Praise for Booker amid Gaza carnage is a sign of Democrats' moral bankruptcy

In a time marked by unspeakable horrors in Gaza, the Democratic Party faithful still found time to laud Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) for his 25-hour Senate speech. His spectacle, hailed as a triumph of Democratic grit, reveals a deep rot in a party so enamored with its own theatrics that it turns a blind eye to the carnage it funded and supported under the Biden administration.

To cheer Booker while Palestinians in Gaza are being slaughtered by Israel is not just tone-deaf. It is a damning indictment of a party as morally bankrupt as the Republicans led by President Trump.

The numbers alone should stop us cold. Since October 2023, Israel’s offensive has led to the deaths of more than 59,000 Palestinians in Gaza (one-third of them children), injured more than 116,000, buried countless others under Gaza’s rubble, and made millions homeless. In addition, Israel has deliberately cut off food, water and electricity — a war crime that the U.S. has done nothing to stop — that is pushing Gaza to the edge of famine. 

Last week, reports emerged of Israeli soldiers executing 15 paramedics. In addition, since the beginning of 2024 the UN has reported discovery of mass graves around a number of hospitals containing the bodies of executed Palestinians.

Yet amid this ongoing carnage, Democrats chose to fawn over Booker’s speech which, for all its stamina, did nothing to fix America’s broken moral compass. This is not the mark of a party that values humanity. It is the behavior of a political cult, obsessed with symbolic gestures while failing to address real problems affecting people’s lives.

Booker himself is also guilty. He has pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years from pro-Israel groups. Far from being a champion of justice, Booker (like other Democrats) is a cog in the machine that Democrats have oiled and maintained that has led to the Gaza carnage.

The accolades for Booker aren’t just misplaced — they are symptoms of a pestilence within the Democratic establishment. Democrats condemn Trumpism as a fascist specter, yet the party’s unwavering support for Israel, its coziness with corporate interests and its refusal to confront its own complicity have erased any claim to moral superiority.

When Booker posed for a photo in 2024 with Yoav Gallant — Israel’s former defense minister, now wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes — it wasn’t an aberration. It was a snapshot of a politician (and a party) that preaches human rights while embracing those who trample them with impunity.

The Democratic establishment’s supreme hypocrisy is a sign of a cult-like loyalty that places greater importance on Booker’s theatrics while ignoring the deadly violence faced by Palestinians, which has eroded trust in democracy itself. It is one of the reasons for the rise of Trumpism — because Democrats have offered platitudes instead of justice for years, a formula successfully emulated by Trump.

Look at the party’s record which has paved the way for attacks on immigrants and visa students protesting over Gaza, with some being arrested and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents like a scene out of Soviet Russia. The racist and bigoted targeting of Muslims, Arabs and non-white communities didn’t spring from a vacuum — it grew in the soil cultivated by a party that talks about equity and inclusivity but bankrolls Islamophobia, racism and oppression. It’s no wonder that millions from Muslim and non-white voters rejected the Democrats in last year’s election.

The contrast is stark. While people protesting Gaza face abductions by ICE, and Palestinians endure atrocities, Democrats cheer a meaningless filibuster. This is complete cowardice on the part of Democrats. 

A party that claims to defend the marginalized cannot square that with taking cash from pro-Israel groups, nor with standing by Israel as its war crimes mount. The ICC’s pursuit of Netanyahu and Gallant underscores the gravity of the situation, yet Democrats remain unmoved.

Those who bristle at this critique should look within themselves and find their humanity. Because if they can stomach applauding those that enable atrocities, they’re not defending democracy, they’re perpetuating its decline.  

The Democratic Party’s refusal to break from this pattern mirrors the blind allegiance of Trump’s MAGA cultists. Both seek power at the expense of morality and principle. Both sacrifice innocent lives for empty political platitudes and theatrics. If calling out Booker’s (and his party’s) complicity for actions in Gaza feels offensive to some, that assessment says volumes about the dearth of humanity among these people.

Performative politics won’t erase the mass graves, starving Palestinian children or the silenced voices of victims. It’s time to stop applauding meaningless performative politics. Shame on those who have enabled the brutalization of Palestinians.

Fareed Khan is a government relations and public policy professional with over three decades of experience.