Left could push pro-Israel voters to GOP

Support for Israel has long been a tenet of both political parties. Major Democratic and Republican 2008 presidential contenders have demonstrated their support for Israel by, among other things, attending the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington, touting their pro-Israel voting records and personally traveling to the region. 

Yet pockets of anti-Israel sentiment are active in American politics and have found a home among a small group of Democratic lawmakers and leftist activists. While it's tempting to dismiss them as irrelevant, the left's views on Israel have in recent years seeped into mainstream politics. 

A small but significant group of overwhelmingly Democratic members of Congress have consistently voted against efforts to support Israel in its continual struggle against terrorists and now an Islamist Hamas government in Gaza. These votes demonstrate that anti-Israel views are a minority in Congress -- but a minority composed primarily of the most left-leaning members of the Democratic Caucus. 

A 2002 House resolution to express support of Israel against terrorism passed by a vote of 352-21, with 29 voting "present." Of the 21 votes against, 17 were Democrats; of the 29 voting "present," 26 were Democrats, one was independent Bernie Sanders (Vt.) and only two were Republicans. 

During the Lebanon War in 2006, Congress voted to confirm its support of Israel's right to defend itself against terrorism. While the measure passed overwhelmingly in the then-GOP-majority House, 11 Democrats and only one Republican voted "no" or "present." 

Some of the most liberal (and often powerful) members of Congress regularly appear on the "no" or "present" side of these and other Israel votes, including House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (Mich.), House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (Calif.), House National Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall (W.Va.), House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey (Wis.), Democratic presidential candidate and Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (Ohio) and Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott (Wash.). 

Other leading Democratic figures have also been dismissive about U.S. efforts to support Israel. In 2003, presidential candidate and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean declared in a speech that "it's not our place to take sides" between Israel and the Palestinians, an apparent repudiation of our decades-long special relationship and security obligations with Israel. Dean, now chairman of the Democratic National Committee, was widely criticized for these comments and subsequently argued he did not intend to alter the U.S.-Israel relationship. 

At times, the language is aimed at U.S. Jews themselves. On the eve of the Iraq war in 2003, Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) triggered a torrent of criticism after he told a local anti-war forum, "If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this. The leaders of the Jewish community are influential enough that they could change the direction of where this is going, and I think they should." Moran was later forced apologize for the remarks. 

In 2002, then-Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) failed to repudiate her father's accusations that Jews were responsible for her Democratic primary defeat. After a brief comeback two years later, in 2006 she lost in the primary again, after which Black Panthers in her entourage hurled anti-Semitic epithets ("Why do you think she lost? You wanna know what led to the loss? Israel. The Zionists. You. Put on your yarmulke and celebrate"). 

Outside Congress, some of the most vociferous criticism of Israel comes from the hard-core left, including Cindy Sheehan ("You get America out of Iraq and Israel out of Palestine, and you'll stop the terrorism"). Other left-wing Iraq war critics have also taken aim at Israel. 

The Anti-Defamation League in an August 2006 statement noted that sponsors of anti-war rallies in Washington and other cities "have a history of providing a platform to an array of extremist views, including support for Palestinian terrorism and the terrorist group Hezbollah, calls for the destruction of the Jewish state and messages equating Zionism with Nazism." 

The statement continued: "Previous rallies sponsored by ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) and other anti-Israel groups have promoted an unapologetic message denouncing Israel and U.S. foreign policy."