WASHINGTON (TNND) \u2014 A long-running Democratic consensus on support for Israel is showing new signs of strain as candidates recalibrate their positions ahead of this year’s midterm elections, reflecting a party whose voters have grown increasingly critical of Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n
The shifting political landscape was on display this week in Michigan’s closely watched Democratic Senate primary, where U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens sharpened her criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a televised debate.<\/p>\n
“It is very clear that Mr. Netanyahu has not made us safer,” Stevens said, as she sought to distinguish her views while facing progressive challenger Abdul El-Sayed in a state with one of the nation’s largest Arab American and Muslim populations.<\/p>\n
El-Sayed argued Stevens’ criticism was politically motivated, saying Netanyahu was attempting to deflect attention from what he characterized as her longstanding support for Israeli government policies.<\/p>\n
The debate highlights a broader challenge confronting many establishment Democrats: maintaining support for Israel while responding to an increasingly vocal progressive wing that has demanded a tougher stance on Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and greater support for Palestinians.<\/p>\n
That balancing act was also evident Wednesday in Tel Aviv, where former Rahm Emanuel \u2014 widely viewed as a potential Democratic presidential contender in 2028 \u2014 delivered one of his sharpest critiques yet of Netanyahu’s government.<\/p>\n
Emanuel said Israel’s current leadership had led the country into “a dead end” and argued that unconditional support had enabled the denial of food and medical relief to civilians in Gaza, while continuing to affirm his support for Israel’s long-term security.<\/p>\n
The political risks of the party’s evolving debate were underscored last week in Colorado, where 15-term Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette, a longtime supporter of Israel, lost her primary to progressive challenger Melat Kiros.<\/p>\n
Democratic strategist Jake Dilemani said progressive candidates have gained momentum but argued they have not fundamentally displaced the party’s traditional support for Israel.<\/p>\n
“There are plenty of mainstream Democrats who have issues with how Israel has prosecuted the war and how Benjamin Netanyahu has handled the relationship with the United States,” Dilemani said. “But they don’t have a fundamental issue with the existence of Israel as a Jewish state.”<\/p>\n
Public opinion within the Democratic Party, however, continues to shift.<\/p>\n
According to a new AP-NORC poll, 58% of Democrats now believe the United States is “too supportive” of Israel, up from 45% in January 2024. Meanwhile, 62% say the United States is “not supportive enough” of the Palestinians. The poll also found older Democrats are increasingly adopting views that had previously been more common among younger Democrats, suggesting the party’s debate over Israel is broadening across generations.<\/p>\n
With competitive primaries continuing across the country, the issue is emerging as one of the clearest fault lines within the Democratic coalition \u2014 one that could shape both this year’s midterm elections and the party’s future direction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (TNND) \u2014 A long-running Democratic consensus on support for Israel is showing new signs of strain as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[1275,496,37,8576,12339,876,26216,16143],"class_list":["post-197529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-democrats","tag-gaza","tag-israel","tag-michigan","tag-midterms","tag-netanyahu","tag-progressives","tag-rahm-emanuel"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116888163020265816","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}