(July 17, 2026 \/ The Focus Project)\n <\/p>\n
An American politician considering a run for president recently leveled harsh criticism against Israel\u2019s government while still supporting the U.S.-Israel alliance. Rahm Emanuel, the Jewish chief of staff for former President Barack Obama\u2019s administration and a former mayor of Chicago, used a speech at Tel Aviv University to argue that American support of Israel should no longer be unconditional.<\/p>\n
The reaction split sharply: Progressives welcomed his criticism; conservatives and other supporters of Israel condemned the audacity of an American lecturing Israelis on their own soil about leaders they democratically elect.<\/p>\n
Emanuel\u2019s speech comes as extremists in the Democratic and Republican parties are increasingly hostile toward the U.S.-Israel alliance. Too often, anti-Israel rhetoric crosses the line into anti-Jewish hatred.<\/p>\n
That line is not hard to find. Criticizing a government\u2019s policies is legitimate, and Israelis regularly disagree with their own leaders. Holding the Jewish people accountable for Israel\u2019s actions or denying the country\u2019s right to exist is not legitimate criticism. It is the world\u2019s oldest hatred in a new disguise.<\/p>\n
Political candidates call for imprisoning \u2018Zionists\u2019
Israel has become a litmus test in national, state and local elections. Some candidates are open about their real target: Jews.<\/p>\n
Texas congressional candidate Maureen Galindo<\/a> pledged to turn an immigration processing center into a \u201cprison for American Zionists\u201d and a \u201ccastration processing center for pedophiles, which will probably be most of the Zionists.\u201d<\/p>\n A Zionist is anyone who supports Israel\u2019s existence. Galindo won the most votes in the first round of the Democratic primary for a U.S. House seat that covers parts of San Antonio, but lost the runoff. She also claimed that Zionists are not real Jews.<\/p>\n In California, Republican gubernatorial candidate Alicia Lapp<\/a> made a similar demand. She won just 0.1% of the primary vote after calling for the deportation of \u201cevery single Zionist.\u201d<\/p>\n Members of the Democratic Socialists of America have made significant inroads into the Democratic Party, and condemning Israel is a major part of their platform. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is one of the most prominent DSA politicians in office.<\/p>\n In a 2017 rap video, he referenced \u201cMy love to the Holy Land Five,\u201d convicted by a federal jury for sending $12 million to Hamas. He also repeatedly refused to condemn the phrase \u201cGlobalize the intifada\u201d on \u201cMeet the Press\u201d last year when he was still a candidate. The intifada refers to repeated terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians, while globalizing it is a call to attack Jews around the world.<\/p>\n DSA candidates who share his views recently won Democratic primaries in long-held party strongholds from New York to Colorado. In New York, U.S. House candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier doubled down<\/a> on her attendance at a pro-Hamas rally a day after the Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.<\/p>\n The hostility is not confined to the DSA. In Michigan, progressive Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed branded Israel a \u201crogue state.\u201d<\/p>\n In Colorado, Melat Kiros ousted a 15-term incumbent in a primary race for a U.S. House seat. She called Oct. 7 \u201cinevitable.\u201d A leading state Democrat criticized Kiros<\/a> for refusing to call last summer\u2019s deadly firebombing in Boulder on a group of people rallying to release Israeli hostages in Gaza antisemitic. Newly published research finds that American liberals are more tolerant of antisemitism<\/a> when statements are framed as criticism of Israel.<\/p>\n The isolationist wing of the Republican Party is also a growing concern. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has long opposed all foreign aid, including to Israel, and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) was the lone vote cast against resolutions condemning antisemitism in 2022 and 2025.<\/p>\n Recently, Vice President JD Vance publicly warned<\/a> Israeli leaders not to criticize the now-unraveling U.S.-Iran deal or risk losing American military aid. Some on the far right align with the \u201cAmerica Only\u201d movement that blends isolationism, Christian nationalism and antisemitism.<\/p>\n Israelis constantly criticize their government<\/p>\n Israel is a vibrant democracy and many Israelis have strongly displayed their right to protest, filling the streets week after week in recent years to protest judicial overhaul; the fate of the hostages held in the Gaza Strip; and whether or not the current government should remain in power. Polls routinely show many Israelis are dissatisfied with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israeli pundits and opposition politicians challenge his decisions daily.