Our guest is Daniel Biss, who just won in the ninth Congressional district in Illinois. For people interested in what Congress will do regarding Israel-Palestine, Biss is an intriguing figure. His mother is Israeli. He studied there, and at one point even held Israeli citizenship. He identifies as a progressive Zionist, but his positions are left enough that he has been attacked by the Anti-Defamation League. Biss hit back, saying that the ADL traffics in “fear, intimidation, and extremism.”
I disagree with Biss on some things, but this much is clear: Like Brad Lander, he is a new kind of Jewish member of Congress. We haven’t had many Jews in Congress willing to challenge the Israeli government, and its Jewish defenders, in the way he does. I was curious to learn more about his beliefs and his plans.
Topics include:
How Biss reconciles his belief in pluralistic democracy with his support of a Jewish state
Biss on a Palestinian right of return and on BDS
His decision, as mayor of Evanston, not to send the police to break up the pro-Palestine encampment at Northwestern University
His conflict with the ADL and AIPAC
Why he avoids the term genocide
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