How American Jews can cope with the Democratic Party’s betrayal

Democratic Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Jew, will skip her state’s Democratic nominating convention because she fears antisemitic harassment—“getting yelled and screamed at.” New York City’s Democratic Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani excused the stabbing attack of a Jew in Manhattan by callously noting that “hurt people do hurt people.” The Atlanta Jewish Times just published an editorial accusing Georgia’s Jewish Sen. Jon Ossoff of “lying” to the state’s Jews about his “ironclad” support of Israel, while voting against it at every opportunity.

These are not isolated examples. National and local news are full of “progressive” Democrats abandoning their decades-long Jewish supporters—by falsely accusing the Jewish state of war crimes, supporting politicians with blatant antisemitic sympathies and opposing aid to Israel’s existential battle against Middle East jihadists.

For many American Jews, their identity with the Democratic Party is as strong as—or even stronger than—their identity with Judaism and the Jewish people. Their loyalty stems from a century-long alignment with Democrats based on historical experience, minority consciousness and secular liberalism.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, working-class Jews who emigrated from Eastern Europe were often aligned with labor or socialist movements. Thus, many of them found a home in Franklin Roosevelt’s Democratic Party—characterized by FDR’s New Deal in the 1930s. As a vulnerable ethnic/religious minority, American Jews saw Democrats as protectors of minority and civil rights, as well as separation of church and state.

Today, American Jews’ high levels of education, urban concentration and secular, humanitarian values align with contemporary Democratic constituencies. Of course, until recently, the modern Democratic Party has also supported Israel—if not zealously, at least reliably.

No wonder some 65% to 70% of American Jews identify as Democrats or lean Democratic. No wonder, either, that today, as Democrats increasingly support anti-Israel, antisemitic candidates and policies, many American Jews feel conflicted and even distraught.

Indeed, today’s Democratic Party is dangerous to Jews. Its growing number of openly antisemitic politicians, like Mamdani, and supporters, like radical Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, regularly dramatize the threat. While in 2019 the claim by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) that support for Israel was “all about the Benjamins” raised controversy, today such antisemitic tropes are grist for the daily news.

Many of these Democrat enemies predictably blame attacks on Jews on Jews themselves. A November siege of a Manhattan synagogue by pro-Hamas protesters was rationalized by Mamdani’s comment that “sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law,” referring to legal Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

In another example, Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrats’ Michigan Senate nominee, justified an armed attack in March on a synagogue in the Detroit suburbs by implying that the assailant, Lebanese-born Ayman Mohamed Ghazali, acted legitimately because members of his family, including a Hezbollah commander, were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

In addition, just this year, more than 25 “progressive” Democrat legislators have ganged up—with no credible evidence—to accuse Israel of war crimes, including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) and Vermont’s Sen. Bernie Sanders (genocide); Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) (starvation); and Sen. Jeff Markley (D-Ore.), Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) (ethnic cleansing).

Again, just last month, 103 Democratic House members voted to support an amendment slashing aid to Israel from bill H.R. 8595, which also apportioned $1.6 billion to Jordan and $1.3 billion to Egypt. That anti-Israel amendment was defeated, with only one Republican supporting it.

In short, as Tablet magazine commentator Liel Leibovitz recently wrote, “the Democratic Party now belongs to those who derive their energy, their purpose, and their popularity from hating Jews, Israel and America.” Leibovitz caps the observation with an obvious conclusion: “[N]o sane American, let alone American Jew, has any business supporting the party in its current form.”

This conundrum facing American Jews isn’t dissimilar to that experienced by good German Jews of the 1930s as their fellow citizens elected Nazis into power. Even as the Third Reich began its unparalleled persecution of the Jewish people, the majority of German Jews could not bring themselves to fight back. The profound identity of these Jews as loyal Germans wouldn’t allow them—emotionally, psychologically—to resist. For many, to vote communist or flee would be a betrayal of oneself, even as the Nazis rounded them up and shipped them to the camps.

Unfortunately, despite American Jews’ discomfort with today’s Democratic Party, most still have trouble breaking free of their psychological attachment. For many, the very idea of voting for a (shudder) Republican is inconceivable. Yet as renowned attorney Alan Dershowitz observed in 2024, following decades as a Democrat, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party—they left me.”

The first fact we need to face soberly and unemotionally: The Democratic Party is no longer safe for American Jews or Israel; it no longer supports us. The second fact: We live in a two-party system, and we have to choose. Like the Democrats, the Republican Party has many problems on many issues. But let’s also be clear: Support for Jews and Israel among elected Republicans is virtually 100%.

Finally, please note: FLAME has for 37 years been—and continues to be—a nonpartisan advocate for Israel. We are admittedly a “one-issue voter.” We support all politicians who support Israel. We do not recommend that you join any specific political party or vote for any specific politician. In these dark days, however, we strongly recommend that you take a stand: Do not vote for or fund enemies of Israel or the Jewish people.

Originally published on Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME).