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.”