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How Israel lost the Dems

Even moderate Democrats are abandoning their old pro-Israel consensus.

This story appeared in Today, Explained, a daily newsletter that helps you understand the most compelling news and stories of the day. Subscribe here.

During his campaign to become mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani famously vowed that he’d arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the next time he visited the Big Apple.

This week, Netanyahu essentially called his bluff. He’s expected to address the United Nations in September. And after a whole lot of hemming, and hawing, and hedging, Mamdani admitted in a video Tuesday night that he does not actually have the legal authority to arrest a foreign dignitary on US soil.

A daily, curiosity-driven guide to the big, weird, and fascinating ideas shaping the news cycle.

The retreat is not surprising to legal experts, who had long questioned how Mamdani would pull this particular promise off. In November 2024, the........

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