The Democrats’ Senate votes on Israel highlight a growing challenge 

With Democrats poised to take the House and possibly the Senate, a series of votes in the upper chamber offered an important window into the party’s evolving foreign policy posture. It did not portend good things, for the country, key allies or Democrats’ political fortunes. 

More than three dozen Democratic Senators backed Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) effort to block sales of bombs and bulldozers to Israel. Both resolutions failed but the number of Democrats voting in favor more than doubled compared to previous years, according to the Associated Press. 

This shift reflects a broad reality in American politics: Israel has become increasingly polarizing, especially among Democrats. In fairness, Israel has also become divisive within the GOP, which is attempting to deal with virulent anti-Israel sentiment from far-right personalities like Tucker Carlson. However, Democrats’ struggles are a league above what Republicans must deal with, as within the party, it’s turned even minimal levels of support for Israel into an issue. 

Progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) — never a friend of the Jewish State — now feel compelled to reject funding for defensive systems like Iron Dome, a reversal from her previous position of only opposing offensive weapons. And moderates like Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), who opposed similar resolutions in past years, reversed himself, voting in favor of Sanders’s efforts. 

Taken together, as the Associated Press noted, the number of Democrats lining up against Israel comes amid “a stepped-up campaign by party activists who have increasingly seen support for Israel as a litmus test.” The Democratic National Committee has even established a “Middle East Working Group” entirely focused on formulating a party-wide policy on........

© The Hill