This op-ed is about Analilia Mejia, the Democratic candidate to represent New Jersey’s 11th district in the United States Congress, and the Jews. By which, in the spirit of current political discourse, I don’t mean the Jews at all. I mean Israel. And would that current political discourse made things even that clear!

But first, I have to start with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). More precisely, a chimerical super-PAC backed primarily by AIPAC, which calls itself the “United Democracy Project.” A few weeks back, AIPAC decided to spend $2.3 million to tar Tom Malinowski, a candidate for Congress in NJ-11, apparently to punish his disdain for Benjamin Netanyahu. They evidently recognized how difficult it would be to convince NJ voters that this mainstream Democrat was weak on Israel, so they used their “Democracy Project” to insinuate, perhaps more laughably, that Malinowski, a centrist Obama-era diplomat, secretly supported Trump and his masked paramilitary force, ICE.

Bibi’s would-be defenders couldn’t fool the US press. From The New York Times to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, journalists called AIPAC out for kneecapping a perfectly reasonable critic of the current Israeli regime.

Here’s where things get really convoluted. Not satisfied with clarifying Malinowski’s genuine views on ICE and Israel, the reporters concocted a narrative in which clumsy AIPAC, by attacking a true friend of Israel, boosted his “pro-Palestinian,” “outspoken critic of Israel,” adversary, Analilia Mejia. (Epithets quoted from The New York Times; Jewish publications dialed things up to “anti-Israel.”)

Mejia is a veteran organizer endorsed by Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and a boatload of liberal luminaries. The narrative of her perfidious stand on Israel pervaded late coverage of the New Jersey election. On social media, Jewish voters started to worry. On cable TV, anti-Zionists gloated. Then Mejia won. More anxiety. More gloating.

There is only one problem: The story is nonsense. Mejia is no enemy of Israel.

Analilia Mejia campaigned on economic justice, universal health care, dignity for immigrants and citizens alike, ending oligarchy, and fixing bad train service. Foreign affairs? Virtually unmentioned. Israel-Palestine? The subject came up maybe twice – once in a panel at a synagogue, once at a Muslim voters’ forum.

What did Mejia say on those occasions?

At one event, she virtually quoted the Jewish state’s declaration of independence, asserting that Israel had a responsibility to provide equal rights and democratic participation to Jews and Arabs alike – in the language of the declaration, “complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex.”

At another, she raised her hand to indicate agreement with Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Israeli civil rights group B’Tselem, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, the leadership of the American Zionist group J Street, and at least 40% of American Jews that Netanyahu’s attacks on the civilian population of Gaza amount to genocide.

Oh, and she said she wouldn’t accept a free trip to Israel from, yes, AIPAC.

So is Analilia Mejia an “outspoken critic of Israel,” much less “anti-Israel”? In the absence of any evidence published by JTA or the Times, I contacted her campaign to inquire. Here’s how her campaign manager, a fellow called Elon Glickman, framed her view: “Israel has a right and a responsibility to exist as a state that guarantees freedom, safety, and dignity for all Israelis and Palestinians.”

In other words, when it comes to human rights, she’s a regular David Ben Gurion.

Netanyahu-era policies have sorely tested the US Jewish community. Just last week, a survey found that only 37% of American Jews would now put on that 1970s “I Am A Zionist” button. At the same time, all but 12% support Israel as, in the survey’s terms, “a Jewish, democratic state.”

So let’s get real about New Jersey voters. Their ballots were no referendum on Israel, much less Palestine. They chose a Congressional candidate who promised first to help wash the MAGA rot from the roots of our national institutions, then to carry forward a vision of a fairer, healthier, more compassionate society.

Analilia Mejia hasn’t said much about Israel and Palestine – by all accounts, very few have asked. But what she has said is as straightforward as the current narrative is twisted – and it corresponds to views widespread among American Jews. As Mejia invokes the better angels of the United States’ nature, she’s unafraid to invoke those of our long-standing, steadfast, and enduring ally. Israel desperately needs friends like her.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)