represents for some observers another indication that the ongoing internal conflict over the Jewish state among Democrats is far from over. Recent polls suggest that Democrats have generally become much more hostile toward Israel in recent years, with a majority of the party believing that the country has committed “genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza.

Supporters of Israel note the country has allowed large amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza, facilitated a polio vaccination drive in the enclave, and repeatedly dropped leaflets and notified civilians in other ways of impending attacks so they can get out of harm’s way.

Algemeiner.com

Algemeiner.com

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