Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks told Breitbart News at the Republican National Convention last month that it had become “more acceptable” among Democrats to be anti-Israel.
Brooks spoke to Breitbart News right after delivering a speech to the convention at which he drew loud cheers for Israel. As Breitbart News reported at the time:
“Let me hear you cheer if you support Israel!” Brooks urged the crowd of delegates, drawing loud cheers. “Now, if someone tried that at the Democrats’ convention, they’d be booed off the stage,” Brooks continued. “But here, at the Republican convention, we proudly, and loudly, stand with Israel.”
Brooks reflected on the growing intolerance toward Israel among Democrats, which burst into the open in 2012, when there was a loud voice vote on the floor of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, against pro-Israel planks being re-inserted into the party platform. (Party leaders ignored the “no” votes, which were louder.)
That had been “the canary in the coal mine,” Brooks said. “It’s only gotten worse. And more importantly, it’s gotten more acceptable. It used to be if you were anti-Israel, pro-Palestinians, pro-Hamas, whatever, it was more hushed tones. Now it’s out in the open. Now, it’s absolutely overt. ‘Israel is a genocide state.’ ‘Israel is an apartheid state.’ You know, ‘Israel is guilty of war crimes.’ All of the rhetoric coming out of the Democrats now is seen as being perfectly acceptable, and not condemned, but rather condoned.”
Brooks was confident that Republicans would grow their share of the Jewish vote in 2024, especially given Biden’s weak Israel policy.
As for those within the “America First” movement who were skeptical of all foreign entanglements, Brooks pointed to Sen. JD Vance’s (R-OH) speech to the Quincy Institute, a think tank that opposes American intervention abroad. Vance defended U.S. support for Israel, saying that Americans would always have an interest in the Holy Land.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.