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Democratic Party leaders had a chance this week to push back against Israel’s violent expansionism and the Israel lobby’s massive political spending in the United States.

Once again, Democrats chose instead to punt the issue despite plummeting public support for Israel, both among their base and the wider U.S. public, ahead of the midterms.

At a meeting in New Orleans on April 9, members of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) voted down a symbolic resolution to limit the “growing influence” of dark money and corporate outside spending on Democratic races, particularly the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which recently pumped tens of millions of dollars into Democratic primaries in New Jersey and Illinois.

A draft of the resolution stated that “massive outside spending” by groups on candidates based on “positions regarding international conflicts or foreign governments” raises concerns about undue influence on debate and policy making, potentially “constraining elected officials’ ability to represent the views of their constituents.” The resolution specifically called out AIPAC by name.

The DNC Resolutions Committee also tabled a pair of resolutions to recognize a Palestinian state and support restrictions on aid to units in the Israeli military accused of war crimes. Those resolutions were referred to the party’s nascent Middle East Working Group, which was created last year as it became increasingly clear that public opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza cost Democrats votes in the 2024 elections.

DNC “Autopsy” Finds Kamala Harris’s Silence on Gaza Genocide Cost Her Votes

DNC members also sent to the working group a resolution calling for an end to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and pointing to potential war crimes in the suspected U.S. strike on a girls’ school in Minab that killed at least 175 people, most of them children, on February 28.

The Middle East Working Group, which includes members with diverging views on Israel, held its fourth meeting this week but has been slow to agree on an agenda. Hamid Bendaas, communications director at the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) Policy Project, said the group does not appear on track to accomplish much before voters go to the polls in November.

“The Democratic Party seems asleep at the wheel and is not responding to this very quick and very........

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