HARRISBURG, Pa. — Escalating criticism of Democrats over the war between Israel and Hamas, a Republican running for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania has traveled to the Israel-Gaza border to argue that the Biden administration has targeted Israel since the Oct. 7 attack has not supported strongly enough. by Hamas.
Republican candidate David McCormick’s criticism reflects the delicate political challenge facing both President Joe Biden and incumbent Democratic Senator Bob Casey in a state Democrats cannot afford to lose in 2024.
Biden, who is seeking a second term as president, has been criticized from the left for being too pro-Israel in his response to the war against Hamas and for not doing enough to address the rapidly growing humanitarian crisis among Palestinians in Gaza to grab.
McCormick’s attacks echo those leveled during the Republican Party’s presidential campaign, where candidates have portrayed Biden’s policies toward Iran — a major financier of Hamas — as too weak to instill fear in what the U.S. the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.
McCormick said the U.S. should impose sanctions to cut off Iran’s oil sales and respond more forcefully to attacks on U.S. targets in the Middle East to restore an order shattered by what he called the Biden administration’s mistakes mentioned, which date back to an incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“The key to America’s role in the world is peace through strength,” McCormick said in an interview Thursday. “And so I think what we’re seeing is a failure of deterrence. I think what we’re seeing is a belief, all over the world. the world, among our adversaries, that America is a little flat-footed, that America is weak.”
Casey and McCormick are unlikely to face serious opposition in Pennsylvania’s April 23 primary before facing off in the November general election.
McCormick’s focus on the issue comes at a time when a barrage of American, coalition and militant attacks across the Middle East are increasing US fears that Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza could expand.
The Biden administration’s support for Israel has become politically complicated in other states the president is counting on for reelection. In Michigan, for example, Democrats are concerned that losing support among the state’s large Arab-American population because of the war could hurt their prospects. Michigan also has an open Senate seat on the ballot this year.
Pennsylvania and Michigan, along with Wisconsin, are key parts of a “blue wall” of Rust Belt states that helped Biden defeat former President Donald Trump in 2020 after Trump won those states in 2016.
In the Senate, Democrats maintain a narrow majority, a majority that became more dangerous late last year with the retirement of Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. That makes Casey’s seat even more important to his party’s efforts to maintain control of the chamber.
McCormick’s attempt to highlight his support for Israel is unique so far in this year’s high-profile Senate elections, and could become a test case for Republicans in the fall general election.
McCormick hopes to deter not only swing voters in Pennsylvania, but also members of the state’s relatively large Jewish community who vote overwhelmingly Democratic — but could make a difference in a close election.
Although the war has divided both Democrats and Jews, securing votes from Casey poses a huge challenge. The incumbent senator is highly regarded by Pennsylvania’s Jewish community and has been a trusted ally in Congress for Israel and its fight against Hamas.
Pledging solidarity with Israel, McCormick took a two-day trip to Israel, where he visited a kibbutz attacked by Hamas and met with government officials, hostage families and survivors of the October 7 attacks.
McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO, told reporters that the fight against Hamas is a battle between “the West and evil.” He followed the trip with a media blitz and a letter to what his campaign said were tens of thousands of “persuadable” voters in Pennsylvania.
In the letter, McCormick quotes an Orthodox rabbi known for his outreach to secular Jews and the Jewish scholar Hillel.
“Israel needs America’s strong and unequivocal support,” McCormick wrote. “Hamas must be destroyed. The lesson of October 7 is clear: the Middle East respects strength and therefore Israel must win. America’s mission must be to help Israel win. It’s that simple.”
McCormick did not mention Casey in the two-page letter. But he separately accused Casey and Biden of “appeasement” with Iran, calling back what he called the “original sin” of Casey’s support for the Iran nuclear deal under President Barack Obama in 2015, which critics say gave Iran the money it needed to finance the country. terror.
Casey responded that he had fought for years to support Israel in its fight against Hamas and that the Iran nuclear deal had worked – until Trump withdrew the US from the agreement.
“That’s the kind of reckless policy my opponent supports,” Casey said in a statement.
On the policy front, Casey and McCormick’s positions on Israel have much in common.
They both support military aid to Israel, support Israel’s mission to destroy Hamas and brush aside accusations of Israeli war crimes, saying they are convinced that Israel has gone to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties.
Both have condemned the brutality of the Hamas attack and accused it of using civilians as human shields. Arab countries that publicly criticize Israel’s counterattack on Gaza are privately telling their Israeli, American and European counterparts that they want Hamas gone, Casey said on CBS News’ “The Takeout” podcast.
“They’re all saying, please take out Hamas,” Casey said.
Casey has not joined some of his Democratic colleagues in calling for a ceasefire, imposing conditions on U.S. military aid to Israel or criticizing Israel over a bombing campaign that the Hamas-controlled government says is more than Killed 24,000 Palestinians. He also did not echo the Biden administration’s discomfort with the scale of Israel’s military operation.
Casey, who is running for a fourth term, is backed by the fundraising powerhouse the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, and the former chairman of a Foreign Relations subcommittee on the Middle East has visited Israel six times during his 17 year-old Senate. career.
In recent days and weeks, Casey visited a Jewish community center in Pittsburgh, attended the “March for Israel” on the National Mall in Washington and spoke at a synagogue in Philadelphia to denounce anti-Semitism.
For McCormick, foreign policy is one of his strengths and a cornerstone of his campaign, a rarity in today’s era. The decorated Army veteran held senior positions in President George W. Bush’s administration, including deputy national security adviser for international economic policy, and served on a defense policy council under Trump.
Republicans view Pennsylvania as a battleground with a Jewish population large enough — they estimate about 400,000 — to trigger an election decided by tens of thousands of votes.
For Jewish voters, Israel is not the only issue they care about, but it is a higher priority after the attack by Hamas, said Christopher Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion in Allentown.
Jewish voters typically vote overwhelmingly Democratic, and Democrats are currently trying to balance their interests in protecting Israel with those of younger voters who are sympathetic to the Palestinians, he said.
“That’s something that Democrats obviously have to take into account to keep their coalition together,” Borick said. “Jewish voters have been one of their most loyal groups of supporters. While not a huge chunk of the population, it is still critical given the nature of Pennsylvania’s close elections.”
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