The Democrat Apostates Unify Against Israel
Last week the Senate rejected a resolution that would have blocked sales of bulldozers and bombs to Israel. Yet Sen. Bernie Sanders, who proposed the measure, didn’t sound like a man who had just lost a vote: “We are making progress,” he said.
Israel is the Democratic Party’s new litmus test, and Mr. Sanders is leading the turn against the Jewish state. In 2024, 19 Democrats voted with him to deny military aid to a U.S. ally at war. In 2025, 24 did the same. This year, as the U.S. and Israel fought side by side against the Iranian theocracy, 40 of 47 Democratic senators were with Mr. Sanders.
Israel typically enjoys bipartisan support in America, and there are critics of Israeli policy in both parties. But what’s happening on the left is unmistakable: Backing America’s closest Middle Eastern ally now jeopardizes one’s future in the Democratic Party. The trend has disturbing implications not only for U.S.-Israel relations but for the future of American power and ideals.
In a Pew Research Center survey conducted in March, 60% of U.S. adults held an unfavorable view of Israel. But the top line masked a staggering partisan divide: Most Republicans continue to view Israel favorably, while 80% of Democrats don’t. Recently Echelon Insights found that self-described “very liberal” voters have more favorable views of China than of Israel.
Democratic elites follow the polls. Anti-Israel sentiment runs through every level of the party, from former presidents to insurgent candidates. The woolly fringe is now mainstream. Barack Obama was all smiles in a recent photo-op with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a socialist for whom anti-Zionism is a calling card. The Democrats’ newest congresswoman, Analilia Mejia of New Jersey, is a former Sanders delegate who omitted Israeli terror victims from an Oct. 10, 2023, social-media post condemning violence in Gaza.
The front-runner in Maine’s Democratic Senate primary, Graham Platner, says he plans to remove the Nazi-associated tattoo on his chest. In a recently unearthed Reddit post from 2014, Mr. Platner spoke well of Hamas military tactics: “From a strictly professional standpoint, this was a damn fine looking and successful raid against a superior opponent,” he wrote. “I dig it.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren campaigned with Mr. Platner last weekend.
The Senate’s anti-Israel roll call included every type of Democrat except for the sui generis Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.): moderate and progressive, insurgent and stalwart. Presidential ambitions drove Sens. Jon Ossoff (D., Ga.), Elissa Slotkin (D., Mich.), Mark Kelly (D., Ariz.), Cory Booker (D., N.J.), Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) and other potential 2028 candidates into Mr. Sanders’s corner.
The question facing the Democratic primary electorate won’t be whether a candidate opposes Israel but how vehemently. California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he never has and never will accept money from American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he’d block weapons sales to Israel. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has falsely accused Israel of genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The changing party dynamics are most visible in Michigan. At a Democratic convention last weekend, Kamala Harris, who during the 2024 campaign refused to meet with Israel’s prime minister in public, blamed the Jewish state for America’s war with Iran. President Trump “got pulled into it by Bibi Netanyahu, let’s be clear about that,” Ms. Harris said to applause.
After criticizing Operation Epic Fury for endangering American lives and raising gasoline prices to levels not seen since she was vice president, Ms. Harris indulged in conspiracy theory. She said Mr. Trump’s running conflict with Iran over its nuclear program “has always been his feeble attempt to distract from the Epstein files.”
Michigan Democrats also heard from Abdul El-Sayed, a Sanders-endorsed anti-Israel physician tied for the lead in the state’s Senate primary. Among Mr. El-Sayed’s supporters is Hasan Piker, a streamer known for such vile assertions as “America deserved 9/11,” the collapse of the Soviet Union was “one of the greatest catastrophes of the 20th century,” and “Hamas is a thousand times better than a fascist settler colonial apartheid state.” Campaigning alongside Mr. Piker this month, Dr. El-Sayed said, “I’m not here to disavow people’s views.”
Perhaps because he shares them. While condemning a Hezbollah-inspired terrorist attack on Michigan’s largest synagogue in March that injured a security guard and endangered the lives of preschoolers, Dr. El-Sayed drew an equivalence between the perpetrator and the Israel Defense Forces and said, “Hurt people hurt people.” Recently Dr. El-Sayed told CNN that Hamas and Israel are both evil.
At the state convention, Michigan Democrats ditched University of Michigan Regent Jordan Acker, who is Jewish, and nominated anti-Israel activist Amir Makled for the board instead. Mr. Acker supported disciplining anti-Israel student protesters. Mr. Makled had recently deleted social-media posts praising Hezbollah and amplifying antisemitic podcaster Candace Owens. For Michigan Democrats, punishing disruptive Hamasniks is inexcusable; cheering Hezbollah is studiously overlooked.
There is something deeper going on here than a fight over foreign policy. Democrats may be repulsed by Israel’s behavior, but this is really an argument over America. The connection between socialism and anti-Zionism is revealing: Increasingly, one’s attitude toward Israel and its self-defense reflects one’s attitude toward America—its free market, its global leadership, its use of force and its exceptional nature.
The two democratic nations have special roles in the world. They share interests—and adversaries, most notably radical Islamists pursuing nuclear weapons. Supporters of Israel are supporters of America, and vice versa.
Some Democrats understand the peril of abandoning longstanding commitments for grassroots enthusiasm and social-media buzz. The stakes aren’t only electoral. They are moral. “If it’s what’s necessary, I’ll be the last Democrat standing with Israel through this,” Mr. Fetterman told CNN recently. He is fighting an uphill battle for his party—and fighting it alone.
Mr. Continetti is a columnist for WSJ Opinion’s Free Expression.
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