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July 9th, 2021 
Awake Goy 
“Wonder why Democratic Majority for Israel’s negative ads against Nina Turner for Congress have nothing to do with Israel?” tweeted Wisconsin Rep. Mark Pocan this week. “Dark money running dark ads. Yuck. Support Nina against those big money deceptive ads and send a message to shady dark money groups.”
Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) is a lobbying group established by Democratic insiders in 2019 to stave off growing pro-Palestine sentiment within the party. “Most Democrats are strongly pro-Israel and we want to keep it that way,” declared the group’s president Mark Mellman at the time. “There are a few discordant voices, but we want to make sure that what’s a very small problem doesn’t metastasize into a bigger problem.”
In February DMFI endorsed Shontel Brown in Ohio’s upcoming 11th Congressional District race. In an email to supporters the group specifically attacked a rival candidate, Nina Turner, the national co-chair of Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign.
“The stakes in this race are high,” read the email. “One of Brown’s opponents, Nina Turner, has been labeled ‘fully anti-Zionist’ by her allies and refuses to join some 95% of House Democrats in condemning the BDS movement, whose founders believe Israel should not exist in any borders. Turner also recently endorsed placing new conditions on U.S. aid to Israel — an idea Joe Biden labeled ‘terrible’ and ‘outrageous.’ She was also a leader of the (unsuccessful) effort to move the Democratic Party platform in an anti-Israel direction.”
Turner is not a supporter of the BDS movement but she’s defended the right to boycott and called for military aid to Israel to be conditioned. In contrast Brown has framed herself as a close ally to the country and didn’t offer more than a condemnation of Hamas when Israel attacked Gaza recently.
“When I visited Israel, I observed the fruits of the friendship between our nations firsthand,” she declares in a policy paper. “I was eager to immerse myself in the well-preserved religious sites, and I found myself enamored by Israel’s robust democracy and incredible diversity. Our relationship must be permanent and durable — one that is nourished on an ongoing basis and withstands any temporary policy disagreements. If elected to the U.S. Congress, I will work to strengthen this crucial international relationship and partner with Israel to advance our common goals and values.”
In addition to the DMFI endorsement Brown’s position has also earned her backing from notable pro-Israel Democrats like Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ)and Brad Schneider (D-IL). This is on top of endorsements from notable centrists like Hillary Clinton and Rep. Jim Clyburn.
DMFI recently bankrolled two ads attacking Turner and, as Pocan points out, neither mention Israel or foreign policy at all. “Shontel Brown or Nina Turner?” one asks the viewer. “Who can we trust to deliver on President Biden’s agenda? Shontel Brown: a proven leader who will work with Biden and Harris to get results. Brown made history as the first Black woman to lead the county Democratic Party. She added over a hundred beds to our health center, caring for the most vulnerable. Shontel Brown: For Biden. For us.”
During the Democratic primary last year DMFI’s PAC spent over $700,000 on ads attacking Bernie Sanders in Iowa. They questioned his health and insisted that he couldn’t beat former president Trump, but they also didn’t mention Israel.
DMFI responded to Pocan’s inquiry on Twitter. They objected to his use of the term “dark money,” but never addressed his actual question. “Sad when a Member of Congress doesn’t know or purposely misrepresents facts,” reads the tweet. “DMFIPAC reports all donations/spending to FEC-it’s not dark money https://opensecrets.org/dark-money/basics… His candidate RAN a dark money group. & she said voting for Biden was like “eating sh*t.” That your view C’man?”
Recent polling clearly shows why DMFI might be hesitant to address the issue of Israel while attacking candidates: support for the country is dropping among Democratic voters.
Just this year Gallup found that a majority of Democrats now say the United States should focus its political pressure on Israel, while Data for Progress found that 72% of Democratic voters support Rep. Betty McCollum’s historic Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act. Polling released this year even indicates that support for Israel is dropping among evangelicals, long thought to be a cornerstone of the Zionist movement. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke (UNCP) found that only 33.6% of young evangelicals support Israel. 24.3% said they support Palestine. 42.2% said they support neither side.
“Councilwoman Brown is an effective and experienced community leader who’ll be a tireless advocate for her district,” Mellman told Jewish Insider when questioned about the attack ads. “She’ll work closely with the Biden-Harris administration and support Speaker Pelosi in advancing the Democratic agenda, which includes strong support for the U.S.-Israel relationship. When 4,500 rockets rained down on Israel last month, Councilwoman Brown called for Hamas’s rocket attacks to stop and voiced support for our ally.”
Did Democratic Majority for Israel avoid mentioning any of this in their ad because they realize support for Israel is no longer the majority position among Democrats?
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