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[quote=Anonymous]This was written by journalist Jonathan Chait, a jewish zionist who has never written the words "Gaza genocide" in the first person as if he meant it, which is basically journalistic malpractice at this point. Keep that in mind when you read the following. Loads of desperation and dismissal of the anti-zionist wing of the Democratic Party even as they're winning election after election. Zionism in America is an endangered idea.

[url=https://archive.is/20260417054512/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/04/hasan-piker-israel-democrats/686828/#selection-607.0-607.48]The Atlantic[/url]: Israel Moderates Are Losing the Democratic Party
[url]https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/04/hasan-piker-israel-democrats/686828/[/url]

Hasan Piker has attracted millions of followers across multiple social-media platforms, making him one of the most popular left-wing streamers. He has been the subject of several flattering magazine profiles that have lingered over what they describe as his handsome looks and bodybuilder physique. Some progressives see him as their long-sought entry point into alternative media that can reach a young, mainly male, audience.

But he is most important as a stand-in for a fight over whether the Democratic Party should be open to, or even dominated by, militant anti-Zionism.

A debate over American policy toward Israel is likely to divide the party in the next presidential-primary cycle even more clearly than Medicare for All divided it in 2020—even as many voters aren’t invested in the debate at all. The Democrats’ establishment opposes terrorism and backs a two-state solution; [Hasan] Piker and his allies want to cast that position as de facto support for the status quo, which is a single state controlled by Israel.

If the establishment has any hope of holding on to the party, rather than surrendering it to the Piker wing, it will need to defy that characterization by recognizing that facts on the ground have changed. Political morals and public opinion are pushing in the same direction: ending American financial support for Israel.
For decades, the Democratic Party’s consensus on Israel has combined diplomatic, military, and economic support, including several billion dollars in annual aid, and a friendly push for a two-state solution. In theory, Democrats have supported the national aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians while giving themselves room to condemn Palestinian terrorism along with the excesses of Israel’s occupation and West Bank settlement project.

At the same time, Israel’s standing with the American public has cratered. In four years, its favorability in one Pew Research Center survey plunged from 55 percent to 37 percent. The trend is reflected in other polls, and it has a steep age gradient. Young people in both parties now feel overwhelmingly negative toward it.

If moderate Democrats continue to support giving Israel (which is getting more unpopular) military aid (which is broadly unpopular), they will sentence themselves to obsolescence.

The most essential task for liberal Zionists is to separate their ambitions from the stubborn realities of Israel’s government. Liberal Zionists can say that they oppose the status quo and favor two independent states, but as Israel’s willingness to trade land for peace recedes further into historical memory, those pleas sound detached from reality. The traditional Democratic posture is becoming outright impossible as long as the party continues to support sending billions of dollars to Israel every year.

The winning alternative to embracing uncompromising Palestinian nationalism will not be reviving the American partnership with Netanyahu, or one of his would-be successors (the most plausible of whom, Naftali Bennett, opposes any Palestinian state). It will be pulling up stakes from the Middle East and letting Israelis and Palestinians figure it out for themselves.

Israel has alienated public opinion, a shift that began even before Israel encouraged and joined in a potentially disastrous war in Iran. Instead of meeting pro-Palestine activism with defiance, the more intelligent strategy for moderate Democrats would be to sever their political liabilities and compromise with public opinion.

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