By Rabbi Adam Raskin
Several months ago, I invited a candidate endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America to join me for a cup of coffee. Beyond the headline-grabbing campaigns of Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Zohran Mamdani, I didn’t actually know much about the DSA or their local candidates. I was curious how affiliation with this party might affect the way a politician closer to home would govern. I didn’t invite this candidate as a trap; I truly wanted to listen, to ask questions and to learn. I was pleasantly surprised when the campaign manager returned my message and offered to bring the candidate to my office for a sit-down conversation.
In the days leading up to our meeting I was able to obtain the local DSA’s candidate endorsement questionnaire. Candidates must affirm their allegiance to an extensive list of DSA “priorities” in order to obtain the official party endorsement for their campaign. These include pursuing racial, housing, and reproductive justice, police and carceral reform, support for the “Green New Deal,” backing unions and collective bargaining, advocacy for LGBTQIA+ people, and action in support of universal healthcare and migrant justice.
Buried among those domestic policy priorities, however, was a sprawling section devoted exclusively to “Palestine.” Not “Israel and Palestine.” Just “Palestine.” Spread across two full pages of the document were an unfathomable list of pledges a DSA-endorsed candidate must agree to, including promoting the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement and the repudiation of any “Zionist” lobby groups, like Democratic Majority for Israel and J Street. No contact is permitted with think tanks that “obfuscate the reality of the occupation.” Candidates must rebuff any “political junkets” to Israel, and refuse to attend “any event whose content or purpose contravenes DSA’s stated platform and positions on anti-Zionism, apartheid, occupation, or BDS.” Terms like “genocide,” “apartheid,” “colonialism,” “occupation,” and “war crimes” are laced throughout the Palestine section of the document.
What struck me most was not simply the criticism of Israel. It was the singularity of the focus.
Of the 193 member states of the United Nations, including those widely known for egregious human rights abuses, violence against women, repression of LGBTQIA+ citizens, and discrimination of religious and ethnic minorities, the DSA only demands active resistance against the State of Israel. The questionnaire contains no comparable litmus test involving China, Iran, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, or any other government accused of severe human rights abuses. But showing even an inkling of recognition of the free and democratic State of Israel — the only Jewish state in the world — is the single purity test a candidate must pass in order to earn the DSA’s seal of approval.
When I finally met with the DSA candidate, I wanted this potential public servant to understand that the questionnaire is deeply flawed. I tried to impress upon this candidate how these very same accusations and slogans have become weaponized, creating an unsafe environment for Jews. We had an honest conversation about how targeted Jews feel by the obsessive vilification of Israel by the DSA. It was clear to me that this particular candidate had not fully appreciated the impact of these positions. But when I suggested declining the DSA endorsement and running as a progressive Democrat, I was told that it would not be possible.
“The DSA activists are great door-knockers,” the candidate explained. “If I repudiate their endorsement, it could mean the difference between winning and losing the election.”
I found this answer profoundly disappointing and unprincipled. The Jewish community should not excuse DSA-endorsed candidates who put political expediency over the safety and sensibilities of the more than 80,000 Jewish constituents they seek to represent. Antisemitism has reached epidemic proportions in Montgomery County, and we need to know that our elected officials will support the safety and security needs of Jewish organizations, schools and synagogues, regardless of what they preach or teach about Israel. That’s why I urge Montgomery County voters to reject the extremism of democratic socialism.
If we wait until the general election, it may be too late. The Democratic primary, on June 23, will be the only election that matters for local issues. In fact, there has not been a single Republican elected to the County Council in 20 years. That means that this June is the most important time to vote for Montgomery County Council, county executive and school board.
The Jewish community must make our voices heard. Visit montgomerycountymd.gov/elections to register to vote, find your polling location and check your party status (Republicans and Independents cannot vote in the Democratic primary). As the DSA tries to divide our community, let’s elect candidates who will unite us, protect us and uphold all the remarkable diversity of Montgomery County.
Rabbi Adam J. Raskin is the senior rabbi at Congregation Har Shalom in Potomac.
