{"id":3729,"date":"2026-07-08T18:40:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T18:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=3729"},"modified":"2026-07-08T18:40:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T18:40:30","slug":"democrats-divide-over-israel-tested-in-primary-showdown-for-u-s-senate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=3729","title":{"rendered":"Democrats\u2019 divide over Israel tested in primary showdown for U.S. Senate"},"content":{"rendered":"
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U.S. Senate candidate Haley Stevens is out to prove that a Democrat can stand with Israel in defiance of liberal activists and still win the party\u2019s nomination.<\/p>\n

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In Michigan\u2019s closely watched primary, the Rochester, Michigan, native and four-term congresswoman is betting that the traditional pro\u2011Israel posture that has defined Democratic foreign policy for decades remains viable \u2014 even as the party\u2019s left wing moves sharply in the opposite direction after the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Ms. Stevens\u2019 opponent, Abdul El\u2011Sayed, said the pro-Israel era is over. The Detroit native and son of Egyptian immigrants has made the American Israel Public Affairs Committee\u2019s multimillion\u2011dollar spending in the race the centerpiece of his argument. He casts Ms. Stevens as part of a Washington culture in which corporate influence and foreign\u2011aligned interests get more attention than voters worried about groceries, rent or medical bills.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor too long our foreign policy has been handed to us by the likes of the State of Israel and AIPAC, who has made sure that Democrats and Republicans are doing their bidding,\u201d he said. \u201cSo long as our politicians continue to be bought off by AIPAC, do not be surprised when we fight wars that are in their best interest \u2014 to annex Lebanon or to do genocide in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their clash reflects a deeper question confronting Democrats nationwide: whether the party\u2019s long\u2011standing support for Israel can survive a base increasingly skeptical of the U.S.-Israel relationship.<\/p>\n

Polls show Democratic support for Israel has slipped roughly three years after Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack that left 1,200 people dead in Israel and 251 hostages taken back to Gaza. The Israeli response has led to the death of over 73,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas\u2011run Gaza Health Ministry.<\/p>\n

An AP\u2011NORC survey released this week found nearly 6 in 10 Democrats \u2014 and half of Jewish Democrats \u2014 believe the U.S. is \u201ctoo supportive of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Stevens and Mr. El\u2011Sayed are navigating those tensions in sharply different ways as they seek to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.<\/p>\n

Ms. Stevens is considered part of the establishment wing of the party \u2014 Democrats who believe support for Israel and a two\u2011state solution remains a mainstream, electable position, including with moderates, Jewish voters and independents in states like Michigan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe difference between my opponent and myself on this issue is that I believe in a two-state solution,\u201d she said. \u201cI can say that Israel has a right to peacefully exist alongside the people of Palestine and in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also has hammered home the idea that supporting Israel does not mean supporting the current government, saying she supports humanitarian aid and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu \u201chas not made us safer, has not brought us closer to peace, and he\u2019s endangered Jews here in America and around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. El\u2011Sayed dismissed Ms. Stevens\u2019 criticism of Mr. Netanyahu \u2014 who criticized her this week on CNN \u2014 as political posturing meant to blunt backlash from the party\u2019s left.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t think Benjamin Netanyahu is attacking her to actually attack her; I think he\u2019s attacking her to try and steer away the stink of how staunchly she stands for their policy,\u201d Mr. El\u2011Sayed said.<\/p>\n

He tied Israel policy to broader themes of corruption and inequality, saying AIPAC\u2019s spending reflects a political culture in which \u201ccorporations are buying politicians\u201d and \u201cforeign\u2011aligned interests\u201d get more attention than people struggling to pay their bills. He has gone further than most mainstream Democrats, saying the United States \u201ccannot continue to sell weapons to a country that is doing human rights abuses, genocide and apartheid.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem with a two\u2011state solution, he said, has been \u201cour policy has been to subsidize the Israeli military to the tune of billions of your tax dollars every single year, and their goal is to foreclose on the possibility of a Palestinian state.\u201d<\/p>\n

That message has helped progressive candidates win deep\u2011blue House districts this year, but Michigan is a battleground where Democrats have lost two of the last three presidential contests, and where party leaders believe a more traditional foreign\u2011policy posture is essential to winning statewide.<\/p>\n

The Stevens\u2013El\u2011Sayed clash is the latest example of how the expanding split over Israel has reshaped Democratic politics and is expected to be a dividing line in the party\u2019s 2028 nomination race.<\/p>\n

That was on display Wednesday when Rahm Emanuel, a likely contender for the Democratic nomination, told a crowd at Tel Aviv University in Israel that the alliance between the two nations was at a \u201ccrossroads.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot fight indefinitely against a world that has stopped believing you have the right to fight,\u201d Mr. Emanuel said. \u201cYou must instead find a new sustainable path to peace, security and economic prosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in Michigan, Republicans believe the Israel debate will follow Democrats into the general election, no matter who emerges from the primary.<\/p>\n

If Ms. Stevens wins, she could struggle to energize the left wing of the party \u2014 including members of the state\u2019s large Arab American and Muslim communities that protested the Biden administration\u2019s support for Israel during the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Kamala Harris\u2019 loss to Donald Trump in 2024 was blamed partly on Arab American, Muslim and young liberal voters in Detroit who refused to back her because she did not break with President Biden on Israel. Republicans expect those tensions to resurface in November if Ms. Stevens is the nominee.<\/p>\n

On the flip side, an El\u2011Sayed victory would give Republicans a different opening. They believe his criticism of Israel would play directly into the hands of Mike Rogers, the former congressman and intelligence committee chair who is the likely GOP nominee, allowing him to frame the race as a choice between stability and unpredictability at a moment when global conflicts abound.<\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Senate candidate Haley Stevens is out to prove that a Democrat can stand with Israel in defiance of liberal activists and still win the party’s nomination.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[2046,2151,32,1524],"class_list":["post-3729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics","tag-abdul-el-sayed","tag-haley-stevens","tag-israel","tag-michigan"],"yoast_head":"\nDemocrats\u2019 divide over Israel tested in primary showdown for U.S. Senate - Home Buyer Relocation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=3729\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Democrats\u2019 divide over Israel tested in primary showdown for U.S. Senate - 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