After Mamdani and Gaza, are Democrats turning against Israel?

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) on July 2. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

By Jacob Kornbluh July 28, 2025

Statements published over the weekend by New York elected officials mark a tonal shift in how Democrats are addressing Israel and the conflict in Gaza, with Israel’s allies sharpening their criticism of the country.

Democrats who once avoided public criticism of Israeli policy may now feel compelled to speak out amid the worsening starvation crisis. Another factor may be the political upset by Zohran Mamdani, a strident critic of Israel, in the New York City mayoral race.

Rep. Ritchie Torres, one of Israel’s most outspoken allies in Congress, called for an end to the war and said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership was causing “irreparable damage” to the U.S.-Israel relationship. New York Attorney General Tish James led a letter signed by dozens of state and city lawmakers that blasted Israel’s military strategy and called for “sustained, unrestricted humanitarian aid” to enter Gaza.

The images coming out of Gaza, along with the growing outspokenness of the Democratic electorate on the issue in a longtime pro-Israel stronghold, make it harder for politicians “to continue to embrace Israel without any criticism or distance,” said Abe Foxman, the former longtime head of the Anti-Defamation League.

Polls show that Democratic voters are increasingly sympathetic to Palestinians. In a recent Quinnipiac survey, just 12% of Democrats sympathize more with Israelis in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Last month, 56% of voters in the Democratic mayoral primary picked Mamdani, a democratic socialist with a history of activism against Israel, as their nominee. Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor and Mamdani’s chief rival, suggested that for many younger and progressive voters, Mamdani’s criticism of Israel may have been an asset rather than a vulnerability.

Halie Soifer, the chief executive of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, rejected the idea of a watershed moment in the Democratic Party’s stance on Israel. “Democrats continue to support the vital security relationship between our two countries, including U.S. military assistance,” she said.

What has changed, Soifer said, is the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza that has many concerned. “Supporters and friends of Israel, just like the majority of Jewish American voters, can hold two truths at once: we are both deeply invested in Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state and critical of some policies of the current Israeli government,” she said.

Phylisa Wisdom, the executive director of the progressive New York Jewish Agenda, said some liberal Jewish organizations have made it safe for non-Jewish elected officials to support Israel while being critical of its government.

Wisdom’s organization, along with J Street and other progressive Jewish groups, is organizing a protest outside the Israeli Consulate in Manhattan on Monday evening to decry the humanitarian situation in Gaza and Israel’s conduct of the war. Rep. Jerry Nadler, co-chair of the congressional Jewish Caucus, and State Senator Liz Krueger are scheduled to address the crowd.

Politicians like Torres and James, Wisdom said, “can’t be scared into thinking” that support for Israel means they must be uncritical of the Israeli government.

“Many Jews are demonstrating that support for Israel means wanting it to live up to its founding values, wanting it to be a thriving democracy, wanting it to live in peace with its neighbors, and wanting it not to be part of starving a civilian population,” she said. “All of that is totally compatible with being supportive of Israel.”

Others see the shift in rhetoric as a sign of the times, which require a more principled approach.

Amy Spitalnick, the CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said the war coupled with the rise of antisemitism since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel has created the space for a complex and principled critique of Israeli policy.

“It has far less to do with domestic politics in the United States than with the geopolitical landscape and the urgency of responding to that in a way that remains true to core values, which includes Israel’s security and a commitment to the dignity and rights of all people,” she said.

Is Israel no longer a litmus test for electability?

Torres is a progressive Democrat who has, since his election to Congress in 2020, been a vocal defender of Israel and endorsed Cuomo in the mayoral primary. He addressed criticism of Israel among Democrats on “Sunday Night With Chuck Todd” on Noosphere.

He blamed it on Netanyahu, whose public rift with former President Barack Obama over the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran caused “irreparable” damage to Israel’s relationship with the Democratic Party.

“When you inject yourself into partisan politics and put your thumb on the scale in favor of one political party, that sets a dangerous precedent,” Torres said. “And I believe that the consequences of that political geopolitical calculation continue to reverberate till this day.”

Ronn Torossian, a public relations executive and philanthropist, who bundled hundreds of thousands for Torres after Oct. 7, said he no longer supports the congressman over his recent statements.

“Sadly, Ritchie Torres no longer stands with the State of Israel,” he said. “It’s clear that he’s very concerned about his future in the Democratic Party.” Torres recently returned personal contributions from Torossian and entrepreneur Michael Sinensky, following a report about their ties to Trump and the Likud party in Israel.

“Sadly, it’s clear that whether it is changing times or political expediency, his love for the Jewish people is limited to a love of a left-wing Jewish government,” Torossian said.

Some commentators described Mamdani’s election last month as a broader political realignment which has led to concern among some Democrats about it opening the door to strident criticism of Israel. Where criticism was seen as a political risk, it is now becoming part of the party’s mainstream discourse.

National Jewish Democrats, like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel — both considered as possible presidential candidates in 2028 — criticized Mamdani for dodging calls from Democratic colleagues and Jewish organizations to condemn the use of the “globalize the intifada” slogan.

Foxman cautioned against reading too much into Mamdani’s win. “It’s not the Mamdani effect per se as a political force,” he said. “He has not yet been tested beyond the primary. But the events in Gaza help his narrative.”

Sara Forman, the executive director of the New York Solidarity Network, said the pro-Israel community supports criticism of Israel’s government as part of a healthy democracy. She said she sees no indication of a change in the party’s pro-Israel stance. “The majority of the elected officials who are speaking out now are really doing so because they want to see an end to the war, and they want to see a return of the hostages,” Forman said. “That’s what’s driving this more than anything else.”

David Greenfield, the CEO of the Met Council and a former New York City council member critical of Mamdani, said the rise of the Democratic Socialists of America in the deep blue New York has caused some pro-Israel Democrats to hedge to avoid DSA challengers. Nonetheless, he said that war fatigue and Netanyahu’s failure to convince the international community that he intends to ease the humanitarian situation “eroded goodwill even among longtime political allies.”