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Blumenthal rally at
the West Hartford town hall -- Michael Walsh / Hearst Connecticut Media |
It might be instructive to compare different rallies in
Connecticut following Hamas’ attack on Israel. The differences are not merely a
matter of tone.
The pro-Israel rally in West Hartford on Monday, October 9
was covered by a Hartford paper and headlined, “We stand with Israel, we grieve with Israel.”
The lede on the story reads, “Drawing loud applause from a
crowd of about 700 outside West Hartford town hall Monday evening, U.S. Sen.
Richard Blumenthal and Sen. Chris Murphy pledged solid support for Israel in
its battle against Hamas.”
U.S. Senator Dick Blumenthal addressed the crowd: “We are
here to shout ‘We stand with Israel, we grieve with Israel, we pray with
Israel,'” Blumenthal told the rally, organized by the Jewish Federation of
Greater Hartford. “This fight is our fight. This fight is America’s fight
because it’s a fight against terrorism.”
Various speakers “labeled the Hamas attacks as Israel’s
equivalent of the Sept. 11 terrorism against the United States.”
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont told the crowd, “… despite
differences and disagreements, the United States and Israel are like family.
‘When they attack one member of our family, they’re attacking our family. We’re
not going to let that happen,’ Lamont yelled into a microphone. ‘Never forget,
never again. Never forget, never again. I want to make sure Hamas knows, Iran
knows, that we’re not just here today, we’re not just here tomorrow, we’re here
forever.”
And there it was: Iran must be made to feel the permanent
resolve of the United States, presumably because Hamas is to Iran what the
Wagner Group is to Russia. The Wagner Group supposedly has been disbanded after
its military leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, staged a march on Moscow to protest the
military incompetence of Putin’s generals.
The Wagner Group was a paramilitary organization properly
regarded as Putin’s de facto private
army, just as Hamas and Hezbollah may be regarded as proxy armies of Iran’s Ali
Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the
Islamic Revolution, Iran’s head of state and the highest political
and religious authority of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
For more than thirty years, Khamenei, a theocratic and civil
dictator, has been directing the assault on Israel, using Hamas and Hezbollah
as proxy militants to advance the cause of Shia Muslims in the Middle East.
Shias are vastly outnumbered by Sunni Muslims.
It is very important for politicians in the United States to
recognize and connect such dots.
Only one speaker at the West Hartford rally, Lamont, not a
Democrat member of Connecticut’s all-Democrat U.S. Congressional Delegation,
did so.
Where are the anti-Iranian philippics of Blumenthal and his
doppelgänger, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy? And why have all the other members of
Connecticut’s U.S. Congressional Delegation descended into a monastic silence
concerning the part played by Iran in destroying peace and order in the Middle
East?
The silence of prominent Democrats on the part played by
Iran in world terrorism – the silence of the lambs? – is deafening.
In his major address on the slaughter of the innocents in
Israel, President Joe Biden, no Cicero to be sure, failed to mention Iran once,
and the members of Connecticut’s U.S. Congressional Delegation, Democrats all, have
dutifully followed the Washington DC script.
In New Haven, Yalies4Palestine and the Connecticut
Democratic Socialists of America, we are told, staged a Palestinian solidarity
rally at city hall.
“’We mourn the tragic loss of civilian lives, and for this
we hold the Zionist regime accountable,’ read the group’s Instagram post about
the rally, where pro-Palestinian students from UConn and Wesleyan were also
expected to attend.”
Blumenthal missed the
rally, Murphy was a no-show, and all the Democrats serving on Connecticut’s
U.S. Congressional Delegation have swallowed their collective tongues.
Now then, Biden could not mention Iran in his speech because
he had just delivered to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the equivalent
of an $8 billion promissory note, following President Barack Obama’s lead, who
had previously delivered planeloads of cash to Iran under cover of darkness –
because he did not wish to share his transmittal of terrorist cash with the
U.S. Congress.
Former Bush 43 speechwriter Marc Thiessen’s reaction to
Biden’s formal speech was typical of the Republican response: “I can't believe
we waited two days for that. He gave that entire statement and didn't mention
Iran once. Not once. Let's be clear. Hamas is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the
Iranian regime. Iran arms them. Iran funds them. Iran trains them. They could
not carry out an attack like this without the arms, training and support of the
Iranian regime, putting aside any question of the coordination of this specific
attack.”
In Connecticut’s media, this deadly lapse of political
judgment on the part of principled Democrats has yet to be noted in a
significant editorial protest.
And the clock is ticking.
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