Former governor of Vermont and one time Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean sought to lecture Jews on what it means to be Jewish on Tuesday. Remarking on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s role in US President Donald Trump’s peace plan he tweeted, “in other words, Israel embraces ethnic cleansing. This is a complete betrayal of Tikkun Olam [fixing the world] and a betrayal of what it means to be a Jew.” Dean sought the Democratic nomination in 2004.It’s not the first time Dean has sought to tell Jews what it means for them to be Jewish. In July 2019 he slammed Israel for “losing its soul and purpose,” claiming that “the nobility of the Jewish people conferred by their terrible suffering is being squandered by cheap, bigoted, political crooks.” Dean does not tweet similar things about other minority groups, for instance attacking Armenians for what Armenia does or the Irish for Ireland’s policies or Chinese-Americans for China’s actions. He doesn’t appear to lecture other religious groups on the meaning of their religion either, such as telling Buddhists or Muslims what “it means” to be a member of their faith or born into the group.
A search of Dean’s other tweets reveals a growing obsession with American Jews. In October 2019, he wrote with interest in Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz, “I know he would create an opportunity to improve Israel’s standing among young American Jews.”if(window.location.pathname.indexOf("656089") != -1){console.log("hedva connatix");document.getElementsByClassName("divConnatix")[0].style.display ="none";}
In other words, Israel embraces ethnic cleansing. This is a complete betrayal of Tikkun Olam and a betrayal of what it means to be a Jew. https://t.co/llJZiFgM85— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) February 4, 2020
A search of Dean’s other tweets reveals a growing obsession with American Jews. In October 2019, he wrote with interest in Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz, “I know he would create an opportunity to improve Israel’s standing among young American Jews.”if(window.location.pathname.indexOf("656089") != -1){console.log("hedva connatix");document.getElementsByClassName("divConnatix")[0].style.display ="none";}
He tweets articles about Israel, with comments such as, “this is why Israel has lost the moral high ground among so many young American Jews,” as he did in March 2019. In October 2018 he wrote: “This is why young American Jews are losing interest in Israel.” In November 2018 he wrote that it would be “better for Israeli relations with Democrats and American Jews for Israeli voters to fire Netanyahu. We would never trust him and you shouldn’t either.” Dean doesn’t seem to make similar comments about other US allies, such as Turkey, regarding who they should vote for or whether Turkish Americans should or should not have an interest in Turkey based on who voters there choose.I have no idea what kind of PM Gantz would be but I know he would create an opportunity to improve Israel’s standing among young American Jews which is at a dangerous low point because of Netanyahu bigotry, sexism, corruption, and hatred for the US Democratic Party. https://t.co/H1wsmifXEF— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) October 24, 2019
And this is why Israel has lost the moral high ground among so many young American Jews https://t.co/XPvx264kte— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) March 10, 2019
Dean has tweeted that he is not Jewish but has “marital ties to Reform.” He once tweeted about Christianity, referring to Jesus as “the Founder” and asserting “he was also a Jew.”Better for Israeli relations with Democrats and American Jews is for Israeli voters to fire Netanyahu. we would never trust him and you shouldn’t either. https://t.co/VCzeZrxDqY— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) November 7, 2018
Israel and the American Jewish community were outraged in 2006 when Jimmy Carter's book about Israel Palestinian problems included the word apartheid. Today the Knesset and the PM say setting up an apartheid state is a priority. This is folly for the long term security of Israel https://t.co/0QRe1BM2uo— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) July 10, 2018
He has been outspoken arguing that Israel is “setting up an apartheid state.” He also seems obsessed with who American Jews vote for. He tweeted after the Trump peace plan was announced: “This is not going to get Trump a single extra vote in or out of the American Jewish community.”Dean’s comments about Jews are in contrast to comments about other groups. A search of his Twitter account found only three references to Armenians, for instance. Dean is critical of other countries, such as Russia, China and Turkey. And he is critical of other foreign leaders, such as Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He wrote in 2017 that, “Erdogan is taking Turkey out of the West.” But his views on these leaders don’t seem to cross over into views on members of their minority groups in the US – or end up with a lecture on the true meaning of Islam or what it means to be a Buddhist.On Buddhism, he seems to have only tweeted a BBC article that was titled “the darker side of Buddhism.” He doesn’t lecture American Buddhists based on the policies of Myanmar. Only American Jews get the Dean analysis when it comes to Israel’s policies, and only Jews seem to be told what it “means” to be Jewish. There seems to be no recognition by Dean of Jewish diversity or that not all Jews look at “Tikkun Olam” the way he might have heard of the concept, nor that former Vermont governors should be telling Jews how to practice their faith and what their role should be. No other group in the world gets told by Dean that their “nobility” will be tarnished because of the actions of a country where they are a majority.I am a fan of this Pope as he tries to undo the works of 2000 years of men’s institutional adjustments and focus on the teaching of the Founder, who was compassionate, forgiving and loved the least among us. He was also a Jew. https://t.co/kHSRgpPGCO— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) December 21, 2019