Democratic Socialists of America's "highest priority" is to bully a Black member of Congress to be antisemitic

The Democratic Socialists of America released this statement:

The National Political Committee is aware of the trip that DSA member and Congressman Jamaal Bowman took to Israel this week, and has received letters from various DSA chapters and members about the situation.

DSA unapologetically stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their ongoing struggle for liberation. Our platform proudly states continued support for and involvement with the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and efforts to eliminate U.S. military aid to Israel, while resisting the “normalization” of relationships between the Israeli government and other governments.

The NPC is treating this as its highest priority right now; to work with the DSA BDS & Palestine Solidarity Working Group and the Congressman’s local chapters to address this directly with Representative Bowman. We will be meeting with him in the next few days. We will update the members as soon as possible following that meeting.

What exactly did Bowman do?

He visited Israel and met with officials there in a trip organized by J-Street, which endorsed him in the last election. He tweeted about Kristallnacht without mentioning Jews. He visited Yad Vashem and tweeted about it also not even mentioning that Jews were victims of the Holocaust until people complained.  He visited the West Bank and criticized Israeli policies.

DSA considers this unconscionable, because the DSA supports the antisemitic BDS principles. Bizarrely, to them this means that Americans must not speak to Israeli officials because that is "normalization" with a country that the US already has strong relations with.

Bowman is a member of DSA. He agrees with most of DSA's positions. But to today's American fascists, he must toe their line completely. If an uppity Black congressman actually thinks for himself, he is suddenly the biggest danger to the entire movement and must be put in his place.

The DSA's highest priority is to intimidate a person of color to follow their instructions without question.

On Bowman's platform webpage, he openly says that he supports a two state solution and Israel living in security while strongly supporting Palestinian statehood and pushing the lie that US taxpayer money pays for "occupation" - entirely in line with J-Street's stated position:

Bowman never embraced BDS. He voted for continued foreign aid to Israel. He did nothing on this trip that was new for him.

But the grassroots of DSA across America erupted, and demanded that a person of color be put in his place. Wisconsin DSA has demanded his expulsion from the group; the Portland chapter demands either a censure or his expulsion because  he is "in substantial disagreement with the principles or policies of the organization."

Really?

Read the DSA platform. It includes hundreds of demands, many of them truly insane, and BDS is only one of them. 

If a member of Congress supports any budget that gives a dime to the FBI, CIA or NSA or to local police, they are in breach of the DSA platform. If they don't prioritize the US leaving the World Trade Organization they are in breach. If they support giving any money to NATO, they are in breach. If they don't support all major industry being run by the government, they are in breach. 

Even being a member of Congress itself tacitly violates DSA principles, which wants to abolish the entire American government and replace it with a parliamentary system. DSA demands that we repeal and replace the Constitution that created Congress to begin with. 

I don't like Bowman's politics, but he is consistent in his principles. He should resign from the DSA because they are treating a Black man like they own him.

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