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July 19, 2026
Key Developments and What We're Discussing Today:
- The vast majority of the Democrats who voted for the Massie amendment, which everyone knew had no chance of passing, are pro-Israel by any reasonable definition and deserve our support. Those who voted against the amendment also cast a defensible vote.
- Democrats have not changed. Israel's policies have changed. Rep. Ro Khanna's (D-CA) visit to the West Bank highlighted what those of us who have been paying attention (and reading this newsletter) have known for a long time: If Israel wants to remain a democracy and wants to retain U.S. support, it must change its policies in the West Bank.
- Israel has only three options: two states, one apartheid state, or one equal binational state. That's it. If you don't like the third option, and you cannot accept Israel's current path toward the second option, then the first option (in one form or another) is the only option left. We have to make that happen.
- Unlike the Republican Party, which is infected with antisemitism at the highest levels, the Democratic Party marginalizes and condemns antisemitism within its ranks with a high degree of success. Nevertheless, antisemitism does exist on the left and in some progressive spaces. It is up to us to call it out and not look away.
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Friends,
Last week, 103 Democratic House members voted for a deeply flawed amendment cutting $3.3 billion in aid to Israel (but not funding for defensive weapons systems like Iron Dome and David’s Sling) introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) that would have amended a deeply flawed bill that all but one Democrat voted against. The amendment failed, the bill passed, and hysteria ensued.
The vast majority of the 103 Democrats who voted for the Massie amendment are committed to Israel's safety and security. To understand what happened, you have to understand the rationale for their votes.
Read the statement from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) explaining why he voted against the Massie amendment. Read the statement from House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA), the #2 House Democrat, explaining why she voted for the Massie amendment.
Notice how much the two statements have in common, including a commitment to Israel's safety and security, despite differing on how to vote on the Massie amendment. Rep. Jamie Raskin's (D-MD) statement highlights the bad choices Democrats were forced by Republicans to make on this vote.
The whole charade was absurd. The amendment had no chance of passing. Netanyahu has called for the elimination of all aid to Israel. The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said that the next memorandum of understanding with Israel will include no aid. This entire aid debate will soon be moot. Republicans did not have a problem with Netanyahu or Huckabee. But Democrats? That's where they draw the line and force votes on show bills that they claim to oppose.
Democrats have not changed. Israel has changed. Democrats continue to support Israel's safety and security. They don't support the policies of Israel's current government, the most right-wing government in Israel's history. Democrats are reacting to the reality of Israel's policies in the West Bank and Gaza, to the consternation of some in the pro-Israel community who would prefer that they view Israel through the lens of the Leon Uris Exodus fantasy version of Israel that didn't exist then and is even further removed from reality now.
Israel is a democracy, albeit a flawed democracy (as are most democracies), within the 1967 lines. Israel is moving toward annexation of the West Bank, and a good case can be made that Israel has all but de facto annexed the West Bank. Israel is not a democracy in the West Bank, and a substantial portion of those who live between the river and the sea do not live in a democracy. The closer Israel comes to annexing the West Bank, whether de facto or de jure, the harder it becomes to make the case that Israel is a democracy.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) witnessed this first-hand on his recent visit to the West Bank. Was this a publicity stunt? Who cares? The Jerusalem Post detailed what did and did not happen. Khanna responded to criticism of his trip, and Jeremy Ben-Ami provided additional background.
The trip highlighted the symbiosis between the settlers and the military. If that's what it takes for us to open our eyes, so be it. As Haaretz editorialized, Khanna got the VIP version of what West Bank Palestinians face every day.
None of this is new. In June, I mentioned a letter from dozens of high-ranking Israeli officials, including former prime ministers Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert and ex-IDF chiefs of staff, describing Jewish, state-sponsored terror in the West Bank. Read the full letter here.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert separately wrote that Israel is conducting a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity in the West Bank. Is he anti-Israel? Antisemitic? How about the signers of that letter? I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that he and the signers of that letter have better Zionist credentials than anyone reading this newsletter.
It makes us very uncomfortable to hear this from sources whose integrity and knowledge are beyond question. I understand the impulse to respond with, "but what about Sudan?" But that's a non-sequitur.
We cannot expect Americans, let alone members of Congress, to close their eyes, put their hands on their ears, shout "la la la," and pretend that this isn't happening. If we care about Israel's future, we cannot look away, nor can we expect Democrats--really, any Americans with a conscience--to look away.
