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November 18th, 2023 
Awake Goy 
Tom Nides was an unrelenting cheerleader for Israel during his two short years as ambassador to the country. Then this summer he took a big job at Wells Fargo, till the Hamas attack of October 7– and just a month into the job Nides left the bank to become a full-time Israel lobbyist, working with the Jewish Federations to promote Israel’s story.
Just like his father Arnold, who was a financier, Democratic donor and leader of the Jewish Federations in Duluth, Minnesota.
But Tom Nides’s own children don’t agree with him. Nides suggested that they are on the side of the Palestinians during an appearance on PBS’s show “Firing Line” on November 10.
Asked about Israel “losing the narrative on college campuses,” Nides brought up his own children and said they are for the “underdog.”
“I’ve been on this since the moment I got to Israel. And college kids– my kids, you know– they’re always for the perceived underdog. That’s just the reality. And we– I said in every speech, you could be– I am pro Israel and pro the Palestinian people. You can do both. Now, If they cross the line and people are talking about, you know, ‘the river to the sea,’ then I’m more than happy to, you know, to do what we need to do to rid that language– That’s just bigotry. That’s ignorance and bigotry.
Nides continued that he has to do a “better job of talking to my kids.”
I have no issues if college kids want to talk about the cause of the Palestinian people and what they’re fighting for and what they need to get, I’m all good. I feel that that’s that’s totally okay. So I believe in my heart we got to do a better job of talking to my kids and, you know, other people’s kids and college campuses and make sure they understand the story of Israel, the importance of this, why Israel was even created, and also talk about the importance of taking care of the Palestinian people. I’m all in.
The generational difference in attitude toward Israel has been pronounced during the Gaza onslaught. In a CNN poll in October, most Americans see Israel’s bombing as justified. But the numbers slip sharply under age 50. Only about a quarter of those under 35 see the attack as justified. The shift is marked in the Jewish community, too, and the young Jewish group IfNotNow has led demonstrations for ceasefire, including at the Democratic National Committee last night. While Vice President Kamala Harris’s daughter Ella Emhoff has reportedly raised millions for the relief of Gaza children.
“We have a major, major, major generational problem,” Jonathan Greenblatt of the ADL is said to state to a fellow advocate for Israel in a leaked recording (that sounds like Greenblatt but has not been confirmed as genuine).
Back in February, we reported Nides’s complaint to David Axelrod that the discourse on campuses is what “keeps me up at night.” Israel has “lost the narrative.”
What I really worry about, David, what keeps me up at night is what is going on on college campuses.… If you stand up and you’re a Jewish kid or a non Jewish kid and you talk about Israel, it’s very difficult. We’ve lost the narrative of college campuses and we’ve got to focus on that… I did a tape for Hillel… I said, Listen guys, we’ve lost this narrative, You can be pro Israel and pro Palestinian people! Somehow we’ve missed that narrative on college campuses.
In his new incarnation as an Israel lobbyist, Nides’s appearance on PBS follows appearances on Bloomberg and CNN, in which he has echoed Israeli talking points and deplored the idea of a ceasefire. Even though a lot of “innocent people are going to die.” As he said on Bloomberg:
“[I]t breaks my heart to see these innocent kids and mothers and fathers get killed. Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people… [Hamas says] the more Palestinians that die, it’s better for their cause… This is about martyrism… Hamas knows what they’re up to, they’re trying to create chaos… and a regional war.
“[Israel has] got to rid the country of Hamas… for not only the security of the state of Israel but the security of the region and quite frankly, for the United States.”
On PBS, Margaret Hoover asked, “Do you think Israel is doing as much as it can to prevent civilian casualties?” and Nides said, “Yeah, I do.”
Featured on the October 8 State of the Union show on CNN, Nides focused on the difficulties for Israelis– nothing about Palestinians.
This is affecting every single person in Israel. And it’s heartbreaking, and it’s senseless. It’s beyond — it’s beyond words. And I can’t — as someone who spent a couple years there, I can’t express my anger and frustration and just — just my heart breaks for all these people. you don’t realize the impact this is having on every single person who lives in the state of Israel. And, for me, it’s — the anger is — it’s quite deep inside of me.
These people, this — Hamas are a bunch of monsters, throwing kids and elderly and women and children and parading them around.
Nides appeared on the CNN broadcast despite the fact that his wife, Virginia Moseley, is CNN’s executive vice president, who is said to be deeply involved with setting news priorities.
At Mondoweiss, we understand the power of telling Palestinian stories. For 17 years, we have pushed back when the mainstream media published lies or echoed politicians’ hateful rhetoric. Now, Palestinian voices are more important than ever.
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