Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) left the House Progressive Caucus. He is the second Democrat to leave the caucus in recent months.
Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL) left the caucus in November 2023.
Torres represents New York’s 15th congressional district. The district covers most of the South Bronx. It is one of the smallest districts by area in the country. It is the poorest Congressional district in New York State. He won the seat in the 2020 election cycle.
I have noticed lately that Torres is like the Fetterman of the House. For example, since the Israel-Hamas war began, Torres consistently comes out in support of Israel. He is a pro-Israel Democrat which puts him out of line with much of the Progressive Caucus, including the far-left Squad members.
In December, Torres and Rep.Ilhan Omar (D-MN) battled after she said Torres was comfortable with Palestinian casualties in the Israel-Hamas war. She’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. Torres made his case on CNN.
“Every casualty is a tragedy, every war is a humanitarian crisis, but we have to keep in mind the causes of the war,” he told CNN host Dana Bash in an interview. “Israel did not start the war, the war was imposed upon Israel by the barbaric terrorism of Hamas, which butchered 1,400 Israelis, including babies,” he said, referring to the terrorist attack on Oct. 7 in southern Israel.
“You know, my colleague, Rep. Omar, has voted against Iron Dome, which is a missile defense system that protects Israeli civilians from relentless rocket fire,” he told CNN host Dana Bash. “Were it not for Iron Dome interceptions, there would be far more dead Israelis – far more, by orders of magnitude. So the policy position that she has taken would have led to more dead Israelis and more dead Palestinians.”
Many Progressives have a hard time condemning Hamas’ sexual violence against Israeli women. Rep. Rashida Tlaib was the only no-vote on the House’s resolution that condemned Hamas’ use of rape as a weapon. In December Torres addressed that reluctance. Torres addressed the issue with CNN’s Dana Bash.
“Look, there’s often been a double standard against Israel when it comes to condemning the sheer butchery and barbarism of Hamas,” Torres said.
“Public officials have a moral obligation to speak with clarity rather than caveats. And I found it deeply troubling, for example, that the U.N. Women, the so-called women’s rights arm of the United Nations, went 50 days without commenting on or condemning the sexual atrocities that Hamas perpetrated against Israeli women. For me, this is not about politics. This is about decency. It is indecent to deny or downplay or ‘both sides’ the rape and sexual violence against Israeli women on Oct. 7.”
As I said, he’s very Fetterman-ish in his remarks. He was one of 22 Democrats who voted to censure Rep.Tlaib over her antisemitic remarks.
This week there is a tweet posted on his timeline about the one-sided calls for a ceasefire that only benefit Hamas.
The international community remains obsessed with pressuring Israel and only Israel.
How about pressuring Hamas to release the hostages, surrender unconditionally, and end a war it started?
How about pressuring Hezbollah to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 1701 so…
— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) February 20, 2024
Torres quietly left the Progressive Caucus. Sometime between December and January, his name was removed from its membership page online. He has not commented.
What brought about his loyal support of Israel? It turns out that a trip he took to Israel cemented his “love at first sight.”
Torres has said his affection for Israel stems from his time as a member of the New York City Council. In 2015, he traveled to Israel with colleagues at the invitation of the city’s Jewish Community Relations Council. In October, he told Politico that he sees Israel as a “sanctuary for the Jewish people” and was affected by visits to the ancient Jewish fortress of Masada, the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum and the embattled city of Sderot on the Gaza border.
“It was the first time I had an opportunity to travel abroad. And my experience in Israel was love at first sight,” Torres said. “It was one of the most formative and transformative experiences of my life.”
He’s a Democrat, no doubt about that, but credit where credit is due. Taking a stand for Israel isn’t easy among today’s Democrat Party. It’s good to see when it happens.