Daniel J. Samet is a Jeane Kirkpatrick fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
The 2028 Democratic presidential primaries are still two years away, but that hasn’t stopped potential candidates from lambasting Israel, a democratic ally now fighting alongside the United States against Iran.
Consider Gavin Newsom, widely considered a likely presidential contender, currently traveling around the country promoting his new campaign-trail-friendly memoir. Newsom has been the governor of California for the past seven years and has little experience with foreign policy. No matter. During a conversation with “Pod Save America” hosts Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor on March 3, Newsom referred to Israel as “sort of an apartheid state.” He later walked back that comment, but added, “I deeply, deeply oppose Bibi Netanyahu’s leadership, his opposition to the two-state solution. And deeply oppose how he is indulging the far right.”
Yet it’s hard to distinguish opposition to Benjamin Netanyahu and his policies from opposition to Israel itself. The democratically elected Netanyahu has served as prime minister for 18 of the past 30 years. The two-state solution with the Palestinians? Just 27 percent of Israelis support it.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York representative considered by many as a likely entry in the race for the Democratic nomination, has gone further. At the Munich Security Conference in February, she accused Israel of perpetuating “a genocide in Gaza.” On Wednesday, she announced that she opposes all U.S. military aid to Israel, including for its self-defense. A poster child of millennial progressivism, AOC clearly knows how much her party has turned against the Jewish state.
The numbers put this in stark relief. According to an NBC News poll published in March, when asked if they sympathize more with Israelis or Palestinians, Democrats responded 67 percent to 17 percent in favor of Palestinians. Just 13 percent of Democrats view Israel positively, down from 34 percent in 2023.
Young Democrats seem to be especially hostile to the Jewish state. Twenty-somethings from the trendiest urban neighborhoods don kaffiyehs, wave Palestinian flags and attend “Free Palestine” rallies. An anti-Israel left-wing influencer such as Hasan Piker can command an online audience of millions. AOC may be betting that anti-Israel posturing will coax young people, whose rightward shift in 2024 helped elect Donald Trump, back into the Democratic camp.
Other potential presidential hopefuls are acting accordingly. Sen. Ruben Gallego, the lawmaker from Arizona once known as relatively friendly to Israel, has blamed it for the war with Iran. “So Netanyahu now decides when we go to war? So much for America First,” Gallego wrote on X last month. “What the … happened to America First?” he asked in another post, using an obscenity. Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, described by Politico as possibly prepping a presidential run, echoed his colleague’s line. “Israel made us do it,” Murphy said of Operation Epic Fury.
Jewish Democrats also in the discussion of the 2028 presidential primary field are qualifying their support for Israel. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who previously donated to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, washed his hands of the group last month. “AIPAC really is not an organization that I think today I would want any part of,” he told the Associated Press. Pritzker has also criticized Netanyahu and his government. Similarly, former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, a likely 2028 entrant, has distanced himself from AIPAC and last month excoriated Netanyahu.
This month, the Democratic National Committee will debate a resolution specifically attacking AIPAC, suggesting that “undue influence” regarding “foreign governments” could have the effect of “constraining elected officials’ ability to represent the views of their constituents.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has been something of an exception as a Jewish Democrat considered a possible 2028 candidate. No doubt still smarting after the Kamala Harris campaign declined to pick him as her running mate, allegedly because he was too pro-Israel, Shapiro nonetheless has recently defended Israel on progressive podcasts. He cuts a lonely figure in today’s Democratic Party.
Democrats didn’t used to be like this. While vying for the party’s nomination in 2019, Joe Biden said it would be “absolutely outrageous” for the U.S. to condition military aid on Israel’s adherence to policy directives from Washington. Eleven years earlier, Barack Obama prayed at the Western Wallduring his first presidential campaign. Other past Democratic stalwarts, including John Kerry and Bill Clinton, sought their party’s nomination as strong supporters of Israel.
That many likely 2028 Democratic presidential hopefuls are already denouncing Israel is telling. To be pro-Israel is to be out of step with the modern Democratic Party.
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