Fearing Zionism could die among Democrats, many party leaders are explicitly breaking with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to try to stop anti-Israel attitudes from becoming a litmus test for next year’s midterms and the 2028 presidential primaries.

Leaders of multiple Jewish and pro-Israel groups told CNN privately that they have grimly determined their best and most practical approach is essentially to quietly wait out the trauma and hope the politics turns. There’s another Israeli election next year, and while Netanyahu is now in a minority coalition, he has been counted out before.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who wrote the military aid resolution but also cautioned Mamdani when they huddled last month to be more deliberate about making clear he wasn’t anti-Israel or antisemitic, told CNN he thinks his colleagues risk losing an authentic connection to voters if they don’t rapidly change what they’re doing and saying on Israel.

“To be anti-Netanyahu, anti-a-right-wing-racist-extremist government, that’s anti-Israeli government,” Sanders said. “If you’re against Trump, you’re not against America.”

  • geneva_convenience@lemmy.mlOP
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    5 days ago

    “To be anti-Netanyahu, anti-a-right-wing-racist-extremist government, that’s anti-Israeli government,” Sanders said. “If you’re against Trump, you’re not against America.”

    This is a propaganda by the way. Netanyahu is the perfect representation of Israel.

    • xyzzy@lemmy.today
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      5 days ago

      Also Likud has said “from the river to the sea” many times. Here’s the first time and one of the more recent ones.

      Likud Party: Original Party Platform (1977)

      a. The right of the Jewish people to the land of Israel is eternal and indisputable and is linked with the right to security and peace; therefore, Judea and Samaria will not be handed to any foreign administration; between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty.

      Benjamin Netanyahu, Likud Party (2024)

      Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday rejected the premise of a Palestinian state and promised that Israel will take over the entire region it currently occupies, “from the river to the sea,” according to an English translation on the Israeli news channel i24NEWS.


      Only about 1 in 4 Knesset members favor a two-state solution. Some may disagree with Likud’s methods, but the vast majority of elected officials in Israel support Israeli domination over Palestinians. This almost exactly mirrors the ratio of support and opposition to a two-state solution amongst the Israeli public.

    • redsand@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      5 days ago

      I think Bibi is as religious as Trump. Manipulating a bunch of rubes with a religion they don’t give a shit about.

    • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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      5 days ago

      He has to be aware that he’s parroting isrealis propaganda by now and I wish I could understand why

      • geneva_convenience@lemmy.mlOP
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        5 days ago

        Asked whether that risked Democrats being seen as anti-Israel, Sanders pointed out that he is Jewish himself and decades ago lived in Israel for a few months.