Gallup reports that 18% of Democratic voters support Israel’s violence against Palestinians. The revulsion the other 82% feels is caused by Israel’s attack on the doctrine of universal human rights, a doctrine expressed in the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, MLK’s “I Have A Dream” speech and the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Liberalism, the key cultural feature of the U.S., is grounded in this doctrine, and what Israel and its supporters are doing is far-right and “un-American.”

 AIPAC, a powerful pro-Israel lobbying group, has announced it will spend $100 million to remove “squad” members from office. AIPAC is using its First Amendment right to use its cash as “free speech” at the same time those who want to do likewise in the form of BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) can’t. According to Human Rights Watch, “More than 250 million Americans, some 78 percent of the population, live in states with anti-boycott laws or policies.”

For this reason, the Israeli government and its supporters present liberals with not just an existential threat but also an ongoing assault on our culture. What AIPAC-ers refuse to understand and accept is that if we do not uphold, defend and live this doctrine with constant dedicated action, then we are all open to racist genocidal violence that is justified by another ethos, that of an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth.

That ethos, summoned from dark ages by religious fanatics supported by our far-right-tending government, is what 82% of Democratic voters don’t support.

Kurt Heidinger

Westhampton