According to this latest NBC News poll, 67 percent of Democrats say that their sympathies lie with Palestinians over Israelis. This is an astonishing sea change in the opinion of a major part of the electorate. Just thirteen years ago, in 2013, only 18 percent of Democrats said that their sympathies lay with the Palestinians.
This shift, moreover, is not confined to Democrats. Thirty-seven percent of independents claim that their sympathies lie with the Palestinians; only 27 percent claim that their sympathies lie with the Israelis. In 2013, those numbers were nearly reversed: 37 percent of independent voters claimed that their sympathies lay with the Israelis, while only 10 percent of independent voters claimed that their sympathies lay with the Palestinians.
As NBC goes on to report, this stark turn in the Democratic electorate is now driving a series of Democratic primary contests in congressional races across the country. There’s little doubt that it will also shape the 2028 presidential primary.
Like the push toward democratic socialism, the organizing work on the question of Palestine has had a genuine impact on party politics. It has not yet shaped government policy, but that’s obviously the endgame. An endgame that no one takes more seriously than the organizations and individuals who are dedicated to defending the State of Israel, no matter what.
Which brings me to the question of action.
For the last twenty years or so, we have been engaging in a bit of a dance around the question of Palestine. Palestinian Americans, Muslim Americans, Arab Americans, Jewish Americans, students, faculty, and progressives of all persuasions, have pushed for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) at the level of universities and local institutions, issued one resolution after another denouncing the actions of the Israeli state, launched debates over Zionism and anti-Zionism, and conducted an ongoing cultural war over terms like genocide, apartheid, and more.
These…
Auteur: Corey Robin
