Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington D.C. this week to attend the funeral of late South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham. Netanyahu used the opportunity to meet with President Trump to solidify U.S. support for Israel’s military aims in Iran and Lebanon.
This visit follows 103 House Democrats unsuccessfully voting on an amendment to eliminate $3.3 billion of U.S. military and humanitarian aid to Israel. Ninety-eight Democrats voted to preserve the funding, while 10 abstained by voting “present”. Even Democratic leadership was split on the issue.
Just the week before, Rahm Emanuel, a potential Democratic presidential candidate for 2028, delivered a rare and extended public critique of Israel’s leadership at Tel Aviv University.
“The pursuit of a so-called greater Israel is as self-destructive and fanatical as the chant ‘from the river to the sea’,” said Emanuel, simultaneously chastising the far right in Israel and the far left in the U.S. “Your government has been complicit in the horrors now being inflicted on innocent families in the West Bank.”
These events have laid bare the growing schisms within the Democratic Party over Israel. Political strategists said finding the way forward on Israel is a contentious issue for the party, particularly as it heads into the midterm election in the Fall. While some insiders said the divide among lawmakers is limited to military aid, others said the biggest gap is between the party’s elected officials and voters, who have moved against Israel faster than their representatives, due to its wars in Gaza, Iran and Lebanon.
In terms of intraparty conflict in the Democratic Party, the debate over Israel is probably the highest profile and sharpest debate, said Jake Dilemani, a Democratic strategist.
“Everything else in the Democratic Party right now, the differences between, far left and more mainstream candidates is more or less on minor nuance,” said Dilemani.
Halie Soifer, the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, said there is broad support for Israel within the Democratic Party — the only division in the party relates to the allocation of military aid to Israel.
She believes Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie introduced the amendment as a tactic. Massie was the only Republican who voted to block aid to Israel on July 15th.
“Republicans themselves are clearly politicizing this issue with the goal of highlighting where there are divisions within the Democratic Party,” Soifer said.
Democrats who voted to cut aid weren’t turning their back on Israel or on the U.S.-Israel relationship, she said, adding “they are intending to send the message of disapproval with the policies of this right-wing Israeli government.”
House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark said in a statement on Wednesday that the U.S. should not provide a blank check for military aid to any country that does not comply with U.S. law, interests and values. While Rep. Greg Casar, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said in a letter to colleagues that U.S. tax dollars could no longer be spent on subsidizing Israel’s military when Americans were struggling to make ends meet.
“After the Israeli government has killed more than 70,000 people in Gaza and helped lead the United States into a destabilizing, deadly war with Iran, we are called to act,” Casar said. “The Democratic Party needs a new approach to Israel and Palestine.”
A shift in attitudes
Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, a liberal, pro-Israel advocacy organization, said that new approach is what his organization has been offering for decades.
“When we launched now almost 20 years ago, we were considered to be at the fringe of the debate,” he said. “The only understanding of what it meant to be supported in Israel was that you had to support the government of Israel, right or wrong.”
A small part of the Democratic Party is anti-Israel, and another small group of people would like to see a return to unconditional support for Israel, but the largest group in the Democratic Party holds the middle ground, in which they support both Israelis and Palestinians, their right to security and freedom and the need for the U.S. to be focused on promoting a resolution to the conflict, Ben-Ami said, adding that’s J Street’s philosophy as well.
He thinks that rather than being in a disarray, the Democratic Party is “coming to a consensus” around being critical of Israel’s far-right government.
Shibley Telhami, a political science professor from the University of Maryland who polls U.S. attitudes on the Middle East, said Democratic voters are overwhelmingly critical of Israel and the divide between public opinion and lawmakers is deeper than the one in congress.
“We’re in the process of witnessing elected Democrats scrambling to catch up to the public opinion of their constituents,” said Telhami. “But they have not fully caught up yet.”
A Gallup survey this February showed Americans said their sympathies lie more with Palestinians than Israelis, by a 41%-36% margin, the first time that has happened in 25 years of asking the question. In 2018, nearly two-thirds said they sided more with Israelis, NPR reported. The biggest attitude shift was among Democrats and younger voters.
Telhami said while Democratic leaders find it easier to focus on frustration with Netanyahu, the public doesn’t have a problem talking about Israel broadly. He added that anger toward Israel used to come mostly from younger Democrats, but now that generational gap has almost disappeared.
“This is not just a public opinion shift, but a profound paradigm shift,” said Telhami. “This is a shifting paradigm about Israel.”
Some evidence of that gap can be seen in striking primaries where Democratic Socialist candidates campaigning on affordability, reducing foreign military aid and rights for Palestinians ousted incumbent or toppled establishment Democratic candidates in New York and Colorado.
The pattern is not uniform. Jewish Democratic Council of America’s Soifer said that on the same day several progressive candidates won in New York, Rep. Ritchie Torres, who remains outspokenly pro-Israel, beat a Democratic Socialist challenger by roughly 50 points.
“It’s not the case that DSA candidates are winning everywhere,” said Soifer, arguing their victories are specific to deep-blue urban districts and won’t translate to the purple seats that decide control of Congress.
“It’s really only centrist and strong, moderate Democrats who can win those races,” Soifer said.
AIPAC contributions to Democratic candidates
Several of the 103 Democrats who voted to eliminate U.S. military funding to Israel have also accepted campaign contributions from the American Israel Public Affairs, a powerful pro-Israel lobbying group that has long been controversial. AIPAC promptly acted to withhold online donations from at least a dozen Democrats and removed laudatory language from profiles of those who aren’t currently campaigning, including former speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“We are deeply appreciative of the 314 Republicans and Democrats who voted to reject Thomas Massie’s latest anti-Israel effort and are disappointed by the 103 Democrats who voted with Massie to weaken America and our ally Israel,” said AIPAC in a statement after the vote.
J Street’s Ben-Ami said one of the central dynamics of American policy toward Israel and the Palestinians in the Middle East is AIPAC’s disruptive role in American politics, given that it’s one of the largest spenders in the midterms.
“It’s AI, crypto lobbies and AIPAC, and voters are angry about the influence of money in politics,” he said. “They are angry that these large interest groups are undermining the actual interests of working families and Americans.”
AIPAC did not respond to NPR’s request for comment about divisions within the Democratic Party regarding the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
One of the starkest rifts between Democratic candidates this primary cycle is in Michigan – between centrist Rep. Haley Stevens and former public health official Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate who supports Medicare for All, the abolishment of ICE and a drastic change in U.S.-Israel relations. While these are values that align with the rising Democratic Socialists of America organizations, El-Sayed has distanced himself from the label and DSA has not endorsed him.
Meanwhile, Stevens is a sitting Congresswoman with support from the Democratic establishment and millions of dollars from AIPAC, according to AdImpact.
The primary in Michigan could reveal more how Democratic voters are thinking about AIPAC’s contributions to Democratic candidates and the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
Telhami from the University of Maryland said that even though public opinion is steadily opposing the current U.S.- Israel relationship, electoral politics is not only about public opinion.
“It’s also about campaign contributions and about networking,” said Telhami. “And for many members, it’s very hard to break from years of momentum in a particular direction and break with your own history over time, but we see that struggle taking place right now within the Democratic Party.”
