During CNN’s coverage of the Republican presidential debate on Wednesday, CNN Political Commentator and former Obama Adviser Van Jones stated that “a lot of Jewish Americans feel unsupported” by the progressive movement, but do feel supported by President Joe Biden and that the college presidents who appeared before Congress have done a bad job handling students who are “getting pimped and used by Iran on some of this stuff.”
Jones said that he thought there was improvement this week, because “Sheryl Sandberg and other people went to the United Nations and said rape is not resistance. And we’ve got to make sure that — we’ve got a whole generation of young people who, they don’t understand some of these longstanding conflicts and the idea that Nelson Mandela was a freedom fighter. He never raped anybody. He never kidnapped anybody’s grandmother. If he used weapons, he went after soldiers and infrastructure. Those are freedom fighters. Hamas is not.”
Later, he added, “We have a responsibility to say to this next generation, you may not know, but you’re getting pimped and used by Iran on some of this stuff. … Now, I hope those college presidents are more effective at addressing their young people on their campus than they were with Congress. But if they’re not, somebody needs to.”
Jones further stated, “I think there are three groups that are possibly heading for the exits right now. Hopefully, they’ll come back. You do have, I think, working-class men of color are increasingly feeling despondent and moving away from the party. I think a lot of Jewish Americans feel unsupported, they feel supported by Biden’s stand, but don’t feel as supported by the rest of the progressive movement. But at the same time, you have Muslims who feel that Biden has been too lacking in sympathy for what’s happening to the Palestinians.”
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