Will the Democrats ditch Netanyahu? Can they?

JVL Introduction

The Democratic Party is haemorrhaging support as its younger, more activist base is in open rebellion against Biden’s gung-ho support for Israel’s war on Gaza.

Now, following Kamala Harris’s call for a ceasefire less than a fortnight ago, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, highest ranking Jewish elected official in U.S. history, has allowed frustration with Benjamin Netanyahu to boil over.

Without abandoning his unconditional support for Israel, Schumer has nonetheless explicitly disowned Netanyahu and called for new elections.

It is obviously trialling a way of doing just enough to reconnect with the Party base.

Biden remains uncommitted, clearly biding his time to see how it goes down at home, and also worrying that this might regenerate support for Netanayhu in Israel.

We shall see soon enough if this represents a real shift in how the Democrats position themselves. We have learnt through experience to have very low expectations…

RK

This article was originally published by Haaretz on Fri 15 Mar 2024. Read the original here.