Last week, I wrote a post about how the Democratic candidate for Massachusetts' Fourth Congressional District, Joe Kennedy III (yes, one of those Kennedys), had taken the the unacceptable position that the capital of Israel was Tel Aviv.
Video of Kennedy's ridiculous statement made the rounds of the blogosphere (see Moe Lane's RedState post here), but Kennedy has not attempted to clarify his words (or, more likely, his handlers haven't let any journalists close enough to ask him any real questions). The fact that delegates at the DNC were caught on video loudly booing a vote to reinstate language in the Democratic platform that affirmed Jerusalem as Israel's capital further adds to the growing criticism that the Democrats are not as supportive of Israel as they claim.
Today, Seth Mandel has an excellent, "must-read" post at Commentary regarding Kennedy's statement and some broader related issues pertaining to the MA-4 election:
[W]ith the renewed controversy over the broad Democratic Party opposition to recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a statement made by Joseph P. Kennedy III, [Sean] Bielat’s Democratic opponent for the seat, may garner some increased scrutiny.
In a primary debate earlier this summer, the Democratic candidates were asked about Mitt Romney’s comments in Jerusalem about the city’s status as Israel’s capital. Kennedy offered the following statement, in direct contravention of an observable reality: “I think that the capital of Israel is Tel Aviv.”
It is true that some have decided not to recognize Jerusalem as the capital until a two-state solution is in place, even though much of Jerusalem is not contested nor considered “occupied.” This is a silly affront to Israeli sovereignty, but even that is a far cry from the bizarre claim that Tel Aviv is Israel’s capital. No one in Israel argues this, and the mayor of Tel Aviv has gone out of his way to ask people to please stop lying about the status of his city. Those who claim Tel Aviv is the capital of Israel are attempting to express a uniquely uninformed brand of trendy leftist opposition to Israel.
Kennedy not only said that Tel Aviv is Israel’s capital (it’s not), but he also said that this reflects longtime American policy (it doesn’t). Some are pointing out that Kennedy’s fairy tale about Tel Aviv conflicts with what is on his website, but since he obviously has nothing to do with his own website, it only goes to show that his Tel Aviv pronouncements are his own and not those he’s hired to speak for him...
Kennedy’s comments also came before the Democratic National Convention scene in which Democratic delegates voted down adding a reference to Jerusalem back into the party platform, and booed loudly when the pro-Israel language was added over their objections. So Kennedy’s comments may be indicative of the Democratic Party’s antipathy toward Israel, but they were not inspired by the convention mess. Kennedy can’t blame this on his anyone but himself...
(Emphasis mine.) Read the entire post here.
If you'd like to help send to Congress a candidate who has, as Mandel put it, "a stronger grasp on basic geography," and who truly supports our ally Israel, you can donate to Sean Bielat here.
Further reading:
Commentary | Democratic Delegates Boo Jerusalem
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