Republicans (and some Democrats) are criticizing the Democratic platform’s omission of traditional language referring to Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The Republican platform, meanwhile, had its own (albeit smaller) platform changes related to Jerusalem — and the National Jewish Democratic Council is trying to turn the tables.
The 2012 GOP platform states that "we envision two democratic states – Israel with Jerusalem as its capital and Palestine – living in peace and security."
The 2008 platform, though, refers to an "undivided Jerusalem" and moving the U.S. embassy there: "We support Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel and moving the American embassy to that undivided capital of Israel."
This language is absent from the 2012 GOP platform.
This has the NJDC is crying hypocrisy over Republican attacks on the Dem platform changes. NJDC’s president, David Harris, said in a statement:
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Today we’re learning that the Republican Party removed strong language pertaining to Israel and Jerusalem from their party platform between 2008 and 2012, yet they have the temerity to point fingers at Democrats and President Barack Obama—the leader who has built a stellar pro-Israel record of accomplishment. Their hypocrisy is stunning, but not surprising.
In 2008, the GOP platform noted, ‘We support Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel and moving the American embassy to that undivided capital of Israel.’ In 2012, that language was gone. No reference to an undivided capital, no reference to America’s embassy—gone. Does this mean the Republican Party is suddenly anti-Israel? Of course not. But it does mean that GOP leaders pointing fingers are wildly hypocritical—given this change and others.
The NJDC had previously issued a statement on the original Dem platform controversy.
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