This is how Democrats for Israel in America are holding their ground against the electoral fervour of anti-Zionism

Los Angeles. Since 7 October, several rifts have opened up, or become apparent. One is within the US Democratic coalition. The mid-term elections are three weeks away and candidates for the House of Representatives, the Senate, governorships and mayoral posts must state at rallies what they think about Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas and the two-state solution. The new wave of social democrats, emboldened by the success of New York’s Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has placed the US’s distancing from Israel – in ideological, financial and military alliance terms – at the heart of their election manifestos.

In Colorado, 29-year-old Melat Kiros is expected to have the votes to be elected to the House of Representatives, and is calling for a total arms embargo on Israel. In one of New York’s constituencies, one of the leaders of the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University is expected to win. In Los Angeles, the Democratic mayor Karen Bass is facing a challenge from city councillor Nithiya Raman, who speaks of genocide and has already been dubbed ‘the Mamdani of LA’On the other side, groups such as Democrats for Israel are exerting pressure and expressing concern; they are seeking to promote non-anti-Zionist candidates and act as a bridge between the party and pro-Israeli interests. Los Angeles, after New York, is home to the largest Jewish community in America, a presence visible along West Pico Boulevard, where synagogues line the street alongside delis, kosher sushi restaurants, Torah study centres and small bars frequented by Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe. There is also the large Wiesenthal Centre for Tolerance and Holocaust Remembrance, founded to track down Nazis who had fled to Argentina. We spoke to the Californian leaders of DfI, who have been working in recent weeks in the run-up to the local elections and the congressional elections. “The positions of the Social Democrats,” they tell Il Foglio, “are leading to a dangerous situation for American Jews”. They recall a time when anti-Semitism was primarily a right-wing sentiment, but note that “since Donald Trump came along, and with ongoing political polarisation, it has been increasingly evident on the left”. Yet today, they tell us, “anti-Zionism is simply a new word for anti-Semitism”. One wonders to what extent the Gaza issue is playing a role in these elections, as was already the case in the 2024 presidential election, when Kamala Harris took an ambiguous stance. Because, as members of the DfI board of directors point out, “since 7 October, given the demands of some Democrats, support for Israel has become a key electoral issue for the majority of Jewish voters. They cannot vote for anyone who questions Israel’s right to exist”. And in response to those who criticise the military campaigns, they explain that “if Hamas lays down its arms, there will be peace. If Israel lays down its arms, we’ll end up with a lot of dead Jews”. How, they ask, “can one engage in dialogue with a government, such as the Palestinian one, which has not held elections since 2006 and has even postponed the November elections?”

One of the problems, as David Alpern – who has also written about this in the Times of Israel – points out, is “the magnifying glass held over Israel, like a microscope”, given that Jerusalem is the city with the most foreign correspondents after Washington, London and Moscow. Everyone knows Netanyahu, about whom everyone has an opinion, except the leaders of Hamas, he explains, and they do not realise that they would repeat 7 October in a heartbeat. “And they know even less about the leaders and members of the liberal and progressive parties standing in the Israeli elections.” For everyone by now, Israel means Netanyahu. But Democrats for Israel are, at heart, optimistic. Although “the extremes have become more mainstream – and this is terrifying – they are still a minority. Most Democrats, like most Republicans, are, at heart, decent people.” They estimate that “extremists make up, at most, 20 per cent of the Democratic coalition”. DfI cites California’s Governor Gavin Newsom as a positive example. Highly combative towards Trump, Newsom has maintained the party’s traditional stance on Israel. And in October last year, he signed a state bill establishing a centre for the prevention of anti-Semitism and introducing strict anti-discrimination rules in schools, with a particular focus on the teaching of history. These mid-term elections will also serve as a test to gauge the direction of the coalition, not least because, should the Democrats take the House, they could split when it comes to voting on military aid to Tel Aviv.