Democrat presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. slammed the “anti-Israel” Democrat Party, which he accused of becoming the “party of war” and of having “lost” its way.
Kennedy made his comments while speaking with former New York state assemblyman Dov Hikind on Tuesday.
In this short clip from my interview with @RobertKennedyJr, the presidential candidate describes the Democratic Party as being the Anti-Israel Party. Hear it for yourself, it’s a fascinating take.
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) July 26, 2023
The full interview will be available Thursday, 2pm EST: https://t.co/ZeVc7pRE4u pic.twitter.com/G9mNPrgdqL
“I think the Democratic Party has lost its soul; it’s lost direction; it’s lost its moral compass,” the presidential hopeful stated.
He also accused the Democrat Party of having “abandoned its bedrock commitment to free speech.”
“It’s trying to censor me at a censorship hearing,” he noted, referring to the attempt to censor Kennedy after his passionate opening statement at a hearing on censorship at the House Weaponization Subcommittee last Thursday.
In addition, he charged that the Democrat Party has “become the party of war, and it’s become the anti-Israel party.”
After the host asked him to repeat himself to clarify, Kennedy doubled down, asserting that “it is becoming the anti-Israel party” and that the “progressive caucus is anti-Israel.”
“[When] they look at Israel, their narrative is that Israel is an imperial state perched on an oppressed indigenous population of Palestinians,” he stated. “There’s no understanding of the history at all.”
“It’s been a complete memory hole of how we got to where we are today and the moral position that Israel has taken in every transaction,” he added.
Admitting the Jewish State is “not perfect,” Kennedy noted that he does not “co-sign everything that Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu or the Likud [Party] does.”
“You can criticize Israel legitimately without being antisemitic,” he explained. “Here’s where you cross that line: when you’re criticizing Israel using a different set of standards.”
The matter comes as Democrats are increasingly accused of antisemitic and anti-Israel sentiment.
Last week, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (CA) slammed progressive U.S. Democrat Pramila Jayapal’s (WA) claim that Israel is a “racist” country, declaring that antisemitic remarks among Democrat officials are “absolutely unacceptable” and have “got to stop.”
Democrat Rep. Pramila Jayapal attempts to appease so-called "Free Palestine" protesters after they hijacked a leftist conference: "We have been fighting to make it clear that Israel is a racist state!" pic.twitter.com/9p2aX6uh4F
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 15, 2023
“I think if the Democrats want to believe that they do not have a conference that continues to make antisemitic remarks, they need to do something about it because they’ve defended these individuals time and again,” McCarthy stated.
.@SpeakerMcCarthy on Rep. Jayapal’s calling Israel a 'racist state': "This isn't the first person in the Democratic conference that has continued to make anti-Semitic comments…they've defended these individuals time and again…this is a role for the Leader, Hakeem…" pic.twitter.com/M0blsNLx8Q
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 17, 2023
He then highlighted other “antisemitic” statements from Democrat officials.
“Think before of what Congresswoman [Ilhan] Omar [D-MN] had said: she equated the U.S. Military and Israel’s security forces with Hamas and the Taliban,” he noted. “She said support for Israel is ‘all about the Benjamins’ [and that] supporters of Israel have an allegiance to a foreign country.”
McCarthy also cited fellow “squad” member Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), who once stated she “had a calming feeling when discussing the Holocaust.”
“Who in their right mind could even say that?” he asked.
Calling out Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) for having “introduced a resolution to condemn Israel and support[ing] Palestinian terrorist organizations,” McCarthy exclaimed that “these are just multiple Democrats on multiple times, consistently saying antisemitic remarks, and it has got to stop!”
“These are all individuals in the Democrat conference,” he stated. “Do they think Israel is an evil state?”
Earlier this month, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) accused the Biden administration of being the “most relentlessly anti-Israel” administration in U.S. history.
In the Biden White House, we have seen a granular, systematic, comprehensive, and exhaustive attempt to undermine our friend and ally, the State of Israel.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 11, 2023
It is shameful. #Verdict https://t.co/bSyHrIcKAf
On Tuesday, Kennedy addressed a packed venue in New York City, affirming his support for the Jewish community against antisemitism and for the State of Israel.
Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
