Read on for article

Even if Lander’s accusation is true, we could readily turn that around. Advocates for the so-called Palestinians are “utterly failing to meet the moment to see Israeli and Jewish lives as just as valuable as ‘Palestinian’ lives.”

For this reason alone, America should continue supplying Israel with all offensive and defensive weapons deemed necessary. The weapons issue was Lander’s lynchpin for claiming that Goldman lacks empathy for “Palestinians” when Lander declared that he would vote to withhold military aid from Israel at this time.

“At the moment, Israel is very far from complying with human rights and international law. So I would not vote for any more aid at this moment,” the former city comptroller said at a meeting last Thursday with the New York Editorial Board, an organisation of New York City journalists who interview political candidates and civic leaders, The Forward news website reported.

Critics of Israel do express legitimate concerns about Israel’s attacks on Gaza and perhaps Iran and Lebanon.

Yet when Hamas massacred 1,200 Jews and kidnapped another 250 on Oct. 7, 2023, who questioned the sources of Hamas’ weapons? Who condemned Iran and any other suspected sources of Hamas’ weapons?

Not the anti-Israel mob that has been driving their Israel-bash-a-thon long before Oct. 7.

Their movement has been a one-sided propaganda campaign against Israel. Not only do they attack Israel, but they lie about the conflict and avoid mention of inconvenient facts, such as Israel’s offer of a Palestinian state a quarter-century ago.

As Iran has its proxies, like the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah, Mamdani and other critics of Israel support like-minded proxies on the political battlefield in America. Mamdani rebuffed Lander’s bid to join his administration and instead encouraged him to challenge Goldman in the coming Democratic primary. Goldman’s district covers much of lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn.

Both have danced around Israeli issues in the past, in fact contradicting themselves at times. Goldman currently supports military aid.

Democratic opposition to Israeli policies has been rising even before Oct. 7. While the Gaza war still raged last year, a record 27 Senate Democrats backed resolutions to block weapons transfers, the Forward recounted. The current Iran war further inflamed Democrats because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu persuaded President Trump to partner with him in a full-scale war with Iran without bothering to fashion a sensible strategy or explain their goals to their respective publics.

The result has been chaos, economic upheaval and retention of virtually the same regime in Iran.

We have strong reason to be concerned about Israel’s military response to Oct. 7. Thousands of civilians were killed in the bombing in large part because Hamas built its operations where the people of Gaza live, attend school and receive medical care, so civilian deaths were all but guaranteed. However, it very much appears that Israel went way too far with its attacks, and in the current war American planes killed an estimated 160 schoolgirls, presumably by mistake.

 Normally, we should seriously reconsider our military aid to Israel, but the anti-Israel mob never held terrorists to the same standards, so as a matter of equity we must persist with our assistance to Israel. Those who do not like it should have thought of that on Oct. 7.