<\/p>\n That criticism does not stop at Israel\u2019s borders. American officials across both parties, along with politicians in other countries, regularly fault specific Israeli policies\u2014anti-terrorism measures, dialogue with Palestinians, judiciary changes\u2014without treating it as an attack on Jews.<\/p>\n Many countries have agreed on where the line falls between criticism of Israel and antisemitism. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance\u2019s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism<\/a> plainly states that \u201ccriticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.\u201d The definition has been adopted by 47 countries, in addition to hundreds of governments, cities and institutions around the world.<\/p>\n Both parties push back<\/p>\n The extremists are ascendant, but they are not going unanswered\u2014and the pushback is coming from inside both parties. In New York, Democrat Rep. Ritchie Torres, a staunch defender of Israel, beat back primary challengers from the DSA\u2019s slate with 72% of the vote.<\/p>\n Democratic leaders have begun to break their silence. Rep. Adam Smith<\/a> (D-Washington), a senior House Democrat, told JNS that the far left uses \u201cthreats, harassment and intimidation\u201d to force its socialist agenda on the party. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer have pressed their colleagues to condemn antisemitism in Democratic ranks. Emanuel, whose father fought in Israel\u2019s 1948 War of Independence, has harshly criticized the Israeli government, though firmly defended the country\u2019s right to exist.<\/p>\n The political right has its own reckoning. A new organization<\/a> aligned with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was launched to confront antisemitism on the political right. Its task grew harder with the recent passing of Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Israel\u2019s most steadfast defenders in Congress. His sudden death silences a leading voice for the U.S.-Israel alliance just as the isolationist wing is gaining ground.<\/p>\n The response is real, but so is the threat. The litmus test is spreading, and each election brings new candidates willing to challenge Israel\u2019s right to exist.<\/p>\n Points to consider:<\/p>\n 1. Criticizing any government is legitimate.<\/p>\n Every democracy demands debate, and Israel is no exception. Israelis protest their own leaders in the street and online. Many Democratic and Republican politicians routinely find fault with specific Israeli policies without anyone calling it bigotry, while also making clear their strong support for the U.S.-Israel alliance and Israel\u2019s right to defend itself. Disagreeing with a government\u2019s policy decisions is normal political dispute, not hatred.<\/p>\n 2. Anti-Jewish hatred is being disguised as hatred of Israel.<\/p>\n Far-left candidates have called to imprison \u201cZionists\u201d and denied Israel\u2019s right to exist. The far right, \u201cAmerica Only\u201d fringe spreads open conspiracies about Jewish power. Both use \u201cIsrael\u201d or \u201cZionist\u201d as cover for the oldest hatred. When \u201cZionist\u201d becomes a slur for \u201cJew,\u201d the target is no longer a government; it is a people. When someone attacks Israel\u2019s policies and then reaches for slurs against Jews, the mask slips and bigotry is exposed for the world to see.<\/p>\n 3. No grievance with a government justifies dehumanizing a people.<\/p>\n No anger at any country\u2019s actions can excuse vilifying an entire people. This is as true for Israel and Jewish Americans as it is true for Palestinians and Palestinian Americans, Russia and Russian Americans, or any other group. Anyone who answers a political grievance by dehumanizing a whole people should be condemned for it without exception.<\/p>\n 4. Israel is judged by a double standard like no other nation.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s loudest critics hold it to a standard they apply nowhere else. The same activists and candidates who brand Israel a \u201crogue state\u201d say nothing of Turkey\u2019s 52-year occupation of northern Cyprus, China\u2019s mass detention of Uyghur Muslims or a war in Sudan that has killed as many as 400,000 people. A recent New York Times editorial<\/a> noted that Sudan\u2019s catastrophe draws a fraction of the attention paid to Israel. Reserving outrage for the world\u2019s one Jewish state while ignoring atrocities elsewhere is not principle but prejudice.<\/p>\n 5. More political voices are needed to counter extremists.<\/p>\n Extremists are loud, organized and increasingly willing to test candidates on Israel. Leaders in both parties have begun to answer\u2014from Democrats condemning antisemitism in their ranks to a new conservative effort against anti-Jewish hate on the right. The defeat of extremist primary candidates and the recent loss of longtime Israel ally Lindsey Graham make those voices more necessary than ever.<\/p>\n