Israel vs. The Progressive Left, Ending Catch & Release, Has The Biden Boom Gone Bust

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Israel vs. The Progressive Left
I cannot believe that Israel is still getting hammered for its commonsense decision to deny entry to Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, two radical anti-Israel politicians.

Nations have every right to decide who can and cannot visit their countries. There is quite a long list of people who have been barred from visiting the U.S. for a variety of reasons, including several singers and the current prime minister of India.

The Obama Administration barred an Israeli member of the Knesset from coming to the U.S. Anyone recall any outrage over that? And how many people have heard of Luke Angel? The idea that Israel did something highly unusual or offensive is utter nonsense.

Israel has plenty of critics in Congress. Members of the House and Senate have gone on fact-finding trips to Israel and, of course, Israel uses these opportunities to make its best case.

In fact, more than 40 House Democrats were in Israel earlier this month. They met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. But Tlaib and Omar refused to attend that trip because they are different.

They are not just critical of Israel, they support the demise of the Jewish state. What Israel's enemies have failed to do militarily, Tlaib and Omar want to do economically by strangling Israel through the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.

They do not support economic boycotts of any other state. Not Russia. Not Iran. Not North Korea. It's just the world's only Jewish state that they want to bring to its knees.

If there was any doubt about their intentions or the anti-Semitism that flows through their veins, look no further than the group that sponsored their trip.

Miftah has celebrated Palestinian terrorists, published blood libels against Israel, as well as anti-Semitic conspiracy theories from neo-Nazi groups. That two members of Congress would associate with this Islamic supremacist organization is, as one columnist put it, "a national scandal."

And, as Katie Pavlich correctly points out, this trip was a staged publicity stunt. The charade was fully exposed when Tlaib rejected Israel's offer allowing her to visit her grandmother on humanitarian grounds. Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri tweeted in response that Tlaib's "hatred of Israel outweighs her love for her grandmother."

Unbelievably, many mainstream Democrats, including some who have been friends of Israel, are now siding with Tlaib and Omar. I'm not surprised that leftists like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are suggesting that aid to Israel should be cut.

What is more disturbing is that Democrats with strong pro-Israel records like Eliot Engel and Steny Hoyer also condemned Israel for not allowing these rabble rousers into the country. (Engel and Hoyer are both facing primary challenges from insurgent progressive candidates.)

It was just a few months ago that Engel, Hoyer and others were upset that House Democrats couldn't pass a clear resolution condemning Rep. Omar for her constant anti-Semitism.

Now they are suggesting that Israel has an obligation to allow these anti-Semites into their country? That is obscene and outrageous.

Ending Catch And Release
The White House announced a bold new plan today to end the failed process of catch and release at the southern border. As you may know, one of the biggest challenges confronting efforts to stop illegal immigration is the massive number of "families" showing up at the border.

A previous court decree known as the Flores agreement essentially forces the government to release illegal immigrants apprehended at the border with children because the children cannot be detained longer than 20 days. Thus children become "get out of jail free" cards for illegal immigrants.

Not surprisingly, family unit apprehensions have spiked 2,800 percent over the past six years, a direct result of the Flores loophole. (Sadly, there have been thousands of cases of innocent children being exploited by unrelated adults hoping to take advantage of this loophole.)

President Trump has had enough of this insanity. He is ordering appropriate agencies to detain families together throughout the entirety of their immigration proceedings.

Under this new rule, no children will be separated from their mothers and no illegal immigrants will be released to disappear into the interior of the country. If they are allowed to remain in the country, they will be released together. If they are ordered deported, they will be deported together.

Jessica M. Vaughan, of the Center for Immigration Studies, hailed Trump's new order, saying, "This fix is arguably the single most important of the series of interlocking actions the Trump Administration has taken to address the border influx."

Predictably, the open borders left is howling with fits of rage at this commonsense proposal. But President Trump is serious about securing the border. In a statement, the president declared, "To protect these children from abuse, and stop this illegal flow, we must close these loopholes. This is an urgent humanitarian necessity."

Has Biden Boom Gone Bust?
Former Vice President Joe Biden made a big splash when he jumped into the 2020 Democrat primary. He raised nearly $5 million in his first 24 hours and has since raked in more than $22 million.

But according to an analysis by Politico, more than 60% of all the money Biden raised online came within the first seven days after his announcement. Now, after several months and two debates, he's lagging behind several competitors.

In other words, it seems the Biden boom has gone bust.

Meanwhile, he continues to set a record in gaffes. He said yesterday in Iowa that Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., died "in the late 70s." Well, not exactly. Both men were assassinated in 1968.

Things are getting so dicey that Biden's brain surgeon is having to publicly vouch for his mental faculties. But reminding the public that a presidential candidate has had two brain surgeries doesn't seem like a smart strategy to me.
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Gary Bauer (@GaryLBauer)  is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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