Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) is facing a torrent of criticism from the left after she met with California delegates to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference in Washington, DC, on Monday — after joining other Democratic presidential contenders in skipping the conference.
Last week, the left-wing MoveOn.org called on Democratic presidential candidates to boycott the conference, and congratulated Harris for doing so:
However, on Monday, Harris met with AIPAC delegates from he home state, who joined thousands of other activists on Capitol Hill this week in lobbying members of Congress to support a strong U.S.-Israel alliance.
AIPAC tweeted its appreciation:
But “progressives” who dislike Israel were outraged, and accused Harris of opportunism and hypocrisy:
Harris was, however, not the only Democratic presidential contender to meet with AIPAC representatives privately this week. According to journalist Ron Kampeas of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, others did as well:
AIPAC was the target of antisemitic remarks by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) last month, when she claimed — falsely, that AIPAC bribes members of Congress to support Israel.
President Donald Trump is attempting to seize the pro-Israel mantle from Democrats. Earlier this week, he recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Last year, he signed legislation to deny U.S. taxpayer funds to the Palestinian Authority as long as it continued to pay terrorists and their families. He also withdrew the U.S. from the Iran deal, and visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the first sitting U.S. president to do so. And he moved the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, fulfilling a promise of both Republican and Democratic presidents.
Not one elected Democrat attended the embassy opening.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.