In the end, a different matter did him in. But somehow, Israel still managed to make an appearance in the discourse over Platner\u2019s downfall \u2014 starting in his own announcement<\/a> that he was suspending his campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cAll we were asking for was healthcare, was to end the genocide, to use our taxpayer dollars at home to uplift our communities instead of waging war overseas,\u201d he said more than nine minutes into the 11-minute video. \u201cWe were asking for a fairer system.\u201d<\/p>\n In other words, the number-two issue in Platner\u2019s final, drawn-out campaign statement that he felt the need to reference was the accusation that Israel committed genocide in Gaza. He did not admit to the rape allegation, nor apologize to his accuser. He did criticize Israel.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition \t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n He was not the only one. Far-right former GOP representative Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote \u2014 and then apparently deleted \u2014<\/a> a social media post suggesting the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC was behind the Platner rape accusation. That conspiracy theory was so widespread that the Forward ran a piece<\/a> headlined, \u201cAIPAC isn\u2019t to blame for the Graham Platner scandal \u2014 no matter what social media trolls say.\u201d<\/p>\n Liberal pundit Joy Reid said<\/a>, of Platner\u2019s potential replacement, that if the Democratic Party \u201cshoves an AIPAC candidate down your throat, you have my permission to not vote for them\u201d<\/p>\n And then there are the many races where Israel has actually taken the spotlight. It was arguably the main issue in a series of far-left victories in congressional primaries in New York City, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Denver. It\u2019s been a hot-button topic in the San Francisco Bay Area. And it has smack in the middle of a bitter Democratic Senate primary in Michigan. More than 70 percent of US adults said<\/a> the issue of Israel was very or somewhat important to them, according to an AP poll.<\/p>\n Why is it that progressive candidates are seizing on Israel in races across the country, and winning? Why does it feel like Israel is the main issue in American politics, no matter where you turn? And what does that mean for American Jews?<\/p>\n An \u2018incredibly salient\u2019 wedge issue<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just that the US recently fought a war alongside Israel, or has long been its closest ally. One answer, proffered by progressive commentators and operatives, is that support for Israel and AIPAC sits at the nexus of a set of debates dividing the Democratic Party: not just over Israel and the Palestinians but over the role of big money in politics, war in the Middle East, and the success \u2014 or lack thereof \u2014 of the Democratic leadership, which has historically supported Israel.<\/p>\n In other words, Israel and AIPAC are incredibly effective wedge issues for insurgent progressives looking to unseat establishment Democrats.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have a situation in which you have stacked these different things atop each other, like money and politics, the establishment, the failed status quo, the pro-Israel lobby,\u201d the liberal commentator Chris Hughes said<\/a> in a recent New York Times podcast interview. \u201cSo being the populist insurgent against the status quo, your criticism of Israel, your criticism of the war on Gaza, your views on that put you across these incredibly salient divides.\u201d<\/p>\n \t To critics of that movement, the tendency to use Israel as a stand-in for all the country\u2019s problems smacks of antisemitism. After all, to take one example, crypto lobbies have spent<\/a> $189 million so far on 2026 campaigns, more<\/a> than AIPAC\u2019s two PACs, according to estimates. And yet, somehow, the issue of crypto is not animating Democratic primaries across the country.<\/p>\n For some Jews, it is not a bridge too far to say that politicians\u2019 harsh criticism of Israel indicates not just hostility to the Jewish state, but to Jews themselves. But one issue with that claim is that, following three years of fighting in Gaza, a growing number of American Jews are criticizing Israel using the same harsh language.<\/p>\n Opposing Israeli actions, but not Israelis<\/p>\n To take one example, among American Jews, accusing Israel of genocide was once considered antisemitic and fringe. Now, whether or not the claim is antisemitic, it\u2019s not fringe anymore.<\/p>\n The recent AP poll found that 30% of American Jews believe Israel committed genocide, statistically equivalent to the 31% of Americans overall who say the same. About half of Jewish Democrats say the US is too supportive of Israel, not much lower than the 58% of Democrats overall who agree.<\/p>\n Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is significantly less popular among American Jews than he is among all US adults. In fact, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the highest-profile anti-Israel politician in the country, is more popular among American Jews than the leader of the Jewish state: Mamdani\u2019s favorability among Jews stands at 44%, as opposed to around 33% for Netanyahu.<\/p>\n \t Of course, it\u2019s possible to read those poll numbers not as an endorsement of Mamdani, but as an indictment of Netanyahu, who has pushed away many American Jewish groups, and antagonized the Democratic politicians that most Jews vote for.<\/p>\n Nor should American Jews\u2019 mounting criticism of Israel be seen as a desire to do away with the country altogether. A ream of survey data shows the opposite.<\/p>\n A recent poll of American Jews<\/a> found that, while only 28% had a favorable view of AIPAC, 71% had a favorable view of Israel, far above<\/a> Americans as a whole. Sixty-three percent of US Jews described themselves as critical of some, or many, of the Israeli government\u2019s policies, but still \u201cgenerally pro-Israel.\u201d A recent Pew poll found that 83% of American Jews felt favorably toward the Israeli people.<\/p>\n That is where many American Jews depart from the staunchest critics of Israel on the left, some of whom have attained, or are on the verge of, significant political power.<\/p>\n Reckoning with exclusion in real time<\/p>\n It\u2019s true that a sizeable number of Jews agree with progressive condemnations of Israel. It\u2019s also true that some of those Jews are finding themselves reckoning in real time with the antisemitism that often accompanies that criticism.<\/p>\n Recent examples abound. Scott Wiener, in the middle of a campaign for US Congress in California, publicly changed his position on whether Israel committed genocide \u2014 he now endorses the charge \u2014 but still found himself hounded out of an LGBTQ event<\/a> and berated at a restaurant due to his past support for Israel. Brad Lander, another Jewish progressive congressional candidate who accuses Israel of genocide, had to distance himself from a New York cafe that banned his Jewish opponent for being pro-Israel.<\/p>\n And when Mandani accused AIPAC of being \u201cmonsters\u201d that move \u201cmillions in dark money to accomplish a single goal, to preserve their power so that they can turn us against one another,\u201d multiple Jewish allies of his put out statements condemning the rhetoric \u2014 even though they too oppose AIPAC\u2019s positions.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of progressive Jews have felt like we\u2019ve been pushed out of progressive spaces,\u201d Wiener told CNN<\/a> recently. \u201cAnd that\u2019s not just me: I hear that all the time, very lefty Jews who are put to a litmus test that you have to call for Israel\u2019s destruction, or you are not actually LGBTQ and you\u2019re not welcome here.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tNew York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a Passover Seder in Manhattan on March 30, 2026. (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/F260705CG74-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a cornerstone-laying ceremony for the Atarot Heritage Center in northern Jerusalem, July 5, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90)<\/p>\n
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