Opinion

Dems’ AIPAC boycott is another sign of their turn to extremism

It was long a can’t-miss stop for presidential candidates: The annual convention of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the main pro-Israeli lobby, was a prime opportunity to take an American-as-apple-pie stand.

This year, however, at least eight Democratic hopefuls are deliberately snubbing the AIPAC conference, with its 18,000 delegates, heeding a demand from MoveOn.org that they boycott the event.

That includes Bernie Sanders, who in 2016 said he “would very much have enjoyed speaking at the AIPAC conference” but now accuses the group of providing “a platform” for “leaders who have expressed bigotry.”

Make no mistake: This is yet another deeply troubling sign of the rapidly shifting winds within the Democratic Party when it comes to supporting Israel.

True, the party’s top members of Congress — Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer — will all speak. Mayor Bill de Blasio, to his credit, will also show.

But the fact that major Democratic contenders for the nation’s highest office — including Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand as well as ex-Rep. Beto O’Rourke — are now pointedly turning their backs means that the hard lefties, not Schumer & Co., are the ones calling the shots.

And don’t the bad guys know it. Radical activist (and Louis Farrakhan ally) Linda Sarsour gloated on Twitter that “the tide is turning” on Israel and “the status quo is no more.” Worse, it’s further vindication of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s anti-Semitic attacks on AIPAC and all supporters of Israel.

Now, Democrats aren’t just refusing to hold Omar accountable for her vicious bigotry — they’ve adopted her talking points.

President Trump goes overboard when he says this proves the Democratic Party is anti-Jewish. Plenty of Democrats in Congress support Israel (even if they often get cold feet when it really matters, like over the Iran nuclear deal).

But those who refuse to recognize the party’s growing trend away from Israel are whistling past the graveyard.