Israel’s nearly three-year war against Hamas in Gaza has shifted much of the national Democratic Party into a new, openly critical stance against the Jewish state.
A crop of young, progressive, anti-Israel candidates have won primaries or general elections.
This summer, a majority of the Democratic U.S. House caucus — including two members of the North Carolina delegation, Deborah Ross and Valerie Foushee —
voted to end aid to Israel.
And last month, Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan. He has called Israel a rogue state and said the country is committing genocide against Palestinians.
Against this backdrop, WFAE met with six lifelong Jewish Democrats at a coffee shop in uptown Charlotte.
Andrew Scheck moved to Charlotte this summer from Arizona. He works in cloud technology.
He’s 49.
“I’m old enough for people to call me old, young enough for people to call me young,” he said with a laugh.
Then he turned serious.
“When things go bad, and things go tough, we are the biggest scapegoat group ever,” he said. “(People say) ‘It’s gotta be their fault.’ Of course seeing dead kids bothers me. I have a soul. History repeats itself all the time. 'When things are bad, it’s their fault,' and here we are again.”
Scheck calls himself an FDR Democrat. He supports Bernie Sanders.
The conversation shifts to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat and fierce critic of Israel. Scheck likes the mayor’s focus on affordability — and says he won’t condemn him, as other Jewish voters have.
“I never talked to the man personally,” he said. “I probably don’t agree with every thought he has when it comes to Israel. But as someone who lived in New York and seen the rents out of control and seeing people priced out, seeing the price-gouging. He won on a grassroots movement of young people feeling the pain of New York City.”
Occupational therapist Lisa Konstandt of Davidson quickly interjects.
“I don’t think he’s protecting the Jews of New York City at all,” she said. “I think he’s doing a performance when it comes to that; I think he does what he’s supposed to do. So I think when he gets up there and says this isn’t antisemitism, it just has a different flavor. It’s shape-shifted, it’s political, it’s scary. That’s what I think.”
She feels alienated by today’s Democratic Party and has friends who call her conservative — something she emphatically says she is not.
But she has officially left the Democratic Party, though she’s also appalled at what she sees as anti-Israel comments from the right — from Vice President JD Vance.
She recently registered as unaffiliated.
“Yes, to check that box felt both liberating, and, you know, it’s hard,” Konstandt said. “I still think of myself as a Democrat in many ways. But I think I have a little more mix of modern liberalism and classic liberalism in my head. I have never been a one-issue voter, but this is an important issue for me. I will not say I am not a Zionist. I am a Zionist.”
Lisa Jewel’s job as the head of the state Democratic Party Jewish Caucus is to straddle that divide among Jewish voters — but also advocate for what she sees as a fairer position inside the state party toward Israel.
“I know a lot of people who are Jewish Democrats who are feeling like the other Lisa here,” she said. “(They say) ‘Hey, if you want to push me out, I may still vote for Democratic candidates (but leave the party).' We need somebody to take a leadership role both at the state level and the national level and say, ‘This is wrong.’ ”
The state Jewish caucus said this summer it was pleased that the North Carolina Democratic Party did not adopt a resolution for “Genocide Accountability.” But it said the official party platform “contains provisions that are deeply concerning to the Jewish community.” Among them: repeated use of the word "apartheid" in reference to Israel.
The caucus struggled for recognition three years ago. The state party initially declined to back the group’s bid to become an official caucus.
“I think everyone feels like we have gotten a kick in the ankle lately because suddenly there is a small section of the progressive wing of the party that is (saying) you can’t be a part of the Democratic Party anymore because you support Israel.”
But is it really a small section of the party?
Pew Research found this spring that eight in 10 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents have an unfavorable view of Israel, up from 53% in 2022.
Close to home, North Carolina’s leading Democrats — Senate candidate Roy Cooper and state Attorney General Jeff Jackson — are not critics of the Jewish state. Democratic Gov. Josh Stein is Jewish.
But Jewel is watching other races, including Michigan’s Senate race.
“I am from Michigan. I grew up going to Temple Israel, which was the temple where the terrorist put his car through the middle of the temple,” Jewel said, referring to a March terrorist attack.
El-Sayed has apologized for his comments after that attack, in which he said “hurt people hurt people,” a comment some believed minimized what happened. Republican Mike Rogers is courting Jewish voters.
Jewel said her family in Michigan are lifelong Democrats. “But they will be voting for Rogers," she said, "because their safety is on the line.”
Everyone in the group was enthusiastic about the Democratic Party’s chances this fall and in the 2028 presidential election.
While others freely expressed their concerns about the party’s attitudes toward Israel, Mecklenburg Democratic Jewish Caucus president Lewis Zwick of Mint Hill wanted none of it. During the discussion, he posed his own question.
“You ask a very interesting question that is only applied to Jews,” Zwick said. “You’re English. Harrison is English, right?”
He continued.
“But no one asks you about what’s going on in England. Brexit, or your opinion on The Troubles 30 years ago. Jews are the only ones. And that's a problem. I wouldn’t say it’s antisemitic, but you are getting real close to that border.”
He said his singular focus is getting Democrats elected in Mecklenburg County.
