[M] ny progressives were pushing for Walz instead of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who has taken more conservative stands on many issues and been very critical of campus protests of Israel’s military actions in Gaza.It’s not clear exactly why Harris chose Walz over Shapiro. ... But she also likely wanted to avoid irritating the party’s left wing by picking Shapiro. So although the left didn’t get one of its champions on the ticket, it exercised something of a veto. That’s progressive power.But Tuesday night, Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri, one of the most progressive members of the House, was defeated in a primary. She is the second member of the group that used to refer to itself as “the Squad” to lose their seat this year.Like New York’s Jamaal Bowman, who lost in June, Bush faced an opponent backed by the pro-Israel group AIPAC, which pumped millions of dollars into the race to boost its preferred candidate. The victories by New York’s George Latimer and Missouri’s Wesley Bell were major wins for AIPAC and centrist groups who want to diminish progressives’ influence within the Democratic Party.Two House members losing their seats might not seem like a big deal. But there are 10 members (including Bowman, Bush and Ocasio-Cortez) who were first elected in 2018, 2020 or 2022 and have often take unabashedly left-wing stands to push the Democratic Party in their direction. Those 10 were among the 18 members who called for a cease-fire in Gaza in October and argued that the United States should not give ironclad support to Israel.
...Progressives persuaded more establishment Democrats such as Biden to hire more left-wing staffers and implement those aides’ ideas. They’ve built strong grassroots movements, such as the protests against U.S. support for Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
George Latimer calls himself a progressive, using the word repeatedly on his website. So does Wesley Bell. They both hold similar positions as their opponents on nearly every issue important to the Left.
As this article makes clear, there is only one topic that differentiates what they call "progressives" from these self-declared progressives - Israel. Every single specific example in this article of what a "progressive" believes is being anti-Israel.
It isn't the only place this can be seen. A New Yorker article in June about politicians who have left the "progressive" fold like Ritchie Torres, Mondaire Jones and John Fetterman can also only name a single topic that defines them as no longer being progressive: support for Israel against Hamas.
It isn't only a rhetorical device from the Right to say that the progressive movement is obsessively anti-Israel. Their own adherents define themselves this way. Hating Israel, including opposing its right to defend itself from a sadistic terrorist group, is the only litmus test to be a part of that group.
Certainly, the people who identify themselves as progressive disagree with each other on some topics. None of those exclude them from their little club. But if anyone disagrees that Israel intends to wage genocide on Palestinians, that automatically kicks them out of the club.
When backing Hamas' war aims is the key topic that unites a group of people, it is no longer a political group. It is an antisemitic hate group.
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