Potential Democratic presidential candidates line up to scorn Israel - WaPo
The 2028 Democratic presidential primaries are still two years away, but that hasn’t stopped potential candidates from lambasting Israel, a democratic ally now fighting alongside the United States against Iran. Consider Gavin Newsom, widely considered a likely presidential contender, currently traveling around the country promoting his new campaign-trail-friendly memoir. Newsom has been the governor of California for the past seven years and has little experience with foreign policy. No matter. During a conversation with “Pod Save America” hosts Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor on March 3, Newsom referred to Israel as “sort of an apartheid state.” He later walked back that comment, but added, “I deeply, deeply oppose Bibi Netanyahu’s leadership, his opposition to the two-state solution. And deeply oppose how he is indulging the far right.”
Yet it’s hard to distinguish opposition to Benjamin Netanyahu and his policies from opposition to Israel itself. The democratically elected Netanyahu has served as prime minister for 18 of the past 30 years. The two-state solution with the Palestinians? Just 27 percent of Israelis support it.
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Young Democrats seem to be especially hostile to the Jewish state. Twenty-somethings from the trendiest urban neighborhoods don kaffiyehs, wave Palestinian flags and attend “Free Palestine” rallies. An anti-Israel left-wing influencer such as Hasan Piker can command an online audience of millions. AOC may be betting that anti-Israel posturing will coax young people, whose rightward shift in 2024 helped elect Donald Trump, back into the Democratic camp.
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Jewish Democrats also in the discussion of the 2028 presidential primary field are qualifying their support for Israel. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who previously donated to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, washed his hands of the group last month. “AIPAC really is not an organization that I think today I would want any part of,” he told the Associated Press. Pritzker has also criticized Netanyahu and his government. Similarly, former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, a likely 2028 entrant, has distanced himself from AIPAC and last month excoriated Netanyahu.
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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has been something of an exception as a Jewish Democrat considered a possible 2028 candidate. No doubt still smarting after the Kamala Harris campaign declined to pick him as her running mate, allegedly because he was too pro-Israel, Shapiro nonetheless has recently defended Israel on progressive podcasts. He cuts a lonely figure in today’s Democratic Party.
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