Of all the times Bob Menendez stood up for Israel or the American Jewish community, his vote to confirm David Friedman as Trump’s ambassador to Israel has always stood out to me. Friedman was subject to an absurd smear campaign led by previous U.S. ambassadors to Israel—an unprecedented partisan breach by Democrats. Menendez crossed the aisle, displaying what actual bipartisan support for Israel looks like.
He was, alas, corrupt as the day is long, and it finally caught up with him, costing him his Senate seat. He was replaced by Andy Kim, a fellow Democrat who, in his quest to differentiate himself from Menendez, has adopted an ideology of ignorance on foreign affairs.
Word of advice to Sen. Kim: You can be knowledgeable without being corrupt.
Last week, Kim voted for Bernie Sanders’s partial arms embargo against Israel. He made it clear that his intention is to prevent Israel from taking offensive measures against the terrorist entities that attack it. Instead, Kim prefers a sort of Fortress Israel—a Jewish state sustained by defensive systems only. “I have long supported systems like Iron Dome and David’s Sling that protect scores of Israelis from terrorist groups and other common adversaries like Iran and Iranian proxies,” Kim said in a statement. He added that “getting bogged down with prolonged conflict in Gaza will pull resources away from securing Israel from its greatest threat—Iran.”
In other words, Israel should not have the weapons necessary to win the conflict in Gaza quickly; therefore, Kim believes, it must leave Gaza and hunker down in case Iranian missiles come flying.
Earlier in his career, Kim had worked as an adviser both for Gen. David Petraeus in Afghanistan and for President Obama’s national-security team in the White House. It is clear that, sadly for American and for the world, Kim learned the most from the latter position.
In addition to the strategic senselessness of wanting the Israelis to retreat from Gaza with Hamas still in power, it is cruel to the Palestinians living under the psychotic despotism of a death cult. Additionally, Kim’s belief that one can separate Hamas (and Hezbollah) from Iran is by now indefensible. He ought to know better, and the voters he represents deserve better.
Kim also complains of “disproportionate civilian casualties” in Gaza, which suggests he has not seen any remotely recent numbers: Even Hamas’s own list of casualties debunks the claim. Kim is living in a fantasy world.
Luckily, the post-Oct. 7 trend of Jewish leaders publicly standing up for their community continues. This week, 168 New Jersey rabbis from various denominations signed an open letter calling our Kim for failing the Jews “in a critical first vote.”
The letter notes that the weapons were approved by a large bipartisan majority in Congress and supported by presidents of both political parties. “Sadly, a small minority in Congress do not understand the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship and seem to have accepted Hamas’ lies and propaganda,” the rabbis write. “Now, knowingly or not, they are doing Hamas and Iran’s bidding and want America to abandon our ally and block these weapons sales. Bernie Sanders is the ringleader.… Despite numerous pledges that he would stand by our ally and by his Jewish constituents, in his first vote on an issue critical to Israel’s security, Senator Andy Kim voted with the anti-Israel fringe, against our ally, and our community.”
Perhaps the most important words in the letter come next (bold in the original text): “We are shocked. We are dismayed. And we are angry.”
Good. Let him have it. Perhaps Andy Kim is not up to the moment.
