Jewish Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David Wecht jolted friends when he recently announced that he was leaving the Democratic Party, citing the group’s “acquiescence to Jew-hatred.” Wecht not only voted Democrat but was a decades-long activist who won two races for the Supreme Court as a Democrat. He noted that the party too often minimized, ignored or excused anti-Jewish rhetoric and incidents.
What’s perhaps more surprising is that more American Jews haven’t reacted similarly to the party’s increasing disregard—and even approval—of open attacks on Israel and Jewish life.
Indeed, high-profile Jewish attorney Harvard Law School emeritus professor Alan Dershowitz claims that “the Democratic Party has become the most anti-Israel party in U.S. history.”
Dershowitz announced last April that he was leaving the party, just one example of how Democrats are slowly squeezing out Jews, the overwhelming majority who support Israel.
In recent years, the Democrats have framed Israel as an oppressor-colonialist state that commits genocide against the Palestinians. One of the most vocal, Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), described Israel as an “ongoing project of ethnic cleansing and settler colonial domination.” Brad Lander, a Jewish New York candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, reportedly told New York Muslims that he was morally obligated to denounce what he called “Israel’s genocide in Gaza.”
A growing number of Democrats have also embraced anti-Israel positions that endanger the U.S.-Israeli alliance and have the potential to severely compromise Israel’s security. Last April, for instance, a record number of Senate Democrats supported resolutions to restrict weapons sales to Israel.
A number of them have also openly embraced antisemitic rhetoric. No wonder that rising stars in the party, such as Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania and Graham Platner in Maine, have all recently invoked crude anti-Jewish tropes.
Even supposedly pro-Israel Democrats are adopting anti-Israel positions. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a 2028 presidential hopeful, claims to “revere” Israel, but now hurls false slanders against it.
Despite the Democrats’ growing embrace of anti-Zionism and antisemitism, the overwhelming majority of American Jews still support the party. How long will it take Jewish Americans to reject allegiance to politicians who oppose their existential interests?
Democrats embrace anti-Israel ideology. This includes concepts like critical race theory, by which Israel is branded a white colonial settler state that commits genocide against the “indigenous” Palestinians, notwithstanding all factual evidence that Jews are the indigenous people of so-called “Palestine.”
Just last week, for example, even as Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, again pronounced that there is insufficient proof Israel has committed genocide. Longtime Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who lost in the primary on May 26, slammed AIPAC for not denouncing the “genocide in Gaza.”
In addition, Tlaib reintroduced a House resolution recognizing the false narrative that Israel drove the Palestinians from their land and made them refugees. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which sponsors the resolution, asserted—in contradiction to all historical facts—that “since 1948, every war Israel waged has served to bolster their settler-colonial project.”
Democrats embrace policy positions that endanger the U.S.-Israel alliance. Last April, a record number of Senate Democrats voted to support resolutions proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to prevent weapons sales to Israel. One resolution—to prevent U.S. sales of 1,000-pound bombs to Israel—garnered support from 36 Senate Democrats. The other resolution advocated a halt to selling military bulldozers to Israel, which 40 of 47 Senate Democrats supported.
Needless to say, restricting U.S. arms sales to Israel would severely inhibit the Jewish state’s ability to defend itself against enemies that regularly attack it. Should not American Jews consider the wisdom of voting for a party that rejects Israel’s right to self-defense?
Democrats normalize, embrace antisemitism. Not long ago, politicians who maligned Jews or Israel would find themselves quickly marginalized. Today, anti-Jewish and anti-Israel slurs are not only common among Democratic leaders but also popular.
Indeed, Democratic primary winner Rabb called the mass shooting at a “Chanukah by the Sea” event on Bondi Beach this past December a “false flag” by “Zionists.” Platner, who has a tattoo resembling a Nazi SS symbol, accused Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) of selling out to “the president and to the Epstein class,” throwing Jeffrey Epstein into the conversation and evoking a conspiracy of perverse Jewish power.
“Pro-Israel” Democrats have become anti-Israel. Newsom was once considered a staunch supporter of Jews and Israel. Indeed, shortly after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Newsom visited Israel, meeting with survivors, families of hostages and Israeli leaders. It led him to launch a statewide plan to “Counter Antisemitism.”
Recently, however, Newsom has joined the Israel-bashing bandwagon. He accused Israel of being an “apartheid state,” suggesting the United States should reconsider military support for Israel and said he won’t accept money from AIPAC. Shortly afterward, he walked back the apartheid comment, saying he regretted the accusation.
Another possible 2028 presidential contender, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who is Jewish, previously supported and donated to AIPAC, but has also jumped on the bandwagon. He “withdrew his support,” he stated, when it “became a pro-Trump organization,” another patently false assertion since AIPAC supports all pro-Israel candidates.
Most American Jews, puzzlingly, still support anti-Israel, antisemitic Democrats. More than two-thirds of American Jewish voters still lean Democrat, indicating that the party’s increasing tilt away from Israel and toward outright antisemitism hasn’t yet made a significant dent in their support.
Dershowitz and Wecht aren’t the only prominent Jewish Democrats to reject their party’s antisemitic drift. Just last week, Pennsylvania’s Gov. Josh Shapiro warned his fellow Democrats against criticizing AIPAC, predicting that it would “stigmatize” Jewish voters and “silence” their voices.
Given the cascade of anti-Israel and anti-AIPAC rhetoric in recent days, such warnings may prove too little too late.
Originally published by Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME).
