The California congressman’s Judean misadventure was an attempt to boost his long-shot presidential hopes and move on from his sponsorship of the disastrous Graham Platner.
There was a time, not so long ago, when presidential aspirants from both major parties visited Israel to boost their campaigns. They still do so now, but for different reasons, as the recent misadventure of Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) illustrated.
In the past, American politicians traveled to Israel to make clear their solidarity with the Jewish state and its American supporters. They understood that this demographic was composed not merely of the vast majority of American Jews, but also of tens of millions of American Christians. Such visits were not merely ways to boost fundraising. They were an effort to demonstrate that the candidate was someone who appreciated that Israel was the sole democratic ally the United States had in the Middle East, as well as a place that deserved the admiration of the world for its tremendous achievements in the face of implacable hostility rooted in Jew-hatred.
Today, they go there to virtue-signal their solidarity with that same hatred.
Anti-Israel virtue-signaling
