It’s already clear the Democratic primary for president will not look like any other in the modern era, writes columnist Ross Barkan.
of “working with the American Jewish Committee and AIPAC to build ties between the Indo-American and pro-Israel communities.” Gavin Newsom, as recently as last year,in the modern era when it comes to how the candidates talk about Israel and the rest of the Middle East.
Donald Trump’s bombing of Iran and the carnage from the war in Gaza have dramatically reshaped how the American left approaches Israel. A new NBC poll showed aof Democrats now take a negative view of Israel. Just 17 percent of Democrats sympathize with Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Before then, various other surveys have found younger voterson the Jewish state while the smashing mayoral victory of Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim democratic socialist, demonstrated it was possible for a pro-Palestine politician to win over an electorate with a large Jewish bloc. The potential Democratic contenders are in the process of recalibrating — growing more emboldened in their Israel criticism and considering positions that were once taboo. For some, this is less of a surprise. If Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez runs for president, she’ll be the furthest left of the leading contenders. Though activists initially challenged her for not labeling the war in Gaza a genocide quickly enough, she has since been one the most vocal pro-Palestine voices in Congress, calling Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal” and co-sponsoring the Block the Bombs Act in the House. She didfrom the left for voting to fund Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system, but if she ran in 2028, she’d have every incentive to pivot further left. Trump’s unconditional support for Israel, especially in the war with Iran, has polarized left-leaning voters even more against the Jewish state, and AOC would need every last one of them to win the nomination. Among the Democrats most likely to run for president, Israel could end up a genuine fault line. Though Newsom has grown increasingly critical of Netanyahu’s government, he has been, as Richard Yeselsonthe demonstrations at universities and backed another law last year to investigate claims of antisemitism in California public schools — a law that is likely to conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism. In this way, he is much more aligned with Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, another Democrat who will be running for president. Shapiro, who is Jewish, would represent the more hawkish elements of his party in the primary. A volunteer for the Israel Defense Forces in college, Shapiro refused to call for a unilateral cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war following the October 7 attacks and, when he could, on pro-Palestine protests at universities in Pennsylvania. Shapiro, come 2027 and 2028, will be fascinating to watch because he is both a strong supporter of Israel and a canny political operator. He knows how to read polls. He will probably not pivot as hard away from Israel as Newsom — heand strongly implied, in a recent podcast interview, such a word was not “rooted in reality” — but he is not going to sound like Lindsey Graham or Ted Cruz, either. Even as the hawk of the primary, he may be willing, at minimum, to offer mild criticism of Netanyahu. If there is one candidate who could be the version of Nixon going to China for pro-Israel Democrats, it’s Pritzker. He’s a progressive billionaire who cannot be credibly accused of not supporting Israel. He doesn’t have to swear off AIPAC dollars because he doesn’t need them in the first place. He’s plenty capable of self-funding or turning to other liberal donors who appreciate his willingness to confront President Trump. Pritzker, unlike Newsom and Shapiro, did not implement any new laws to suppress the pro-Palestine, anti-Israel campus protests. In a recent, the Illinois governor was more explicit about the cause of Palestinian rights than he had been in the past, declaring that, as a Jew committed to upholding the values of social justice, “I have to apply that equally to the state of Israel as I do to other countries that have committed atrocities.” It will probably be up to prominent Jewish Democrats like Pritzker to move the needle, the way Bernie Sanders, a Zionist who lived on a kibbutz in the 1960s, shattered a political taboo byduring the 2016 primary against Hillary Clinton. Clinton, at the time, delivered speeches at AIPAC conferences like most mainstream Democrats and defended Israel almost unconditionally. Sanders notably did not. While the Vermont senator did not win the primary, his stance on Israel then — “In the long run, if we are ever going to bring peace to that region, we are going to have to treat the Palestinian people with respect and dignity” — was a harbinger of what was to come for the American left. There are no longer any political incentives for an ambitious Democrat with presidential aspirations to be overly pro-Israel. The John Fetterman approach is not only a moral dead end but a political one — even Shapiro knows this, looking on as his fellow Pennsylvanian confronts the likelihood of lasting in WashingtonFetterman doesn’t have any acolytes in the Democratic Party. The 2028 Democrats won’t be anti-Zionist or even overly pro-Palestine — the activist class may still be dissatisfied — but they will be far more skeptical of Israel than any we’ve seen in many, many decades. The hawks, in that sense, have already lost.Manage preferences.Is the “minor excursion” very complete, ending soon or in a “couple weeks,” or just beginning? Here’s the latest on what Trump feels in his bones.The Senate is taking up a version of the bill that doesn’t target transgender people or voting by mail, as Trump demanded.Wiles, who is the first woman to serve as chief of staff, has been diagnosed with an early stage of breast cancer.While no one said the president’s name, there was plenty of not-so-subtle Trump bashing from Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, and Oscars winners.In a TruthSocial post, the president railed against the Court for its tariffs ruling last month, alleging that it is “hurting our Country.”Prosecutors say Gökçe Güven invented deals with Nike and Godiva and forged contracts with fake businesses to grow her rewards-points start-up.It’s still focused on retribution for the Indiana Republicans who wouldn’t go along with Trump’s gerrymandering push.The Defense secretary used his latest briefing to suggest some headlines for the “fake news” while claiming total success in Iran.The mayor has held back his trademark grin in photos with the president of the United States — and now with the president of FIFA.The former senator also allegedly encouraged her beau to take MDMA on a Senate work trip so she could guide him through it.He’s reveling in military fantasies on Truth Social, issuing threats to Iran’s leaders, and showing off photos of himself in uniform .Trump’s unlikely alliance with Mamdani hasn’t kept Republicans from unleashing a wave of Islamophobic attacks on the mayor.What we witnessed on Saturday in Tehran may be the largest release of petrochemical toxins over a civilian population since the Iran-Iraq War.New York
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