Democrats whose support for Israel has been strained by the wars in Gaza and Lebanon appear headed for a series of tests in the coming weeks over continuing to back Israel’s right-wing government and the attendant debate over antisemitism and the anti-Israel left.
On Wednesday, the Senate will vote on a resolution drafted by Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who is Jewish, to deny Israel certain offensive military weapons. The resolution, though largely symbolic, has become imbued with meaning, as mainstream Democrats and even a mainline liberal Jewish organization have embraced it.
Days later, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader who is also Jewish, is likely to test again the unity of the Democratic Party and the American Jews who have long called it their political home. Mr. Schumer plans to attach to a bill legislation, already passed by the House, to define antisemitism formally with language that includes phrases more about opposition to Israel than about hatred of Judaism. This has exacerbated tensions with the left, which sees in the proposed definition an effort to suppress Palestinian-rights protests.
Then in January, President-elect Donald J. Trump will return to the White House, bringing with him a history of siding wholeheartedly with the right-wing government of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, while pursuing domestic policies that many Jews believe are anathema to their values and their religion.
How these three moments play out could go a long way toward determining whether support for Israel remains a cornerstone of bipartisan American foreign policy or slides fully into a position that breaks largely along party lines.
Republicans are pushing hard to drive a wedge between Jewish voters and the Democratic Party as they press their advantage from this month’s election and claim to be the rightful protectors of Israel and the Jewish people.
