"It's the Gaza, Stupid!": How Israel's War with Hamas Is Splitting the US Democratic Party

A sharp conflict has erupted within the US Democratic Party between its moderate and progressive wings over Israel's war in the Gaza Strip. According to the Pew Research Center, younger and more radical Democrats side with Palestine, while the older, smaller moderate wing continues to back Israel.

The Financial Times notes that Gaza has become a kind of "litmus test" for liberals — much as the Vietnam War was for their parents' generation. The paper reworked Bill Clinton campaign strategist James Carville's famous line "It's the economy, stupid!" into "It's the Gaza, stupid!"

A Split Within Congress

The rift is felt most acutely in Michigan, home to the largest Arab community in the United States. In the upcoming November Senate election, the Democrats' candidate will be progressive Abdul El-Sayed, who is calling for a complete end to US military and financial support for Israel. El-Sayed and his supporters openly describe Israel's actions in Gaza as genocide — unlike most of their fellow party members, who criticize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but shy away from that word.

The divide was clearly visible in a recent Congressional vote: 103 Democrats voted to block military aid to Israel, 98 voted against blocking it, and ten abstained. The bill ultimately passed, meaning Israel will receive $3.3 billion (nearly CZK 69.5 billion) worth of US weapons and military technology.

In the Michigan primary, El-Sayed faced off against party establishment favorite Haley Stevens, who was backed by the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, which poured $30 million into her campaign compared to just $6 million for her rival. The margin between the candidates was less than one percentage point out of more than 700,000 votes cast.

Israel Loses Favor with Americans

A recent Pew Research Center survey recorded an unprecedented shift: 60% of Americans now view Israel unfavorably, with the gap between liberals and conservatives wider than for any other country — 83% versus 37%. According to a Quinnipiac poll, 77% of Democrats believe genocide has occurred in Gaza, compared with only 20% of Republicans.

The Financial Times notes that a pro-Israel Democrat, particularly one tied to AIPAC, now has "vanishingly small odds" of becoming the party's presidential nominee in 2028 — citing Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who had previously been floated as a possible running mate for Kamala Harris, as an example.

Trump and the Threat of AI Disinformation

At a rally in Las Vegas, President Donald Trump called El-Sayed "a communist who hates Israel and the Jews," adding a string of crude insults. El-Sayed has rejected accusations of antisemitism, saying his commitment to Jewish safety is "the same as my commitment to my own daughters."

The Financial Times warns of the dangerous role played by generative artificial intelligence, which produces fake content — for instance, depicting El-Sayed as an Islamic terrorist. The paper notes that only about a fifth of American adults read print or digital newspapers, while twice as many get their news from TikTok, a platform awash in unreliable information. The split among Democrats risks deepening under the influence of social media ahead of the November congressional elections, in which the party is broadly expected to win due to Trump's unpopularity.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz