{"id":246255,"date":"2026-07-17T23:20:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T23:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/246255\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T23:20:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T23:20:35","slug":"what-region-of-pennsylvania-is-israel-located-in-fetterman-jeered-for-threat-to-quit-dems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/246255\/","title":{"rendered":"‘What Region of Pennsylvania Is Israel Located In?’: Fetterman Jeered for Threat to Quit Dems"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sen. John Fetterman<\/a> was mocked on Thursday following his threat to leave the Democratic Party<\/a> as more than 100 House Democrats<\/a> voted to cut off US military<\/a> aid to Israel over its crimes against Palestine<\/a>. <\/p>\n

On Wednesday, 103 of the 212 Democrats in the House of Representatives voted for an amendment<\/a> introduced by outgoing Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky that would have eliminated the $3.3 billion in annual foreign military financing provided to Israel\u2019s military.<\/p>\n

While the amendment ultimately did not garner enough votes to pass, the record number of Democrats willing to put an end to more than half a century of practically unconditional US support for Israel was viewed by Palestine defenders as a sign of hope\u2014and by Israel backers as a cause for alarm. Fetterman has clearly positioned himself among the latter.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy long-term concern has been with the Democratic Party, as I am a member of that, is that our party is going to back away and turn their back to Israel,\u201d he said<\/a> during an interview at the Hill Nation Summit in Washington<\/a>, DC, which he headlined along with Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump’s Centers for Medicare<\/a> and Medicaid<\/a> Services administrator.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf our party ever becomes\u2014and just makes it official\u2014the anti-Israel party, that\u2019s when I would leave because that\u2019s been a moral clarity for me,\u201d the senator vowed.<\/p>\n

Responding to Fetterman’s threat, journalist Zaid Jilani quipped<\/a> on social media<\/a>, “What region of Pennsylvania<\/a> is Israel located in?”<\/p>\n

“If he\u2019s willing to throw the entire control of the Senate to the other party over Israel, then he\u2019s dismissing the interests of his own state and constituents,” Jilani added.<\/p>\n

Fetterman said Wednesday that he \u201ccan\u2019t understand why the Democratic Party\u201d was becoming increasingly critical of Israel.<\/p>\n

In addition to Israel facing an ongoing genocide case<\/a> filed by South Africa<\/a> at the International Court of Justice<\/a> (ICJ) in The Hague over its conduct in Gaza<\/a>, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> and Yoav Gallant<\/a>, his former defense minister, are wanted by the International Criminal Court<\/a> for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes<\/a> in Gaza<\/a>, including murder<\/a> and forced starvation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fetterman joined Republicans<\/a> in slamming the ICC<\/a> move, saying,<\/a> “Fuck that” to the warrants. He also warmly embraced<\/a> Netanyahu and Israeli President Isaac Herzog<\/a>\u2014who is the subject of criminal complaints<\/a> in Switzerland<\/a> for allegedly inciting genocide<\/a> and crimes against humanity\u2014and reportedly urged in Herzog in private<\/a> to pardon Netanyahu, who is on trial<\/a> in his country for alleged bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.<\/p>\n

United Nations experts<\/a>, dozens of nations<\/a>\u2014either individually or as members of regional blocs\u2014as well as Israeli and international scholars<\/a> and human rights groups<\/a> have accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, as have more than 20<\/a> of Fetterman’s congressional colleagues. Israel’s illegal occupation, settler colonization, and apartheid<\/a> have been condemned<\/a> by the ICJ and others. Israel also faces accusations of ethnic cleansing<\/a> and de facto annexation<\/a> in the illegally occupied West Bank<\/a>, including East Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

Yet for Fetterman, the problem for Democrats is “the kinds of individuals that are winning our recent primaries<\/a>.” <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s becoming more anti-Israel and hostile” to Israel supporters, he argued on Wednesday, singling out Abdul El-Sayed, a Michigan progressive seeking the Democratic nomination for US Senate<\/a> who called<\/a> Israel a “rogue state” that is committing “genocide and apartheid,” while urging an end to “unilateral blank checks” for the key ally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf El-Sayed wins, then that puts Michigan much more in play for us and would require us to spend more money,” Fetterman said. “What\u2019s defined El-Sayed is the more anti-Israel and hostile-to-Israel thing.”<\/p>\n

In addition to his staunch support of Israel, Fetterman has been criticized for his backing<\/a> of President Donald Trump’s xenophobic immigration<\/a> policies, his willingness to vote with Republicans<\/a> on funding bills, his support for Trump nominees<\/a>, and frequent criticism<\/a> of progressive Democrats.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, The Intercept reported<\/a> that Republican megadonor Harlan Crow<\/a> “gave the maximum allowed contribution” to Fetterman’s campaign during the current election cycle. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sen. John Fetterman was mocked on Thursday following his threat to leave the Democratic Party as more than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[105379,6375,5061,4283,28,30,29,40393],"class_list":["post-246255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-abdul-el-sayed","tag-democratic-party","tag-israel","tag-john-fetterman","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-us-senate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}