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*Updated:

I texted my loong-time Jewish ABJ'er that Biden had endorsed Kamala Harris as his heir. He responded,

Not happy about that. 

He has a negative personality; I love him but the glass is always half empty and the sky is falling. I take it as the common, usually amusing, Jewish trait of fatalism.

At 4:57 pm I sent him this text, which I posted verbatim at 4:59:

I just drove to Publix. On my way a guy behind me in the right hand lane started beeping at me. He pulled even, there was an American/Israeli flag graphic on the side if his jeep, and he rolled down his window, pointed to my ANTIFA bumpersticker and gave me the finger.

I got out of my car and did the shopping.The same minute, 4:57 he responded:

Forgot you are ANTIFA guy 

No empathy, no sympathy. I didn’t see his response until I got home. I replied at 5:34:

Looll

I don’t know but I do know him, and I think he was changed by Oct. 7. It's understandable! Oct. 7 changed ME and I'm not Jewish. I was a card-carrying dues-paying member of the Democratic Socialists of America on Oct. 6. On Oct. 7, I was so overcome with guilt that I apologized almost tearfully to a Jewish neighbor (who didn't know anything about my DSA membership), in deep sympathy. When I heard of the DSA rally in NYC where it was said, “They had a Rave, the Rave was broken up,” I cut up my DSA membership card and threw it in the trash permanently.

My friend had previously told me via text that a friend of his, a life-long Demo would not vote for Biden because of “Woke and Israel”. He, and he told me two of his other friends also, hate AOC as a “quisling”. He said AOC had been one of the “From the river to the sea” anti-Israelis. I don’t think that was true but I didn’t look into it. do remember her accusing Israel of “genocide”. I disagree that Israel is committing genocide but a lot of people do think that, including, my daughter told me today (did not verify that either but it sounds familiar), the International Criminal Court. 

Be that as it may, my friend is different now. He has more and deeper grudges now. Israel is now first in his issues of concern. I can understand his is resentment toward the international community, including the media. I don't get the anti-Biden, anti-Harris, anti-Democratic twist he is increasingly putting on the Israeli-Palestinian war. I don’t know for sure how long he has been different. He has also railed against DEI in his workplace. Very different from what I knew of him. “Harris, people don’t like to be told what to think”, he texted me in the DEI exchange. He’s against cancel culture but makes an exception for Mel Gibson, an anti-semite he says (again I did not verify but it rings a bell).

He is different, he has changed. I haven’t asked him if Oct. 7 changed him but that’s what I think it is.