Israel was a focus of many midterm election campaigns, but polls showed it was not a deciding factor for most voters. Support for Israel will face new tests not only in Congress, but also in many state and local communities. This provides both a challenge and an opportunity to engage with newly elected officials.
Five days later, anti-Israel activists in Philadelphia targeted six Israeli- and Jewish-owned restaurants in Center City. Nearly 2,000 people responded by filling those restaurants and joining counterprotests. The backlash proved that Jews are not alone—and that standing strong with Jewish pride is the right answer.
As Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, chairman of the International Kinus Hashluchim (International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries), wrote during the movement’s annual gathering of 6,500 Jewish leaders in New York last week: “Hiding is not the answer. The answer to more darkness is light.”
Extremists targeted Israel as moderates prevailed
National exit polls revealed that voters ranked the economy, democracy and corruption as their top issues, though Israel came up frequently on the campaign trail—from city council races to the U.S. Senate. Voices at both extremes continue to blame the Jewish state anyway.
On the right, Vice President JD Vance argued that “the reason we lost [referring to Republican losses throughout the country] is the war” with Iran and called for rethinking the U.S. relationship with Israel. On the left, the Democratic Socialists of America chose streamer Hasan Piker, who once said “America deserved 9/11” and has called Orthodox Jews “inbred,” to host its election-night broadcast.
The U.S.-Israel alliance faces real tests in the new Congress. U.S. President Donald Trump announced that annual military aid to Israel will end after this year. Michigan senator-elect Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, who has voiced anti-Israel sentiment, endorsed the decision. Support for Israel remains bipartisan; however, it is increasingly under threat.
Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, has long backed the State of Israel. Republicans, including Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and former White House adviser Karl Rove, broke with Vance over the issue. Former Secretaries of State Antony Blinken and Mike Pompeo, who served presidents of opposing parties and usually disagree on most issues, both said that the countries will remain deeply aligned in a “historic partnership,” despite any funding cuts.
A majority of Jewish voters backed Democrats, according to exit polling, and Jewish candidates won many races. There will be 35 Jewish members of Congress and a record number of seven governors. Many longtime supporters of Israel were re-elected, including Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres, who beat back anti-Israel challengers in his primary.
Anti-Israel protesters use a KKK slur
Anti-Zionist activists in Philadelphia targeted the six restaurants on the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht, one of the defining moments of Nazi Germany. Starting on the night of Nov. 9, 1938, and through the evening of Nov. 10, the Nazi SS, Hitler Youth and civilian mobs destroyed, burned and vandalized thousands of Jewish-owned businesses, homes, synagogues and other Jewish institutions and establishments across Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia. They murdered hundreds and imprisoned nearly 30,000 Jewish men in concentration camps.
A cycling club, Philly Bike On Your Left, in collaboration with Boycott CookNSolo and Philly Solidarity Calendar, staged the boycott ride. In a since-deleted post, the organizers promised to show “these zio business owners” that they saw them as “disgusting humans.” “Zio” is a slur popularized by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.
Organizers called out: “These Zionist establishments must go!” About 20 pro-Palestinian organizations backed them. They claimed that the ride was about Israel and pointed to owners who had supposedly raised money for the Israeli military.
The reality was different. After the Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, one restaurant owner raised more than $100,000 for the volunteer United Hatzalah ambulance service—staffed by Jews and Arabs—and another owner raised money for injured and traumatized Israeli children.
Republican and Democratic leaders at the national, state and local levels all denounced the ride as antisemitic.
One exception was Democratic representative-elect Chris Rabb, who is supported by the Democratic Socialists of America. He will represent part of Philadelphia and stayed silent on the protest. The group’s Philadelphia chapter defended the protest. Organizers originally planned another anti-Zionist event for Sunday, Nov. 15, but canceled it—a clear win for the community, which stood strong against hate. A pro-Israel bike ride is still taking place from the Philadelphia Museum of Art to the Liberty Bell.
Philadelphia lives up to ‘Brotherly Love’
Jews have been part of Philadelphia since before the nation’s independence. William Penn founded the city in 1682 as a haven for religious freedom and named it for the Greek words for “brotherly love.” Congregation Mikveh Israel, the city’s oldest synagogue and a Sephardic one, dates to 1740.
Pennsylvania’s first lady, Philadelphia’s district attorney, state lawmakers and faith leaders joined a solidarity lunch at Dizengoff, one of the targeted restaurants run by award-winning chef Michael Solomonov. By the time the riders set out, lines outside wrapped around the block at the eateries being targeted or lined the streets to protest the BDS bikers. The state’s restaurant industry group came out against “antisemitism, harassment and intimidation.”
Owners refused to be pushed out of sight. Mac Mart founder Marti Lieberman wears a Star of David and refuses to hide it. After the protest, she reflected: “We successfully overshadowed this act of intimidation and hate—and we did it with love and fun, and above all things, humanity and good food.”
Points to consider:
1. Blaming Israel for America’s problems continues to be a wedge issue.
Voters said they cared most about the economy, democracy and corruption, not Israel. The far left and far right blamed the Jewish state for America’s problems, reviving an old antisemitic smear that Jews secretly control U.S. policies. Leaders and influencers who repeat it should be challenged every time, regardless of their party. Christians United for Israel, the country’s largest pro-Israel group, warned of a “Vance-Carlson movement” that is “as loud as their candidates are weak.”
2. Targeting a business because its owner is Jewish is the definition of antisemitism.
Restaurant owners in Philadelphia do not set Israeli policy—and no one should have to pass a political test to serve lunch. Calling them “Zionist” does not change who is being targeted or why. It is antisemitic to hold individual Jews responsible for the actions of the Israeli government. After the Hamas massacre of 1,200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Jews did not protest outside mosques or Muslim-owned restaurants. There are other conflicts around the world, including Russia’s attack on and invasion of Ukraine; however, there are no reports of bike rides against Russian-owned businesses or activists surrounding Russian Orthodox churches. This is a clear double standard.
3. Neighbors of every faith stood with Philadelphia’s Jewish community.
Hatred aimed at Jews threatens every community, and the City of Brotherly Love responded by showing up. A call to empty six restaurants did the opposite—it actually filled them with customers on Nov. 8 and for days afterwards, and caused the riders to end their protest early. Sacha Roytman, who leads the Combat Antisemitism Movement, called the turnout “the solution to antisemitism” and summed up the day: “Philly turned a boycott into a buycott.” Gaza-born activist Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib called the ride “a pointless hate rally that did nothing for Palestinians” and “performative activism at its worst.” He urged “all Philadelphians to support these restaurants.”
4. Jews standing proud is the best answer to hate.
Despite rising hostility, many Jews are responding with renewed pride: wearing visible symbols of their Jewish identity and deepening ties to communal life. More than 1,000 synagogues around the world planned to keep their lights on for the Kristallnacht anniversary. In 1938, the Nazi government enabled the violence, and there was no Jewish state to push back. Today, Israel exists, and American friends of the Jewish community refused to let antisemitic hate go unchecked. When Jews can live openly and safely, American democracy is stronger for everyone.
