The Democratic votes on the pair of resolutions from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., were not enough to overcome universal opposition from Republicans.
Still, the votes represented a watershed moment in the party’s relationship with Israel and the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel had continued to enjoy strong support from Democratic leaders, despite outrage from the base over the war on Gaza. Sanders said the votes signaled that party leaders are finally taking note.
“This is where the American people are. The polls are very clear: The overwhelming majority of American people do not want to continue to give weapons to Netanyahu and his horrific wars in the Mideast,” he said. “I think the Democrats have caught on to that. It took a little while, but they caught on to that. But Republicans, I think, are standing in opposition to millions of their own supporters.”
The Democratic base’s shift on Israel was recent and seismic, and the leadership is lagging a bit. They will come around to the new party consensus soon, and the Democratic party will be the anti-Zionist party. They will have to in order to win elections; it is already an 80/20 issue among Democratic voters, and that 80 is only going to grow.
The GOP base is likely to remain more split on the issue for a while. Most of their youngest voters are essentially groypers at this point (whether they self-identify with that label or not). They hate Israel and Jews in general. But the larger portion of Republicans are evangelical Christian Zionists who see Israel as instrumental in their end times prophecy. Trump and GOP leadership is still catering solely to this group, and party leadership could remain locked in this mode for while.
Republicans may become even more Zionist as AIPAC funding and Zionist former Democrats flee the Democratic party to join the other side. Another political realignment in a decade of political realignments.