The Jerusalem factor

I have heard mixed reports about the booing on the floor after the votes were passed but in any event, the Democratic Party has voted to add Jerusalem back to the party platform.

The platform committee met earlier on Wednesday according to JTA.

"They are returning the language to the 2008 situation," Robert Wexler, a top Jewish surrogate for President Obama's reelection campaign and a drafter of this year's platform, told JTA. "The president directly intervened to make sure this amendment happened."

"Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel” appeared in the 2008 document, along with the caveat that the matter should be left to final-status negotiations.

A Democratic National Committee official also confirmed the reinsertion.

Why it was removed is beyond me.  In any event, it has been rectified.

Make no mistake that Democrats in Congress were upset with the removal from the platform.

What is interesting is that the Republicans are being hypocrites for attacking a toned down platform when their platform is toned down when it comes to Israel.  They can't hold the Democratic Party to a double standard when they, themselves, are doing similar things!

The Republican platform changes included removing the adjective “undivided” from references to Jerusalem, and cutting the sentence supporting the relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The 2008 platform included the sentence “We support Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel and moving the American embassy to that undivided capital of Israel.”

In the 2012 platform, that sentence is missing, with the only reference to Jerusalem – “Israel with Jerusalem as its capital” – lacking the word “undivided.” Support for moving the embassy to Jerusalem is excised entirely.

Although, to be fair, every single president has signed the waiver every 6 months when it comes to moving the embassy to Jerusalem, citing security purposes.