America’s two major political parties were given an opportunity this week to show where they stood on the alliance with Israel and gave the nation a clear answer to the question. In a vote on a proposal put forward by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to cut all military aid to the Jewish state, the partisan split was stark.
Massie, who was defeated in a GOP primary earlier this year, was the sole Republican to back the idea of ending support for Israel, with every other one of the 215 members of the caucus opposing it. A majority of House Democrats joined him in voting for the proposal. In all, 103 Democrats voted in favor of it, with 98 opposing and 10 others voting “present.”
A stark partisan divide
The vote made it clear that national polls revealing the decline in backing for Israel—largely driven by partisanship—are reflected in Congress. At a time when antisemitic blood libels about Israel committing “genocide” in Gaza or being an “apartheid” state have been mainstreamed by liberal publications like The New York Times and routinely endorsed by many Democrats, the overwhelming majority of Republicans reject these lies and still support Israel. There are now votes on record in both the House and the Senate that show the majority of Democrats support ending the alliance with the Jewish state, while, other than outliers like Massie, all Republicans oppose the idea. It means there is no avoiding the conclusion that the Democrats are on their way to becoming the anti-Israel party, if that hasn’t happened already.
Due to retirements and primary results, the number of anti-Israel Democrats will be far larger in the next Congress. That leaves the GOP, which will be rid of Massie next January, in a position to claim that anyone who cares about Israel ought to be looking at them as their only viable political home.
Yet there is one reason for holding off on describing the debate about Israel and antisemitism as one in which partisanship is the key indicator. And his name is Vice President JD Vance.
While House Republicans were holding the line against the tide of anti-Israel sentiment sweeping the country, Vance went on the most-listened-to podcast this week and made it clear that he is not to be counted among those who share that position.
In a three-hour interview on the “Joe Rogan Experience” that spent as much time discussing the July Fourth White House UFC extravaganza and the fact that one of the fighters there called former first lady Michelle Obama a “man” as it did policy questions, the vice president nevertheless demonstrated that he was not among those who value the alliance with Israel. To the contrary, he was eager to blame Israel, its government and its American friends for the fact that his excursion into foreign policy with a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran has become a fiasco.
Vance nods to the ‘groypers’
Given a chance to demonstrate his mettle as a negotiator in what appeared to be a new version of President Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice” reality show, Vance’s performance bore comparisons to his predecessors in the Obama and Biden administrations. He not only stubbornly defended the ludicrous notion that the Islamist terrorists running Iran could be enticed to rejoin the civilized world by means of Western bribery and diplomacy, but scapegoated the Israelis and the pro-Israel community for his failure.
In a clear pitch to what might be considered the “groyper” antisemitic wing of the American political right, he said: “I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there have been people within the Israeli government who are trying to, like, actually shift us away from [negotiations] because they want to continue the military campaign.”
He acknowledged the downward trend in support for Israel in the United States. But then, as veteran conservative commentator Rod Dreher noted in The Free Press, Vance’s position “sounds like scapegoating; a contemporary version of the ‘stab in the back legend’ (Dolchstosslegende) that German generals conceived and spread in 1918 to blame Jews and socialists for Germany’s World War I defeat and their own leadership failures.”
Vance rightly rejected the ridiculous charge that it was Israel’s fault that Trump chose to pursue a longtime U.S. foreign-policy goal by attacking Iran to prevent it from gaining nuclear weapons and spreading terror. And yet he still cited stories about efforts by Israelis and supporters of Israel to influence public opinion in the United States as evidence that this is undermining the administration. He considers criticism of his Obama-like appeasement of Iran to be somehow wrong, while not acknowledging that frenemy nations like Qatar spend exponentially more to spread support for Islamist ideas and hate for Israel in America than Israel’s backers.
It was a dismal performance by the vice president, whose record when it comes to standing against the post-Oct. 7 surge of antisemitism has been, at best, equivocal. While he is on record for opposing Jew-hatred, his public statements have shown him as unwilling to confront or oppose antisemites as Democratic leaders such as former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Neutrality on Tucker’s antisemitism
In December of last year, when presented with an opportunity to take a stand on the issue at the Turning Point USA AmericaFest, Vance whiffed. He declared himself to be neutral with respect to the debate at the gathering over the antisemitism of his friend, former Fox News host and current podcaster Tucker Carlson.
