State Representative Berny Jacques (R-FL) sat down for an exclusive interview with The Floridian in which he spoke on the alleged division within the Democratic Caucus at the state level concerning the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
For instance, on Monday in the House Judiciary Committee, Representative Dotie Joseph (D-FL) addressed HB 187 – a bill that adopts the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and would enforce stricter penalties for hate crime offenders, per The Floridian.
State Rep. Joseph believes that this definition isn’t specific enough and could lead to First Amendment violations and the targeting of critics of Israel. She voted no in the Committee hearing.
With this in mind, State Rep. Berny Jacques addressed the structured levels of identity politics that could lead to a breakdown – Democratic disunity in state government.
"That’s a symptom of the woke left, right? The Democratic Party is not what it was when a lot of people weren’t growing up. You’ve seen this uptick of wokeism, and part of wokeism, unfortunately, is anti-Semitism,” said State Rep. Jacques.
He continued by stating that in the mind of those who practice identity politics, Jewish people don’t “check all the boxes” of marginalization.
.@BernyJacques says @FlaDems is the party of antisemitism
"The Democratic Party is not what it was when a lot of people weren’t growing up. You’ve seen this uptick of wokeism, and part of wokeism, unfortunately, is anti-Semitism.”
READ MORE: https://t.co/jkd3G2t6cD#FlPol… pic.twitter.com/qtdLAgSapj
— The Floridian (@Floridianpress) January 11, 2024
“They check all the boxes, they’re always for this marginalized group or the other, except for Jewish people. If you’re Jewish or white, you’re out of luck, right?” said Jacques. “And so that’s something that they’re going to have to address within their caucus as to are they for the equal treatment of all people? Or are they just picking categories here and there, pitting people against each other based on being an oppressed or an oppressor?”
Furthermore, Jacques addressed the unity of the Republican Caucus and how it doesn’t view things through the “prism of race” when legislating.
“I mean, we’re pretty resolute on our side. And that’s an issue that they have over there,” said the State Rep. He continued, “There’s a lot of people on the woke left that sees everything through the prism of race. It’s either you’re part of an oppressed race, or you’re the one doing the oppressing, and they view that conflict (Israel and Palestine-Hamas) as one side being an oppressor and so they should be afforded no rights or consideration whatsoever.”
Jacques even went as far as to say that Democrats and their ideologies have been influenced by Marxist principles and it has come from academia and is now in our institutions.
“But it’s clear as day what is occurring as part of this cultural Marxism. That’s been part of academia for quite some time. Now it’s just part of the mainstream. And so, you’re seeing it in all sorts of institutions here in society, whether it’s government, you see it in entertainment, you see it in the boardrooms of top corporations. Obviously, academia has been infested with this for quite some time,” said Jacques.
Jacques represents Florida’s 59th District.
