Democrats Edge Away From Unwavering Support for Israel

For a while, it looked like support for Israel despite its lethal policies in Gaza might be one of the few major issues on which the two major American political parties did not significantly differ. As president, Joe Biden did not waver in backing both military and diplomatic support for Israel, even though he occasionally criticized Bibi Netanyahu and called for occasional suspensions of its war on Gazan civilians. He became, in a characteristic Democratic Party position, both a cheerleader and whipping boy for Israeli’s governing coalition. And when Kamala Harris replaced Biden as the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, she followed his example, sometimes expressing concern over Israeli excesses, while continuing to support the government that committed them, and in general downplaying the whole issue.

Now, President Donald Trump has replaced Biden as Israel’s enabler-in-chief, and conditions in Gaza keep deteriorating — to the point where using the term “genocide” to describe Israel’s conduct and intentions no longer raises many eyebrows. Support for Israel’s war among rank-and-file Democrats is quickly evaporating, and Democratic politicians are slowly but surely following.

The biggest sign of a vibe shift on the issue occurred when a majority of Democratic senators (24 of 47) suddenly joined Bernie Sanders’s latest effort to cut off offensive military weapons sales to Israel (an additional three backed a separate Sanders amendment to block assault-rifle sales to Israel). A similar Sanders effort in April gained just 15 votes. Among those who changed positions was Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar, whose defection caught the eye of New York Times columnist Lydia Polgreen:

Amy Klobuchar, the senior senator from Minnesota, appeared last month in a photograph with Benjamin Netanyahu. Wearing a tight-lipped smile alongside a bipartisan group of senators, she hardly seemed thrilled to be there. But there she was, posing with a man who is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court and has been credibly accused of committing genocide in Gaza …

Then last week Klobuchar did something that genuinely surprised me: She voted in favor of a pair of resolutions put forward by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a leading critic of Israel’s prosecution of the war, that would block the transfer of key offensive weapons to Israel, including 1,000-pound bombs and automatic assault rifles.

You might recall that Klobuchar ran for president in 2020 as the very soul of electable moderation. At one point she became known for debate squabbles with fellow moderate Pete Buttigieg, before joining with Mayor Pete to endorse Biden after the former veep’s big South Carolina breakthrough.

Though Buttigieg is out of office, he announced that he supported Sanders’s arms-sales cutoff. Unsurprisingly, both he and Klobuchar earned some criticism for a lack of clarity in explaining their evolving position on support for Israel, but the shift itself remains important. In an interview with Politico Playbook published Thursday, Buttigieg wasn’t all that ambivalent:

Would he have voted for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) proposed arms embargo against Israel? Yes. Would he recognize a Palestinian state? Yes, as part of a two-state solution. Should the U.S. pass another 10-year agreement with Israel for foreign military aid? No.

The father of 4-year-old twins, Buttigieg told Playbook that his children have affected the way he views the crisis in Gaza. “For anybody, looking at images of children starving and suffering and dying is horrifying, but I do think it’s different when you’re a parent,” he said. “I think as a parent, you see these awful images of starving children with their ribs showing and automatically, you imagine your own kids.”

Another very visible centrist Democrat, Michigan’s Elissa Slotkin (who also happens to be Jewish), missed the Senate votes but let it be known on social media that she would have reluctantly backed the arms-sales cutoff. It’s gotten to the point where Politico is calling the issue a “litmus test” for potential 2028 aspirants:

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said his position is “evolving.” Governors like Wes Moore of Maryland and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, both staunch defenders of Israel, are keeping their powder dry and declining to engage on nuts and bolts policy questions …

“One of the lessons from 2024 was — steadfastly standing by Israel, no qualifications, was not an acceptable position, so Democrats are reading the room correctly,” said one adviser to a potential 2028 candidate.

One key question down the road, of course, will be what Democrats will say if Israel fully reoccupies Gaza and acts on Trump’s terrible fantasy of a territory somehow emptied of its Palestinian residents. Virtually all of them, including Democrats who haven’t really broken with Israel, support an eventual two-state solution for the region (all Senate Democrats other than John Fetterman and former senator Joe Manchin voted for a 2024 resolution to that effect), a position Republicans have largely abandoned.

Will a two-state solution still be a viable option in 2028? And if not, where will Democrats land? That’s unclear, but it won’t be where they were as recently as a year ago.