He seemed to double down on that position in his interview with Rogan when he declared that Tucker and his cheering squad of Jew-haters were just as much a part of the coalition that elected Trump in 2024 as supporters of Israel. And with Rogan’s prompting, he validated elements of the conspiracy theories that have been floated about sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein being connected to Israeli intelligence, even if he denied that Trump or anyone else in the administration could be blackmailed (as the canards spread about the case claim) over their connections to him.
Much like his back-and-forth about both support for Israel and his condemnations of antisemitism, it was a sly piece of work. He managed to stay loyal to Trump while also allowing those who have swallowed these tropes of Jew-hatred to think that he was also on their side.
Is this a significant GOP constituency that can help him win the presidency in 2028?
So far, unlike the situation among Democrats, the anti-Israel wing of the Republican Party has shown no ability to win elections. But Vance seems convinced that it’s a potential source of votes, especially among young people on both the right and the left who have been influenced by toxic doctrines like critical race theory, intersectionality and settler-colonialism that dominate the American educational system. If, as Dreher says, those who have swallowed the anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda that has been mainstreamed in American public discourse make up a significant percentage of young Republicans, then perhaps Vance is right that this demographic can bolster his hopes in two years.
Still, the situation on the other side of the aisle is far worse when it comes to discourse and election results.
Given the anti-Israel sentiment that has become mainstream opinion among liberals and left-wingers since Oct. 7, it might be said to be something of a surprise that as many as 98 House Democrats were willing to oppose the measure. Given the fact that so many of them were once thought to be moderates or otherwise sympathetic to Israel, the uneven split was still a stunning blow to any notion that support for the Jewish state is still bipartisan.
That House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries failed to persuade so many of his members from voting for the measure was, like the victories of far-left candidates in Democratic primaries this year, an indication of which way the wind is blowing on the political left.
Among those joining Massie, who trafficked in antisemitism during his unsuccessful re-election campaign, were politicians like former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and current House Democratic Whip Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.). Members with large Jewish constituencies, like Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.), who have in the past sought support from the pro-Israel community, were among those who joined with the far-left “Squad” in a vote that symbolically sundered their party’s ties with the Jewish state.
As JNS reported, members of Congress like Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) let it be known that they have been targeted for intimidation by the anti-Israel forces on the left, although he denied that this was why he voted in favor of Massie’s proposal. As the tally illustrated, those who want to avoid the fate of a hard-core liberal like Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) and lose their seat to a primary challenger who is more hostile to the Jewish state were going to do the same.
Thinking about 2028
Simply put, it’s hard to imagine anyone not overtly opposed to the alliance with Israel having a chance to win the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028.
But if Vance remains the GOP front-runner for 2028, then Republicans can’t claim that they are immune to the same trends that have rendered the Democrats soft on antisemitism and ready to ditch Israel.
It’s possible to argue that Vance’s ambitions to succeed Trump will be thwarted if he doesn’t publicly do something he has refused to do for the past two years and cut ties with his pal Tucker. The fact that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has shown foreign-policy competence by crafting a deal with Lebanon that commits Beirut to ridding itself of Iran’s Hezbollah auxiliaries while Vance has floundered in his bid to appease Tehran should count heavily against the vice president. Nevertheless, Rubio, whose views are in sync with the pro-Israel majority among Republicans, trails Vance in the early polls by almost 20 percentage points for the 2028 presidential race and has stated that he won’t challenge the vice president if he chooses to run.
We already know the fate of the dwindling pro-Israel faction among the Democrats; they are rapidly being relegated to the margins of liberal politics or pushed out of the party altogether. But the future of the Republican Party, despite the 214-1 vote on aid to Israel this week, is still up for grabs. Should Vance maintain his status as the crown prince of the GOP, the same trends that have corrupted the Democrats will eventually impact the Republicans. It remains to be seen whether Vance will shift course or whether Trump and the GOP electorate will make him pay for his winks and nods to the groypers.
Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS. Follow him: @jonathans_tobin.
