POLITICO
The new politics of Israel
Charlie Mahtesian and Calder McHugh
August 12, 2025

Would you have voted to oppose sending weapons to Israel (as more than half of Senate Democrats recently did)? How do you think the next administration should handle our relationship with Israel? Do you think it’s time to recognize a Palestinian state? But Pete Buttigieg, a top 2028 Democratic presidential prospect who was queried on Pod Save America on Sunday, still dodged them. His responses, in which he discussed a two-state solution and opposition to Trump, elicited an angry and dismissive response online, in particular from progressives…These rock-bottom levels of [Israel] support explain the subtle, but increasingly noticeable, recalibrations that are taking place among Democratic candidates and elected officials. It reveals that traditional solid support for Israel is no longer politically sustainable in a restive party where the energy is on the left and among its youngest members — the two quarters where sympathy for Palestinians and support for an independent Palestinian state is highest. READ MORE

FORWARD JB Pritzker: Blocking arms sales sends Israel ‘the right kind of message’
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Sunday endorsed a Senate push to block U.S. arms sales to Israel, calling it “the right kind of message” to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the humanitarian crisis and reports of starvation in Gaza. “It’s the right kind of message, which is that Israel needs to make sure that the food assistance that ought to go to innocent Palestinians arrives there,” Pritzker said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “And they should do everything in their power to prevent the starvation that I think we’ve all seen.” A record 27 Senate Democrats — a majority of the caucus — supported the pair of resolutions introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Jewish Vermont Independent and longtime critic of U.S. aid to Israel, to block weapons transfers. 

FRONT PAGE MAG Buttigieg Endorses Arms Boycott, Terror State in Israel Buttigieg announcing that he’s for an arms embargo on Israel and he would recognize an Islamic terrorist state in Israel. That’s not surprising since the last time he ran, Buttigieg had endorsed ending aid to Israel. The media is making this seem like a big win and a pivot to build momentum for a fundamental anti-Israel shift by the Democrats. In his foreign policy address, he falsely claimed that “the Netanyahu government is turning away from peace” and warned Israel, while, referring to himself in the third person, that “President Buttigieg would take steps to ensure that American taxpayers won’t help foot the bill.”