By Bruce S. Ticker
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — Let us hope that U.S. Sen. Andy Kim and his fellow Democrats can take a hint. They must come to grips with the potential loss of Jewish voters who are anxious about the party’s approach to Israel and antisemitism.
New Jersey’s junior senator stepped in it last week when he hosted a town hall meeting at Cherry Hill East High School, Kim’s alma mater which is located in one of the most heavily Jewish communities in the country.
One man heckled him for a half-hour and yelled in defense of President Trump while wearing a shirt with an expletive before “Hamas,” according to an account in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Judging by social media posts, Kim and 12 other Democratic senators antagonized many Jews earlier in April by voting to block military aid for Israel, though they failed. Many Jews automatically tag these members of Congress as antisemitic, though it is not that simple.
Close to a half-million Jews make New Jersey their home, and a large Muslim and Arab population has evolved in recent years.
Jews have been loyal supporters of Democrats for a long time. Their backing of Democratic nominees for president has ranged from 67 to 82 percent in past elections, until last November. Trump peeled off another 4 percent of Jewish votes then.
The Jewish vote can only decide elections in narrow contests, and Jews certainly contributed in some states in 2024, notably Pennsylvania and Florida. Trump won Bucks County, a Philadelphia suburb comprised of an estimated 55,000 Jews, by a fraction of a percentage point. Fellow Republican Sen. Dave McCormick also took Bucks as he ousted three-term Democratic Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. statewide. Who could vote against subdued, boy-next-door type straight-shooter Bob Casey, or anyone from the prominent Casey family?
Election results in New Jersey have narrowed in recent years, though Democrats held onto the state’s two Senate seats, the governor’s office, three-fourths of the 12 U.S. House seats and the state legislature.
Not only Democrats but also the Jewish community need to worry about this slow but steady drift from the party. Unless a viable third party emerges, Jews – and everyone else, for that matter – can only choose between the two parties. Roughly three-quarters of Jewish voters found comfort with the Democrats because they tackled climate change, kept Ukraine’s back, tried to stem gun violence, improved health coverage and sought to make housing more affordable, while simultaneously supporting Israel and ensuring safe conditions for Jews.
Many Jews have come to distrust Democrats to maintain the latter policies. The party has been forced to answer to voters who advocate for the Palestinians. In fact, many of these activists would vote neither for Trump nor Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024, which probably gave the Trump the edge.
The Inquirer reported minimal pro-Israel advocacy at Kim’s town hall meeting, but anger with Democrats is widespread. The man cited in the article sounded like he was born a Republican, but many Jews who voted for GOP candidates were likely on the fence beforehand.
“I don’t want you to read into my actions as saying that there is an easy solution to what is happening,” Kim told the crowd. He added that while a two-state solution is for now “far…from reality,” that “doesn’t and should not stop us from trying to pursue” lasting peace, according to the Inquirer.
Kim’s vote to obstruct military aid is not a realistic formula to win Jewish friends and influence the people of the book. Critics of Israel accuse its leaders of using American arms to kill thousands of Palestinians in Gaza.
The senator told the Cherry Hill crowd that the “resumption of violence” spurs Hamas’ ability to regroup and that “there is no purely military-only solution” to completely eliminate Hamas. This suggests he may not recognize that Hamas is going to regroup whether or not Israel attacks Gaza. Their goal is to destroy Israel. It always has been and they will never give it up.
The solution may not be a “purely military-solution,” but Hamas’ policy to wipe out Israel compels heavy use of the military. To put it gently, anyone who expects Hamas to rely on diplomacy is highly optimistic. Others would call it naïve or worse.
Israel’s military response is a legitimate concern. It is hard to understand the Israeli military’s thinking behind the scale of its assaults on Gaza.
Kim also has political cover that Israel itself provides. The government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has damaged its credibility. Aside from the Gaza conflict, Netanyahu’s government plans to annex the West Bank, the prime minister is on trial for corruption, he antagonized Israelis by trying to remake the judiciary to his advantage and is accused of ignoring violence committed by so-called settlers against Palestinian villagers. How can anyone take the current Israeli government seriously?
Yet the entire pro-Palestinian movement is one-sided. Rarely do they mention Hamas’ invasion when terrorists murdered 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023, or the Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza. Nor does anyone talk about ending Hamas’ access to arms. For that reason alone, the arms should keep flowing to Israel.
Democrats have one mighty advantage – the spectacle of Trump’s heavy handed acts that can ruin this country. Disgust with Trump could be sufficient for the Democratic Party to return to power by 2028. That is for the short term.
As long as hostility persists here against Israel before or after 2028, American Jews cannot trust Democrats to be evenhanded with Israel or protect us from antisemitism. They might be able to retrieve Jewish voters by simultaneously reaching out to pro-Palestinian activists and easing their anxiety over legitimate concerns. They can also demand public explanations from Israel whenever it takes actions that raise serious questions.
If Israelis return to a more moderate government, Democrats will have a reasonable administration to ally themselves with, which by itself could quell concerns for a large portion of advocates for the Palestinians.
None of these steps can hurt to draw Jewish voters back to the Democratic Party, so Democrats have their work cut out for them.
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Bruce S. Ticker is a Philadelphia-based columnist.