"If you vote for Biden, you ain't Jewish": Biden has alienated a crucial Democratic constituency

Remember when Joe Biden chided an African American radio host during the 2020 election season? "If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump," Biden flippantly claimed, "then you ain’t Black."

It was a racist remark, stereotyping all Black Americans as Blue Dog Democrats who would be denying their own interests if they voted Republican.

Now, that phrase has been turned against him as Jewish voters recoil from Biden's betrayal of Israel. As Varda Meyers Epstein wrote on the Elders of Zyon blog site, "If you vote for Biden, you ain't Jewish." Writing last month, Epstein accused Biden of betraying Israel in its life-or-death struggle with Hamas. Biden was "withholding arms and information," Epstein charged, and concealing "critical intelligence for later leverage, and was now using it—carrot and stick—to force Israel to stand down from Rafah."

Epstein might also have mentioned that Biden undermined Israel when he implicitly endorsed Senator Chuck Schumer's speech excoriating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and calling for his ouster. Biden called Schumer's outrageous betrayal "a good speech."

Why has President Biden stabbed Israel in the back? Some commentators say he's afraid he'll alienate Michigan's Muslim voters before the November presidential election if he doesn't take a more pro-Palestian stance in the Gaza war. Michigan, after all, is a critical battleground state.

I disagree. I think Biden's betrayal is a cowardly capitulation to a rising tide of anti-semitism in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Racist Democrats hate Jews, and they don't care whether they alienate Jewish voters who have traditionally voted for the Democratic ticket.

If so, Biden made a fatal miscalculation. Even if he carries Michigan in the November election (a doubtful proposition), he may lose other states with significant Jewish populations. 

Earlier this week, New York voters swept Jamaal Bowman, a pro-Palestinian Congressman, out of office, and Jewish PAC money helped defeat him. Bowman had accused Israel of committing genocide, and Jewish voters took note.

Bowman's defeat is an indication of how Jews will probably vote in November. Jewish voters may have concluded that if they vote for Biden, "they ain't Jewish." And there are 1.4 million Jews in New York City alone.

Pro-Palestinian protesters outside a Jewish synagogue in Los Angeles
Photo credit: Wall Street Journal