A Look at Support for Israel by Democratrs Now and For the 2028 Democraic Politics….

Lauren Egan @ The Bulwark

Dems Slowly Figuring Out How to Talk About Israel

Trump’s Iran war—and Netanyahu’s role in it—is just the latest complication.

GAVIN NEWSOM SAT DOWN at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles last Tuesday to talk to a crowd of adoring fans about his new memoir. But it took only a few minutes before the moderators, Pod Save America hosts Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor, steered the conversation toward Donald Trump’s war in Iran and the California governor’s position on the U.S.-Israel relationship.

With a stack of copies of his book on a table at his side, Newsom likened Israel to an “apartheid state” and said that the “current leadership in Israel is walking us down that path where I don’t think you have a choice” but to rethink U.S. military support. It was a telling shift for Newsom, who has historically been a firm supporter of Israel—as when he traveled to the country in the wake of the October 7th attacks to meet with survivors and with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Democratic operatives whom I spoke with this week said that Newsom’s comments were an indication of where the wind is blowing. Several predicted that the party’s voters would become even more polarized on the issue.

And it’s not just voters: Newsom’s remarks are illustrative of how Democratic leaders, too, especially those with an eye on the presidential nomination, are growing more skeptical of Israel. The party’s response to Trump’s attack on Iran—especially following reports that Netanyahu convinced Trump to strike—is just the latest instance. Party officials told me that the rift has been a decade in the making, going back to 2015 when Republicans invited Netanyahu to speak to Congress and he used the occasion to criticize President Obama’s plans for a nuclear deal with Iran. That rift widened during Israel’s retaliation for the October 7th attacks, as it leveled Gaza and brutally killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians. And the fact that the Biden administration did little to pressureNetanyahu to stop created tension between the party’s base and its leaders, with Democratic officeholders and candidates stuck in the middle.

A Gallup survey published last month found that for the first time more Americans sympathize with Palestinians than Israelis. This echoes a finding the New York Times reported last year: that more voters sided with Palestinians over Israelis for the first time since the newspaper began asking the question in 1998. And while foreign policy typically isn’t what motivates voters in elections, Democratic officials believe that the debate has come to represent much more than a policy position.

PARTY OFFICIALS TOLD ME they think Democratic voters will be motivated in the upcoming elections to back candidates who feel authentic—candidates who seem like independent thinkers unafraid to say what they truly believe. Following Joe Biden’s presidency, being critical of Israel is increasingly viewed as a way to demonstrate independence and regain voter trust that deteriorated under Biden…..

…

And even Newsom offered a slight walkback of his comments in Los Angeles, later saying that he was quoting a recent column from Thomas Friedman when he used the word “apartheid.”

But perhaps the biggest indication that more change is yet to come on the issue is how many Democrats, in the wake of the 2024 election, have acknowledged that Biden’s staunch support of Israel played a meaningful role in the party’s loss, particularly among young voters.

When I interviewed Newsom last month, he attributed Kamala Harris’s 2024 loss in part to the party’s support of Israel. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told the Washington Post last year that the party’s inability to address the “angst over Gaza” contributed to Trump’s win. And in her book about the 2024 campaign, Harris said that Biden’s poor polling was due in part to his “perceived blank check to Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza” and said that his remarks about Palestinians “came off as inadequate and forced.”

More….

Note….

There IS something VERY significant happening in the American/Israeli relationship….

The Gaza conflict,  and now the Iranian War,  IS changing American’s view of Israel under Netanyahu’s leadership…

While the Oct.7 attacks where shameful …..

More and more American’s are also looking at the increasing loss of life in Gaza,  and now in Iran,  as shameful also….

Newsom , who right now lead’s the field for 2028 with Democrats,  IS walking a tightrope in how he presents himself on the politics of Israel and American support for a possible incoming President….

But?

Newsom and others are evolving to the view that Joe Biden LOST More votes then he gained in supporting Israel and Netanyahu in the last election that put Harris is a bad spot also….

Something Donald Trump IS repeating as I write this…..