AUSTIN, Texas — The Democratic Party’s deep fractures over the Israel-Hamas conflict spilled into the open at its interfaith gathering Friday as Jewish and Palestinian American members squared off over charged phrases like “from the river to the sea” and the word “genocide.”
The heated debate exposed a fault line that threatens to splinter a coalition Democrats desperately need heading into November.
The DNC’s interfaith council hosted the small gathering, which included Democratic officials and speakers from Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths who called on Democrats to put aside their personal religious disagreements and come together as one political force to win in the midterms.
But Jewish attendees at the meeting took issue with language that some Muslim Democrats use to describe their stance against Israel.
Amy DeLoach, the first vice chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party’s Jewish Caucus, told the group that Israel is as important to her as her “next breath.”
“It is fundamental to who I am. … But when I hear ’Free Palestine’ or ’I stand with Palestine,’ what I’m hearing is ’I’m against Israel,’” she said. “That’s what I hear. And I agree with you. I don’t think that’s necessarily what is meant. But as a Zionist, that’s what we hear.”
“So I want that to be heard. I want you to understand how that feels,” she said. “When I hear ’From the river to the sea,’ that means the annihilation of Israel. I don’t think that necessarily that’s what everybody who says that means. But I want you to hear that that’s how a lot of us, what we hear and how painful that is for us.”
Ms. DeLoach said she does not agree with “anything” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is doing, just like “I don’t agree with what Trump is doing.”
“But I don’t hate America any more than I hate Israel, because I am a proud American and I spend my entire day fighting to get rid of Trump,” she said. “And I think it’s as important for us to get rid of Netanyahu. But I strongly believe in Israel and its right to survive and it’s right to exist.”
“I want you to hear how painful it is for me when everybody is just talking about how horrible Israel is. It is my homeland,” Ms. DeLoach added.
Mirvette Judeh, chair of the DNC’s Arab American Caucus and co-chair of California Democrats for Justice in Palestine, used the word “genocide” to describe Israeli military actions in Gaza — acknowledging directly that the term is “offensive to some of my Jewish community members.”
Ms. Judeh stated that Palestinians “don’t have a voice” within the Democratic Party and described being “intentionally blocked” from advocacy efforts, including pushing for more than 40 ceasefire resolutions throughout California.
“My family is Palestinian,” she said. “My family’s land and homes are being destroyed as we speak. … I have been fighting for justice for my family and for Palestinians and all causes. All of that stems from me watching my cousins as 4-year-olds being taken in the middle of the night and imprisoned because Israel can.”
She said, “I call upon my Jewish fellow Democrats and those that are for Israel that are watching, if I tell you what is happening to my family, this is not like a past story and pretending hearsay is horrific and that we need to stop that.” “That doesn’t help humanity, and that does not help our party to keep dismissing that and shoving it up and putting it on a task force that has not passed anything in the past two years,” she said.
Sam Crumpleton, Nevada DNC committee woman and vice chair of her state committee’s Jewish Caucus, responded, “I want to say what’s happening is horrific. No one is advocating for it. And we’re hearing. You have your voice. You hear today. As a Jew, I don’t want you to tell me what is and isn’t anti-Semitic.”
Ms. Crumpleton described facing anti-Semitism since she was 14 years old and having a cousin, Hirch, who was kidnapped from Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and held hostage for a year before he was killed.
“So there, there are cousins, there are family, there are people hurting on both sides, OK? So I just ask everyone to, to please be considerate when you’re having those conversations,” she said.
“And at the end of the day, our goal is to elect Democrats. But there is hate, there is antisemitism, there is Islamophobia. There are all of those things within the party. And I think we all need to hear each other,” she said.
The DNC did not address any resolution on its Middle East policy, which has been a flash point, with the socialist wing demanding the party break its longtime support for Israel and back cutting off U.S. aid to the Jewish state.
On Thursday, the DNC opted to quietly press forward with a plan to deliver a formal report to party leadership by this winter about its stand in the Israel-Palestinian conflict and other Middle East issues. It was a low-key acknowledgment that the party remains deeply fractured over Israel.
The Working Group’s existence stems directly from resolutions referred from the committee’s previous meeting, signaling that rank-and-file DNC members have been pushing for formal action on the issue.
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