Delegates Boo Either G-d, Israel, Or Both

Following internal and external criticism, the Democratic National Convention re-inserted language yesterday mentioning G-d and Jerusalem as the capital of Israel from its 2008 Platform that had been omitted from its 2012 Platform. However, other divergences from its 2008 Platform, including language calling for the isolation of the terrorist organization Hamas, which calls in its Charter for the destruction of Israel and the worldwide murder of Jews; about no Israeli return to the perilous 1949 armistice lines; and on the need for Palestinian refugees of the 1948-49 war and their millions of descendants to be resettled in a future Palestinian state rather than in Israel, were not reinserted into the 2012 Democratic Platform.

“When Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called for Yeas and Nays on the decision [on reinstating reference to G-d and to Jerusalem as the capital of Israel], he found a roughly even split among delegates. After repeating the process two more times, a befuddled Villaraigosa was visited on stage by a party official who seemingly advised him to declare the needed two-thirds in favor of the change regardless of what the delegates actually conveyed. This he promptly did, eliciting a wave of boos” (Abe Greenwald, ‘Re: Democratic Delegates Boo “Jerusalem”,’ Commentary, ‘Contentions’ blog, September 5, 2012). Clearly, the disaffected delegates were either booing G-d or the Jewish state of Israel, America’s closest ally in the Middle East, or both.

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “We naturally support the reinsertion of language from the 2008 Democratic Platform on G-d and on Jerusalem being the capital of Israel that had originally been omitted from the 2012 Democratic Platform. But we remain deeply disconcerted for two reasons:

“First, the reinsertion of this language on G-d and Jerusalem being the capital of Israel was clearly controversial among the Democratic Party delegates and was bitterly opposed by at least one-half of the delegates. Anyone who watches the coverage of this unscripted moment at the Democratic National Convention cannot fail to see that when Mayor Villaraigosa declared the reinsertion of this language carried by two-thirds – after three failed attempts to get the delegates to change their voice vote from approximately 50-50 to 67-33, as rules require – there was loud and sustained booing and hissing. Clearly, the disaffected delegates were either booing G-d or the Jewish state of Israel, America’s closest ally in the Middle East, or both.

“Second, there were other passages in the 2008 Platform that were omitted and not restored – language on the need to isolate the terrorist organization Hamas; on the need for Palestinian refugees of the 1948-49 war and their millions of descendants to be resettled in a future Palestinian state rather than in Israel; and on no return for Israel to the highly vulnerable 1949 armistice lines that remained in place until the 1967 Six Day War.

“This means that the Democratic Platform no longer opposes the legally baseless Palestinian ‘right of return,’ whereby Palestinian refugees of the 1948-49 war and their millions of descendants are to be resettled in Israel, destroying it from within. This means that the Democratic Platform no longer specifically calls for the isolation of Hamas. This means that the Democratic Platform no longer rejects an Israeli return to the 1949 armistice lines.”