As we reported Sunday, the Democrat infighting over the Israel issue has escalated now to the point that there are actually anti-Israel lawmakers in Congress who are openly issuing not-so-veiled challenges to their colleagues to physical fights.
Yep. That actually happened. ICYMI:
Dem tensions over Israel:After Rep Josh Gottheimer called Ds who voted against Israel resolution “despicable,” Rep. Andre Carson calls him a “punk” and “cowardly.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 29, 2023
“If he wants to play some kind of tough guy .. we can handle it like gentleman or we can get into something else.” pic.twitter.com/V439U76SsE
Needless to say, while a potential squaring off of this nature might be entertaining on a visceral level, we don’t really need members of Congress throwing right hooks at each other.
But while physical punches shouldn’t be thrown, verbal jabs are absolutely allowed, especially on line-in-the-sand issues like the Israel-Hamas war, where members of AOC’s “Squad” of Democratic Socialist party members have reaffirmed who they really are over and over again, leaving no doubt as to who they see as the real enemy in this conflict.
And speaking of the Democrat Socialists of America Party, they’ve taken to targeting Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) who has been an outspoken critic of the Hamas Caucus and the DSA, calling the latter out big time over the despicable rally they held in NYC “in solidarity” with Hamas two days after their terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians began.
In response to the heat he’s brought against both them and their more visible members, the DSA recently organized a protest against Ritchie. The only problem was, as Ritchie explained, it was in the wrong district:
The DSA is organizing against me—in the wrong Congressional District! The Chase Bank at 5581 Broadway is in the neighboring district, not mine. |
The DSA is a bunch of trust-fund babies and hipsters that knows nothing about the Bronx and has never won a race in the Bronx precisely because it knows nothing.
The appeal of DSA is confined to white gentrifiers. Communities of color have no use for it.
The DSA is organizing against me—in the wrong Congressional District!
— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) October 29, 2023
The Chase Bank at 5581 Broadway is in the neighboring district, not mine.
The DSA is a bunch of trust-fund babies and hipsters that knows nothing about the Bronx and has never won a race in the Bronx… https://t.co/v5FI6v9rHo
According to a Community Notes link, they were actually in Squad member Jamaal Bowman’s district.
In another tweet, Torres highlighted a quote about him from Politico while issuing a warning to AOC and other DSA members without mentioning them by name (bolded emphasis added):
Politico rightly describes me as the most vocal opponent of the DSA, which promoted a rally glorifying the terrorism of Hamas and calling for Israel’s destruction in the immediate aftermath of Israel’s deadliest terrorist attack.
The DSA has made itself radioactive in New York politics. And those associating with the DSA do so at their own political peril.
Politico rightly describes me as the most vocal opponent of the DSA, which promoted a rally glorifying the terrorism of Hamas and calling for Israel’s destruction in the immediate aftermath of Israel’s deadliest terrorist attack.
— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) October 29, 2023
The DSA has made itself radioactive in New York… pic.twitter.com/nSvO42aJoQ
While I disagree with Torres on his point about how “Communities of color have no use” for the pro-Hamas DSA, which I think is contradicted not just by the membership of AOC, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar but also by the photos and videos we saw from the pro-Hamas demonstrations held over the weekend in NYC and London, he may have a point on how the “Jihad Squad” could face the consequences of their actions in primary races next year.
New York Democrats in particular have tap-danced and tiptoed around the issue of rising antisemitism within their ranks going back at least two decades and have tried to bury any and all criticism directed their way on the issue.
But with comparisons between what’s happening right now to Jewish people and the Holocaust being openly made, Jewish Democrats in New York, which has the largest population of Jewish people outside of Israel, are being faced with what may be an existential choice in upcoming primaries and general elections.
It’s not my place to tell anyone how to vote, but I would think the answer in this case should be pretty obvious.