Once upon a time, looking away might have been a political winner. But despite AIPAC's best efforts, those days are gone, and while that might not be good for Netanyahu or the settlers, it's good for Israel and those of us who support a Jewish, democratic Israel.
We need representatives like Khanna, with impeccable progressive credentials, who support liberal Zionism and a two-state solution, to be a bridge between those who love Israel and the progressive base that wants to see justice in Palestine. The two goals are complementary, not contradictory.
The math still holds up. Israel can be a Jewish state. Israel can be a democracy. Israel can control all the land currently known as Israel and the West Bank. It can, at most, do only two of the three. It cannot do all three.
As David Schraub explains, the trilemma is "two states, one apartheid state, or one equal binational state [and] if you don't like the binational one-state option, and you're not willing to endorse the apartheid one-state option, then the only move is to do whatever you can to make a two-state solution viable. Actually viable, not just a talking point."
Schraub concludes, "There's a lot about Israel/Palestine that is complicated. But this part of it is not complicated...even among young Jews, there is not a wholesale rejection of the idea of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. What is there is a wholesale rejection of apartheid and a fatalistic sense that a two-state solution is unfeasible. That leaves one equal state. If one doesn't like being left there, your choices are to make apartheid okay again or to make a two-state solution viable again. There isn't another move."
That's the lesson of the Massie vote. That's the lesson of Khanna's trip. And that's why we should stop complaining that "Jewish Americans don't have a political home."
The Democratic Party, unlike the Republican Party, recognizes that as reality changes, our policies must change. The "don't hold Israel to double standards" crowd should understand that better than anyone. Israel is not a child that needs special treatment.
We should hold Israel to the same standards and expectations to which we hold our other democratic allies, none of which use arms paid for by American taxpayers as Israel has used those arms in Gaza and the West Bank. And if Israel continues on a path toward annexation, which means it is no longer a democracy, we cannot be surprised when Americans ask why we should support such a country.
That's why it's important that we do all we can to prevent that from happening and support some variant of the only solution that will prevent that from happening, a two-state solution. That's pro-Israel, and that's where the Democratic Party is.
But what about antisemitism on the left? More Jews are concerned about antisemitism from the right than from the left, in part because the antisemitism from the right has infected the Republican Party straight to the top. But while antisemitism from the left does not have a home in the Democratic Party, antisemitism from the left clearly exists on social media and in some progressive spaces.
Khanna told me this last week: "I am acutely aware of our history as a nation of scapegoating Americans who have a connection to nations which lose public support. We incarcerated Japanese Americans and discriminated against German Americans during WWII. We demonized Muslim Americans and profiled Brown men like me immediately after 9-11. We engaged in xenophobia against Chinese Americans after we lost jobs to China.
"Today, as Israel loses public support, especially with Democrats, we must be loud and clear that the rise of antisemitism is real, it is ugly, and it has zero place in our party or our nation. I will never compromise in speaking out against antisemitism as vicious bigotry."
Can any of us disagree?
Corrections. I'm entitled to my own opinions but not to my own facts, so I appreciate it when readers bring errors to my attention. In last week's newsletter, I misspelled Eric "Swalwell." I referred to Brad Lander as "Congressman-elect," which won't be true until after the November election.
In Case You Missed It:
- Never one to miss an opportunity to apply a purity test or burn a bridge, AIPAC suspended fundraising efforts for the Democrats it endorsed who voted in favor of the Massie amendment.
- Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss on the Fourth of July and the First Amendment: First read his short Substack post, then read the transcript of his remarks at an Evanston City Council meeting. Jewish Americans, of all people, should understand the danger of suppressing views we disagree with, even if some of us find those views offensive.
Jewish Insider Fail of the Week. On July 16, JI "reported" that Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) voted for the Massie amendment "in part because of sustained personal threats against his family and his staff." Smith did describe those threats in his statement explaining his vote. But nothing in his statement says that those threats contributed in whole or in part to his decision to vote as he did.
Social Media of the Week. Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL), Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), Maryam, and Frank Conniff.
Video Clip of the Week. For all you guitar players, how to play the James Bond chord.
Vintage Music Clip of the Week. Rolling Stones, Keith Richards & Jerry Lee Lewis “Little Queenie” Duet + Mick Fleetwood on Drums from 1983.
The Fine Print. Read the fine print before you reply or send me anything.
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Be sure to read my posts on distinguishing anti-Zionism from antisemitism, understanding the words Zionism, apartheid, and genocide, how to heal the generational rift on Israel and antisemitism, and the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
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