How Chris Van Hollen learned to love Israel

[JohnyCanuck]

On Tuesday, Rep. Chris Van Hollen handily defeated Rep. Donna Edwards for the Democratic nomination to be Maryland’s next senator, in what the Forward described as a victory for “the mainstream pro-Israel establishment.”

Van Hollen “vastly outspent his rival, $6.3 million to $2.7 million,” per the Washington Post; and the race became racially somewhat-polarized; but Van Hollen was able to count on the support of the Israel lobby against Edwards, who was seen as more sympathetic to Palestinians. Pro-Israel megadonor Haim Saban gave Van Hollen $100,000; and Van Hollen dutifully enlisted in the battle to fight Israel’s international delegitimization, calling that effort a form of anti-Semitism:

He believes we must also remain absolutely committed to ensuring the security of our ally Israel and fight anti-Semitism wherever it raises its ugly head.

Interestingly, both Van Hollen and Edwards once had sterling progressive records on the Middle East. And then Van Hollen got an education. Here’s the story.

http://mondoweiss.net/2016/04/how-chris-van-hollen-learned-to-love-israel/

[King_David]

1. Mondoweiss? That crap ....

Mondoweiss is a vanity site, mostly bigoted anti Jewish , amateur, and not taken seriously by anyone in this group.
Best find a better source ( on this topic probably not ) and repost .

[oberliner]

2. The article also has basic facts wrong

Which is typical of Phil Weiss (who wrote the article).

Weiss wrote:

Van Hollen– then a freshman congressman who had heroically knocked off a Republican in 2004 over the incumbent’s Iraq War vote

The reality:

Morella was the only Republican in the entire Congress to have voted against approving both the use of military force in Iraq in 1991 and in 2002.

[King_David]

3. The article is typical Mondoweiss crap.

[6chars]

5. The lying anti-Israel propagandists require a lot of vigliance

Thanks for calling out this one.

[ericson00]

4. the Israel "lobby" indeed won;

as in the supermajority and 4:1 ratio of Americans overall (which includes Dems 2.3:1) standing against Palestinian terror:



Even as an NYer, I was proud to stand with Van Hollen per my donation.