Israel divide grows in Democratic Party after New York primaries

[DrFunkenstein]

Source: The Hill

The divide over Israel is only deepening in the Democratic Party after New York City’s first democratic socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, helped propel three primary candidates to victory last week, unseating two incumbent Democrats in the process.

The New York City primaries were unusually focused on Israel, with Mamdani-backed candidates making the issue a central line of attack as they blasted their opponents for being insufficiently critical of the war in Gaza or for taking money from AIPAC-aligned groups.

The Democratic Party now finds itself more divided than ever over its approach to Israel, raising questions about whether there’s room in the party for such divergent positions and whether the results in some of the deepest blue districts in the country could hurt Democratic candidates in purple states heading into the midterm elections.

“When it comes to Israel, it’s absolutely evident that a small but very vocal sector of the Democratic electorate not only is very angry at Israel, but has made it their only issue,” Matt Bennett, co-founder of center-left think tank Third Way, told The Hill.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5943424-new-york-primaries-israel-divide/

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The Third Way co-founder suggests opposition to Israel's actions over the last two-and-a-half years are fueled by the irrational emotion of "anger" and that it represents a "small, but very vocal sector" is undermined by the record-high polling released by Quinnipiac on Wednesday showing 48% of Americans - and 66% of Democrats - calling to limit our support.

I am disappointed by number of disingenuous (that's the nice way to put it) arguments by fellow Democrats in this article framing the issue as "extremists" on the "pro-Hamas wing" with a "socialist obsession" over "a country the size of New Jersey 5,000 miles away." These are the sort of argumentation tools of Republicans, the kind you use when you don't really believe in the correctness of your position but you want to put one over using rhetorical tricks.

[Lemon Lyman]

1. -

Dems in disarray or something.

[BeyondGeography]

2. That's some crack journalism there

As you note there are no shortage of data points out there showing that opposition to Netanyahu’s Israel is a mainstream view among Democrats. Here’s another poll from April showing Israel with an 80 percent unfavorability rating:

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/04/07/negative-views-of-israel-netanyahu-continue-to-rise-among-americans-especially-young-people/

[Scrivener7]

5. Yeah, but it's a small but very vocal 80%.

[JustAnotherGen]

3. These 3 seats

Can get elected, then duke it out in Committee.

Don't pay attention to spirit snipers like the Hill. They've always been shit asses who skew towards the TEAS and Magapubs.

[Deminpenn]

4. Third way equals Republicans lite

However, AIPAC and other organizations like the ADL have been waging a coordinated campaign since the Oct 7th attack on Israel and Netanyahu's decision to destroy Gaza to lable even the mildest criticism of Israel or support of Palestinians as anti-Semitic.

Imo, this strategy is backfiring as more Americans see it for what it is. Most Americans can separate their views about the actions of the government of Israel from their view of its citizens. This is no different than most Americans hope other countries can separate their views of Trump's administration from those of the rest of us.

[Scrivener7]

6. Great post. And yes, you'd thing we Democrats in trump's America should understand this.

[Buddyzbuddy]

7. Yes, of course it's the progressives of the Deomcratic party that are at fault.

Because of our unwarranted anger with the Israeli leadership over their treatment of Palestinian women and children and disregard for human life.

Not the fearful, greedy politicians that can't wean themselves from the teat of Netanyahu's AIPAC.

[yardwork]

9. Vote for every Democrat on your ballot in November.

Vote for the Democratic candidate in every race up and down the ballot.

[oldmanlynn]

10. I am amazed that there's any Democrats that support Netanyahu and what Israel is doing in Gaza

[yankee87]

11. I was wrong

My children’s friends said they voted third party because of the killings. I didn’t think it wasn’t our issue, it is. We are responsible for giving Israel all their munitions.