Anti-Semites Are Taking Over the Left. Part 1. A Report from America.

By Markus Somm

The Facts: In New York and New Jersey, “anti-Zionists” are winning the Democratic primaries.

Why this is important: The new Left is anti-Semitic. Not all of them, but more and more. Where does this come from?

It was a remarkable and distressing event that took place recently in America:

• In the primaries for the upcoming U.S. congressional midterm elections, Democratic candidates who oppose Israel —and who, in particular, view the war in Gaza as genocide committed by Israelis against Palestinians—emerged victorious.

• Most of these candidates are on the far left and describe themselves as “democratic socialists”; they are often also members of the official DSA (Democratic Socialists of America), an organization that is effectively far-left within the Democratic Party.

Similarly, polls show that most Democrats (registered members and independents who lean left) have turned away from Israel.

• According to a Pew Research survey, 69 percent of Democrats have a negative opinion of Israel (March 2025).

• 77 percent of Democrats are particularly critical of the Israeli government, while only 18 percent expressed a positive view.

• Another survey (Gallup, February 2025) revealed that only 33 percent of Democrats still view Israel favorably, while about 60 percent spoke disparagingly of Israel (the rest had no opinion).

This is remarkable and disheartening for two reasons:

1. Since the founding of Israel in 1948, there has been a consensus among the two major parties in the United States: Israel has been supported through thick and thin.

That has changed today : Unlike the Democrats, who have recently become skeptical of the Jewish state, the Republicans remain loyal.

• According to the same Gallup survey, 83 percent of Republicans have a positive view of Israel.

• and only 13 percent view Israel critically (4 percent have no opinion.)

In other words, the polarization that is sweeping across America has now reached the issue of Israel. One party rejects the Jewish state, while the other idolizes it. This is bad news not only for the only democracy in the Middle East, but also for the many American Jews. Especially since, for the latter in particular, it amounts to a kind of expulsion from their own party—and that is the distressing aspect:

2. Ever since the legendary President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Democrats have been considered the party of choice for American Jews. Hardly any other minority has voted for the Democrats so unanimously and loyally.

Now it seems they are no longer very welcome in this party—unless they deny their own identity and reject Israel, which is an unreasonable demand for any Jew. (Just as it would be an unreasonable demand for Irish Americans if they were expected to side with the British in the Northern Ireland conflict.)

Even those who are familiar with the extraordinarily successful—indeed, happy—history of the Jews in America can only begin to fathom how heartbreaking, indeed disturbing, it must seem to the Jews that they are now, of all places, once again becoming outcasts here —the feelings of loss may well be similar to those experienced by the German Jews who were persecuted in 1933: Were they not also convinced that nowhere was better than “their” beloved Germany?

A video that recently appeared on X may illustrate just how badly things have gotten for Jews in the U.S.

Scott Wiener, a left-wing, gay state senator in California who has been a particularly strong advocate for all kinds of issues facing the LGBTQ+ community, experiences his own personal Sodom and Gomorrah when he attends a queer event: He is harassed, berated, and accosted. And why? Because he is Jewish and has defended Israel.

One cannot help but feel that this scene is reminiscent of conditions in Nazi Germany.

Poor America, poor Jews.

• The richest country in the world is making itself poor.

• The best country becomes the worst.

Why is that? A topic for a future memo. In the meantime, what the Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana warned about back then has come to pass:

“Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it.”

Markus Somm is the editor of Nebelspalter.ch, where this commentary was first published.