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 known as a birthright journey, a convention for Jewish teenagers and younger adults.
Throughout her travels, she noticed Israeli development employees constructing a tall concrete barrier to fence in components of the occupied West Financial institution, a landlocked Palestinian territory. She additionally heard Israeli feedback about Palestinians that made her uncomfortable: “They were alluded to as being dangerous.”
These experiences made her involved about Israel’s therapy 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 lessons have we learned from what our people have gone through?”
Now, as Israel’s warfare in Gaza continues to rage, Jewish American voters resembling Kornberg are grappling with the US’s function 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 most consistently liberal and Democratic groups in the US population”.
Over the past presidential election cycle, eight out of 10 Jewish folks recognized as Democratic. However US coverage in direction of Israel and the warfare in Gaza has since divided Jewish Individuals, in addition to the broader Democratic base, resulting in fears of a depressed turnout.
On one hand, President Joe Biden has continued to rally sturdy assist amongst Jewish voters by pledging his “rock-solid and unwavering” assist to Israel, because it leads a months-long army 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 slim margins separating Biden from his chief Republican rival, former President Donald Trump. Biden acquired 37 p.c assist within the ballot, in contrast with Trump’s 39.
Different surveys have proven international coverage to be a high concern for voters this yr, with a majority of Individuals backing a ceasefire in Gaza, one thing Biden has refused to name for.
Kornberg, a member of the progressive organisation Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), is amongst these protesting Biden’s stance on the warfare in Gaza, the place United Nations consultants have warned of the chance of genocide and famine.
In latest months, Kornberg has travelled from Michigan to Washington, DC, and Chicago to affix demonstrations calling for a ceasefire. She was certainly one of 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, won’t be sufficient to unite the Democratic base.
“I’m just not convinced that the fear of Trump is going to be enough to get [Democratic voters] to go to the polls,” Kornberg mentioned.
She additionally criticised Biden for statements he made downplaying the Palestinian demise toll and tying Jewish wellbeing worldwide to Israel.
“When Biden says things like, ‘The only place Jews can feel safe is Israel’, that’s a severely anti-Semitic comment because a lot of us heard it as if Jewish people shouldn’t be safe in this country,” 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 traces.
A ballot in November from the Jewish Citizens Institute discovered that Biden retains sturdy Jewish assist general: Three-quarters of members accepted of his dealing with of Israel’s warfare in Gaza.
That quantity dropped, nonetheless, when younger Jewish Individuals had been seen in isolation.
Solely 53 p.c of Jewish voters ages 18 to 35 accepted 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 had been undecided.
Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, a pro-Israel advocacy group, credited that top stage of assist to shared values.
“Overwhelmingly, Jewish voters support President Biden because he represents the interests and values of the Jewish community, including — but not limited to — support of Israel,” Soifer informed Al Jazeera.
She additionally named “abortion, democracy, gun safety, climate change, the economy [and] anti-Semitism” as “key issues 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 folks.
“Jewish voters self-identify as Democrats over Republicans by a nearly 50-point margin. This has only been solidified in 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 warfare in Gaza.
“Since October 7, our following and base has doubled or more by nearly every 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 people that JVP counts as our base. They subscribe to our email list and regularly engage 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 overall 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 1000’s of individuals gathered in Washington, DC, for that march, throughout which chants of “no ceasefire” had been heard.
“Even in its darkest days, the United States has always stood with Israel, and we will do everything to see that that never, ever changes,” 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, just lately known as the warfare in Gaza “wholesale destruction in an almost unprecedented manner”.
In January, Sanders criticised the Israeli authorities for appearing “in a deeply reckless and immoral way”, although he stopped wanting calling for a ceasefire, a degree of rivalry along 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. Latest years have seen main pro-Israel teams, such because the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Democratic Majority for Israel, spend report sums of cash in opposition to Democratic candidates who haven’t brazenly 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 in opposition to Donna Edwards, a progressive candidate for the US Home of Representatives.
Edwards, who beforehand served within the Home from 2008 to 2017, finally misplaced her race.
Kornberg, the sociology professor, fears that progressive Jewish voices like hers might go largely unheard within the upcoming election.
“There’s a stonewalling that’s happening by Democrats where their constituents overwhelmingly, unprecedentedly want a ceasefire [in Gaza], and they’re just not listening,” she mentioned.
“Why are we going to vote for people that don’t represent us?”