DNC Continues Summer Meeting
For weeks, the press promised fireworks at the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting in Minneapolis. The hype was breathless: two dueling resolutions on Israel were going to lay bare whether Democrats still stood with America’s most important Middle Eastern ally, or whether the party would fully throw in with the antisemitic activists shouting on campuses and marching with “From the river to the sea” banners.
In reality, when the big moment arrived, the Democrats produced not fireworks but a fizzle—a botched process that revealed far more about the party’s cowardice than its convictions.
The showdown was supposed to be simple. One resolution, the “moderate” one, called for continued arms sales to Israel in pursuit of a two-state solution. The other resolution demanded an arms embargo, suspension of military aid, and a wholesale realignment of U.S. policy toward the Palestinians. Brian Romick of Democratic Majority for Israel was correct to note that the latter would be a “gift to Republicans” and a signal to Israel’s enemies that Democrats no longer have Israel’s back.
On Tuesday, the DNC resolutions committee did reject the arms-embargo measure, which could have suggested that the party establishment had at least some instinct for self-preservation. But before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief, Ken Martin—the DNC’s vice chair and author of the more pro-Israel measure—yanked his own resolution. His excuse? The party “needs to keep working through” the issue.
Translation: don’t anger the radical base. Don’t force a public vote. Don’t draw the wrath of the activists who have made “Death to Israel” their rallying cry. In the immortal phrase, if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice. The DNC chose weakness.
Naturally, some committee members were not pleased. Florida’s Allison Minnerly bluntly accused Martin of ducking the issue, warning that the move only highlighted how misaligned the party leadership is with its base. Washington’s Sophia Danenberg fretted that Democrats were “losing our future” by not being more “courageous”—courageous, in her definition, meaning openly abandoning Israel.
The irony, of course, is that both sides are right in their criticisms. The establishment Democrats are too gutless to make a clear stand, and the radicals are too strident to hide their disdain for America’s ally. It is a race to the bottom, a contest of fecklessness.
Ken Martin’s refusal to let his own resolution see the light of day is telling. He knows the party is split, and he knows the loudest voices belong to the green-haired activists who despise Israel. Rather than confront that reality, he shoved the matter aside, hoping no one would notice. But people did notice. The cowardice is as visible as ever.
Teddy Roosevelt once quipped that some men had “the backbone of a chocolate eclair.” It’s hard to imagine a more fitting epitaph for the modern DNC. Faced with a chance to stand up for an ally, the Democrats once again collapsed under the weight of their own fear—fear of their base, fear of being called names, fear of clarity.