In a sign of the growing sensitivity around Israel politics, a DNC member, who was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations, said he had received direct calls about the proposals from the two presidential candidates, who would have to answer to the DNC’s positions on Israel and AIPAC if they run. The proposals are also highlighting sharp divisions within the task force DNC Chairman Ken Martin established last year to set the party’s strategy on the Middle East — a committee that is in its early stages and far from formalizing an agenda.
James Zogby – a longtime DNC member and critic of Israel who is president of the Arab American Institute and who sits on Martin’s Middle East working group – said the party needs to wake up to voters’ changing views on Israel.
“Public opinion has changed. The Democrats have obviously changed. The candidates have changed. And we’re not where we were five years ago,” Zogby said. “We have to avoid the mistakes we are making, which show us to be unwilling or unable to accept political realities.”
A Pew Research survey Data released this week showed that 80 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents have an unfavorable view of Israel, up from 69 percent last year and 53 percent in 2022. nbc news poll Meanwhile, the poll conducted in late February and early March found that 57 percent of Democrats view Israel negatively, a dramatic change from when only 35 percent had a negative view of the country following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
“The Democratic Party, again and again, is presented with completely winnable issues,” said Allison Minnerly, a DNC member from Florida who introduced the resolution criticizing AIPAC and corporate-aligned spending, and who unsuccessfully led another effort last year to impose an arms embargo on Israel. “People 1) hate corporate money and 2) don’t want to get involved in further conflict in the Middle East.”
But Haley Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, which is against the current measures, said increased criticism of the Israeli government by prominent elected officials “will not necessarily lead to a wholesale change in support for Israel’s security or its right to exist as a Jewish state.” Soifer, a former adviser to Kamala Harris, whose group has opposed similar efforts before the DNC in the past, called the latest batch of foreign-policy proposals a “distraction” for a party that is showing early success in the midterms by focusing on domestic issues.
Spokespeople for the DNC and AIPAC declined to comment.
The Democrats have been here before. The party conducted an autopsy in 2024 which found Its approach to Gaza hurt the top of the ticket – Then decided not to release it publicly.
At the party meeting in Minneapolis last summer, Minnarelli’s arms embargo failed, while Martin made his move, calling for “unrestricted” aid to Gaza and a two-state solution after its passage. In favor of forming a task force To put forward a “solution” to the party’s split.
The Middle East Working Group is scheduled to hold its fourth meeting in New Orleans this week. Some members complained to Politico that the group lacked structure and any real institutional power. And they disagree on how best to approach their mission.
Working group member Joe Salas from California believes Gaza was “one of the things that lost us the White House” in 2024 and is urging the party to adjust its response. He proposed recognizing the “State of Palestine” and freezing or conditioning arms transfers to “any military entity credibly implicated in violations of international humanitarian law or obstructing humanitarian assistance”, telling Politico he hoped it would serve as a guide for the task force.
But Andrew Lachman, another member of the task force and former chairman of the California Jewish Democrats, said he did not want to see group members trying to “undermine the work of the commission” by pushing attractive proposals that could deal a major blow to its efforts.
“It would be better for us to try to find ways to work together as a party, to stand together against these wars, rather than engage in this kind of approach,” he said.
The proposals have also triggered a new round of lobbying among interest groups. The pro-Palestinian group IMEU Policy Project sent a memorandum to members on Wednesday urging them to pass the measures.
“Signs are growing that the gap between Democratic leadership and their voters on this issue will be a liability in 2026 unless serious action is taken,” the group warned in its memo, a copy of which was shared with POLITICO.
