California Democrats Defeat Anti-Israel Amendments

“We’re tired of sitting back and letting a few vocal outliers hijack the Democratic Party’s Israel policy,” said Democratic Majority for Israel president and CEO Mark Mellman.

By JNS

Anti-Israel amendments were voted down at the California Democratic Party fall convention over the weekend.

A group of organizations, including Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI), which said it mobilized a battalion of more than 850 convention delegates, worked to defeat the amendments, which called for the Palestinian “right of return” and to eliminate support for the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

About 65 percent of the 2,500 delegates of the California Democratic Party State Central Committee rejected the anti-Israel amendments.

“We’re tired of sitting back and letting a few vocal outliers hijack the Democratic Party’s Israel policy, so we’re thrilled an overwhelming majority of California Democratic Party leaders and delegates rejected attempts to incorporate extreme and one-sided, anti-Israel planks into their platform,” said DMFI president and CEO Mark Mellman in a statement. “Instead, the platform continues the party’s proud history of supporting both Israel and the peace process.”

In response, the party adopted language advocating for a two-state solution to the conflict “directly negotiated by the parties that guarantees equality, security and democracy for all; recognizing Israel’s future as a secure and democratic Jewish state with recognized borders; and providing Palestinians with independence, sovereignty and dignity.”

The platform also recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and that the “decision to relocate the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem should not remove Jerusalem from final-status negotiations, nor should the capital city be used to undermine the peace process.”

It also objected to the anti-Israel BDS movement and called for stronger ways to fight hate speech, including anti-Semitism.

Earlier this year, the California Democratic Party’s executive board passed three pro-Israel resolutions, condemning hatred towards Jews and the State of Israel.

“We are pleased the party has once again rejected extremism and decided to focus on unifying issues,” said Progressive Zionists of California founding member Susan George in a statement posted on Facebook.