Dearborn, Michigan – Raised in a Jewish American family, Dana Kornberg was in her early 20s when she began to change into crucial of the Israeli authorities.
It was 2006, and Kornberg was touring Israel, as half of what’s referred to as a birthright journey, a practice for Jewish teenagers and younger adults.
Throughout her travels, she noticed Israeli development staff constructing a tall concrete barrier to fence in components of the occupied West Bank, a landlocked Palestinian territory. She additionally heard Israeli feedback about Palestinians that made her uncomfortable: “They have been alluded to as being harmful.”
These experiences made her involved about Israel’s remedy of Palestinians — one thing that evoked in her parallels to Jewish oppression all through historical past.
“To me, it was horrific,” mentioned Kornberg, now a 41-year-old assistant sociology professor. “What classes have we discovered from what our folks have gone via?”
Now, as Israel’s battle in Gaza continues to rage, Jewish American voters comparable to Kornberg are grappling with the US’s position within the battle — and the way it will have an effect on their voting preferences within the upcoming presidential election.
Jewish American voters have lengthy been seen as a reliably Democratic voting bloc: The Pew Analysis Heart dubbed them “among the many most constantly liberal and Democratic teams within the US inhabitants”.
Over the past presidential election cycle, eight out of 10 Jewish folks recognized as Democratic. However US coverage in the direction of Israel and the battle in Gaza has since divided Jewish People, in addition to the broader Democratic base, resulting in fears of a depressed turnout.
On one hand, President Joe Biden has continued to rally robust assist amongst Jewish voters by pledging his “rock-solid and unwavering” assist to Israel, because it leads a months-long navy marketing campaign in Gaza.
That stance, nonetheless, has provoked outcry amongst extra progressive Jewish organisations, because the demise toll within the Palestinian enclave soars previous 25,200.
Questions of rising anti-Semitism within the US have additionally mobilised Jewish advocacy teams, forward of what’s anticipated to be a tightly fought race for the White Home in November.
A January ballot from USA At present and Suffolk College confirmed slender margins separating Biden from his chief Republican rival, former President Donald Trump. Biden obtained 37 p.c assist within the ballot, in contrast with Trump’s 39.
Different surveys have proven overseas coverage to be a prime challenge for voters this yr, with a majority of People backing a ceasefire in Gaza, one thing Biden has refused to call for.
Kornberg, a member of the progressive organisation Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), is amongst these protesting Biden’s stance on the battle in Gaza, the place United Nations consultants have warned of the danger of genocide and famine.
In latest months, Kornberg has travelled from Michigan to Washington, DC, and Chicago to hitch demonstrations calling for a ceasefire. She was one among practically 100 protesters arrested in November for blocking the Israeli consulate in Chicago.
Kornberg questioned whether or not Biden would be capable of rally Jewish American voters earlier than the final election. Even the prospect of a second Trump presidency, she warned, may not be sufficient to unite the Democratic base.
“I’m simply not satisfied that the worry of Trump goes to be sufficient to get [Democratic voters] to go to the polls,” Kornberg mentioned.
She additionally criticised Biden for statements he made downplaying the Palestinian death toll and tying Jewish wellbeing worldwide to Israel.
“When Biden says issues like, ‘The one place Jews can really feel secure is Israel’, that’s a severely anti-Semitic remark as a result of lots of us heard it as if Jewish folks shouldn’t be secure on this nation,” she mentioned of the US.
However the query of how Israel is perceived — and whether or not its actions in Gaza are justified — is a matter that has break up Jewish American communities alongside generational strains.
A poll in November from the Jewish Voters Institute discovered that Biden retains robust Jewish assist general: Three-quarters of members permitted of his dealing with of Israel’s battle in Gaza.
That quantity dropped, nonetheless, when younger Jewish People have been considered in isolation.
Solely 53 p.c of Jewish voters ages 18 to 35 permitted of Biden’s stance, in contrast with 82 p.c for different voting age teams.
Nonetheless, members overwhelmingly backed Biden. An estimated 68 p.c mentioned they might vote for the Democratic incumbent, in contrast with 22 p.c for Trump and 11 p.c who have been undecided.
Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, a pro-Israel advocacy group, credited that prime degree of assist to shared values.
“Overwhelmingly, Jewish voters assist President Biden as a result of he represents the pursuits and values of the Jewish group, together with — however not restricted to — assist of Israel,” Soifer advised Al Jazeera.
She additionally named “abortion, democracy, gun security, local weather change, the financial system [and] anti-Semitism” as “key points driving the Jewish vote”.
However Soifer added that she noticed renewed get together engagement after October 7, the day the Palestinian group Hamas launched assaults on southern Israel, killing an estimated 1,200 people.
“Jewish voters self-identify as Democrats over Republicans by an almost 50-point margin. This has solely been solidified within the aftermath of October 7,” Soifer defined.
Her organisation has additionally seen an uptick in assist following the Hamas assault, she added.
Progressive and anti-Zionist Jewish American advocacy teams have likewise reported a major bump in membership following the beginning of the battle in Gaza.
“Since October 7, our following and base has doubled or extra by practically each measure,” mentioned Liv Kunins-Berkowitz of Jewish Voice for Peace.
“We now have over 1.8 million followers on our social media accounts and over 720,000 folks that JVP counts as our base. They subscribe to our e-mail checklist and repeatedly interact in JVP’s campaigns, demonstrations and workshops.”
The Jewish American inhabitants general sits at roughly 7.5 million folks, or about 2.4 p.c of the full variety of folks within the US.
And whereas the US Congress is overwhelmingly composed of politicians who determine as Christian, Jewish leaders make up nearly all of non-Christian officers. They maintain 33 elected positions in Congress, for a complete of six p.c of the obtainable seats.
A few of these officers, together with Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer, appeared at a March for Israel on November 14. Tens of hundreds of individuals gathered in Washington, DC, for that march, throughout which chants of “no ceasefire” have been heard.
“Even in its darkest days, the US has all the time stood with Israel, and we’ll do every thing to see that that by no means, ever adjustments,” Schumer mentioned, punctuating his phrases with raised fists as the group cheered.
However even among the many Jewish illustration in Congress, there are schisms over the extent to which the US ought to assist Israel’s far-right authorities.
Schumer’s colleague, Senator Bernie Sanders, not too long ago referred to as the battle in Gaza “wholesale destruction in an nearly unprecedented method”.
In January, Sanders criticised the Israeli authorities for performing “in a deeply reckless and immoral method”, although he stopped in need of calling for a ceasefire, a point of contention together with his progressive base.
He as an alternative proposed a decision that will push the US State Division to disclose whether or not US help has been utilized in human rights abuses in Gaza. That proposal, nonetheless, was defeated final week within the Senate.
However opposing Israel can include political prices. Current years have seen main pro-Israel teams, such because the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Democratic Majority for Israel, spend file sums of cash towards Democratic candidates who haven’t overtly expressed assist for Israel.
In 2022, for instance, AIPAC and Democratic Majority for Israel spent greater than $6m — an unprecedented quantity — on an assault advert marketing campaign towards Donna Edwards, a progressive candidate for the US Home of Representatives.
Edwards, who beforehand served within the Home from 2008 to 2017, in the end misplaced her race.
Kornberg, the sociology professor, fears that progressive Jewish voices like hers could go largely unheard within the upcoming election.
“There’s a stonewalling that’s taking place by Democrats the place their constituents overwhelmingly, unprecedentedly need a ceasefire [in Gaza], they usually’re simply not listening,” she mentioned.
“Why are we going to vote for those that don’t signify us?”
