Excerpt:

The actions are part of a larger political strategy aimed, in part, at showing that Republicans are more willing to directly tackle anti-Semitic hate speech and anti-Israel language than divided Democrats in the lower chamber, Republican aides and operatives said. But hate speech has hardly been a longtime cause célèbre for the Republican Party, whose members have opposed efforts to expand similar protections to victims of discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation.

One measure, a “sense of the Senate” resolution, is intended as a direct rebuke of comments made by Representative Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, who suggested that some American Jews had dual loyalties to both Israel and the United States. The bill, sponsored by Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, could reach the floor as early as this week, leadership aides said, and is likely to be passed unanimously or with only minimal opposition.

Delving a bit more into the weeds of Thrush's article after a re-read. I see about factions of Dem political peeps on this topic that J-Street is against the one House bill, and Steny Hoyer is pro, and both AIPAC and the Anti-Defamation League are pro, and then there's this name, David Krone:

“This legislation appears designed less to combat anti-Semitism than to have a chilling effect and to crack down on campus critics of Israel,” Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, a liberal advocacy group that has been sharply critical of Israel’s government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a text message.

“It’s misguided to legislatively declare a broad range of nonviolent campus criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism, especially at a time when the prime driver of anti-Semitism is the xenophobic, white nationalist far-right,” he said. “This bill is part of a cynical effort by some of its right-wing proponents to turn the issue of anti-Semitism into a partisan political weapon.”

But in the past, the bill has had widespread support among lawmakers in both parties, and it has the backing of Aipac and the Anti-Defamation League. It also has the support of a powerful outside advocate: David Krone, the hard-driving former chief of staff to Harry Reid, the former Senate Democratic leader, who has used his contacts in the party to push the measure for several years in response to a wave of anti-Semitism on college campuses.

“I find great irony in what Congresswoman Omar said about the issue of Jews and dual loyalty,” Mr. Krone said in an interview. “I am certain that she found the whole birther movement disgusting, vile and flat-out racist. I agree. It was abhorrent to question the loyalty of President Obama. But how, on one hand, can she say it is wrong about people questioning President Obama’s loyalties, but on the other hand, question mine as a Jew? What she said and what some stupid birther said are equally idiotic.”

Ms. Omar’s spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment.

Top Democrats are hardly ready to cede support of Israel to Republicans. Representative Steny H. Hoyer, the Democratic leader, gave a rousing defense of the American-Israeli relationship at the Aipac conference Sunday evening, promising to push for a resolution that opposes the boycott Israel movement. Without naming her, he took several jabs at Ms. Omar.

“Ladies and gentlemen, when someone accuses American supporters of dual loyalty, I say: Accuse me.” Mr. Hoyer declared.

And he also took a shot at two other freshman Democrats who are critical of Israel, Representatives Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York: “By the way, there are 62 freshman Democrats. You hear me? Sixty-two, not three.”

And I looked up Krone, and before he worked for Reid, he had a lot of lobbying jobs, but none of lobbying was related to Israel stuff.

And that he is 1/2 of a "political power couple" that includes Alyssa Mastromonaco who took the position of Chief Operating Officer at Vice Media in January 2015 and which moved to the most expensive zip code in NYC in 2015

And here is a Harry-Reid-era WaPo Politics bio entry on "Why He Matters" which speaks of his wealth, among other things

And here is a NYTimes April 2015 piece saying he's quietly leaving the Reid job and future plans unknown.

So it's kind of a mystery what he's doing now. Anybody else got a clue?

Nate Silver on general public views on Israel:

he also retweeted this reply to the above: