by William Skink

The state of Israel is a magical state. Its influence on American politics transforms commonly held values upside down.

Republicans are thought of as pro-business and anti-regulation. They don’t like government interfering in the free-flow of capital. Right? Well, not when a nasty boycott against the apartheid state of Israel is involved. The BDS movement inspired Montana Republicans to temporarily suspend their pro-business posturing to try and do this:

Republican House Speaker Austin Knudsen of Culbertson said his bill allows Montana to stand in solidarity with Israel. His bill “sends the message that we will not send our taxpayer dollars to companies which chose to participate in the boycotting and sanctioning of one of our nation’s strongest allies,” Knudson said.

The bill would direct the Montana Board of Investments to sever ties with companies supporting a pro-Palestinian movement to boycott Israel. It would also bar public agencies — including counties, cities and towns — from doing businesses with companies that don’t agree to certify in writing that they are not engaged in a boycott of Israel.

On the other side of the aisle, Democrats like to oppose racism. They don’t like racists and think pretty much anyone who doesn’t agree with their concept of diversity are racists. Right? Enter the state of Israel and its billionaire supporters, like Haim Saban. When a Democrat trying to get a position of leadership with the party even acknowledges Palestinians are humans, it’s a problem that needs to be taken care of:

ZAID JILANI: Yeah, well, it’s really interesting. Keith Ellison started out very strong in this race. He received endorsements not only from Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, but also from Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer, from a wide variety of labor unions. I mean, in a way, he really was the unity candidate in that he had brought together Sanders backers and Clinton backers.

But as the campaign developed, we started to see more and more negative hits pop up in the media. We saw one of the largest donors of the Democratic Party, entertainment tycoon Haim Saban, who’s an Israeli-American businessman, come out and say that he’s an anti-Semite, say that he’s anti-Israel. The Anti-Defamation League called on Keith Ellison to be disqualified. The night before the vote, delegates were getting emails from the American Jewish Congress saying that, you know, Keith will be really bad for the U.S.-Israel relationship and that he shouldn’t be confirmed.

There was a widespread sort of smear campaign targeting Keith Ellison for his view about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is actually quite moderate. You know, he believes in a secure Israel. He’s voted for aid to Israel most of the time. But he also believes in rights for Palestinians. He opposes the blockade on Gaza. He opposes the settlement construction. And he’s been vocal about that. And he’s talked to both sides, and he’s been very close to both the American Jewish community and the American Muslim community.

So, in conclusion, when it comes to Israel, Democrats support racism and Republicans support anti-business regulation. Weird. Also, disgusting.

Here’s what I think about it: