Dems pull anti-Israel proposal after activists complain it doesn’t go far enough

Adam Kredo writes for the Washington Free Beacon about anti-Israel sentiment within the Democratic Party.

A Democratic National Committee meeting on Tuesday devolved into an anti-Israel slugfest, leading its chairman, Ken Martin, to pull a resolution many party members believed was not harsh enough on the Jewish state. Instead, Martin invited the anti-Israel members to join a committee to reevaluate the party’s position on Israel.

The Martin-backed resolution, which the DNC initially approved, called for “unrestricted” aid to Gaza and a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, language that moderate Democrats have long used. An alternate resolution championed by the party’s anti-Israel wing went significantly further, calling for a full-scale arms embargo on Israel, the suspension of American military aid, and recognition of “Palestine as a country.”

DNC members initially adopted the more moderate version in an uncounted voice vote, but Martin ultimately pulled both from consideration after the party’s anti-Israel members revolted. Semafor reporter Dave Weigel captured Martin during a private discussion “with the alternative Gaza resolution sponsors” before he canceled the vote.

“There’s a divide in our party on this issue,” Politico quoted Martin as having said. “This is a moment that calls for shared dialogue, calls for shared advocacy.”

After abandoning his own moderate proposal, Martin pledged to assemble a DNC committee “comprised of stakeholders on all sides of this” that will “continue to have the conversation, to work through this, and bring solutions back to our party.”

The tumult during the meeting reflects the Democratic Party’s growing divide on Israel in the nearly two years since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks against the Jewish state. The terrorist organization’s massacres ignited a flurry of violent protests, primarily involving the party’s progressive base. Anti-Israel Democrats formed an “uncommitted” delegation during the 2024 election, protesting the party’s convention over its failure to grant a speaking slot to a Georgia state representative with a history of pro-Hamas rhetoric.

Allison Minnerly, the 26-year-old DNC member who spearheaded the arms embargo resolution, told the Nation in an interview published Tuesday that her efforts represent the will of the Democratic Party.

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