Warnings signs for Biden’s Jewish support as war in Gaza drags on and antisemitism rises

Alarm is rising in Democratic circles that the turmoil set off by the October 7 attack by Hamas and Israel’s bloody war launched in response is becoming yet another weight on President Joe Biden’s reelection, with warning signs flashing over Jewish voters’ support for the president.

Alarm is rising in Democratic circles that the turmoil set off by the October 7 attack by Hamas and Israel’s bloody war launched in response is becoming yet another weight on President Joe Biden’s reelection, with warning signs flashing over Jewish voters’ support for the president. For all the attention over how the Israel-Hamas war has endangered Biden’s standing with Arab-Americans and progressives who have taken up the cause of Palestinians in key states, Jewish Americans – who make up enough of the population to be determinative in tight battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin and Arizona – have been scrambled too. While the Biden campaign has been hosting a regular “Jewish Women for Joe” Zoom call and will soon hire a faith engagement director who will have Jewish voters as a major portfolio, several Jewish leaders complained privately to CNN that they have not seen enough direct engagement. Multiple Jewish elected Democrats and Democratic voters told CNN about being disappointed and abandoned by progressive allies, of feeling “politically homeless” both because they think Biden hasn’t done enough and because they worry he can’t control his own left. Some of that outreach is being filled in by government work: Vice President Kamala Harris hosted a screening at the White House of a film about Hamas’s use of sexual violence, and on Sunday, second gentleman Doug Emhoff will be part of a groundbreaking ceremony for a new building at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, site of the 2018 hate crime shooting. Still, conversations about a possible drift toward Donald Trump, though, are evident in the several Jewish elected Democratic leaders who grimaced and ducked when asked by CNN to discuss their sense of Jewish support for Biden. Those worries are also evident in the email that megadonor Haim Saban sent to Biden advisers complaining about the president’s shift on restricting some of the munitions provided to Israel. Talking with Jewish voters in Michigan, “I’ve had a couple of people say point blank, ‘How could any Jew vote for a Democrat?’” said Troy Zukowski, the West Michigan chair of the Michigan Jewish Democrats. “I’m not so concerned about Jews who may vote for Trump. I’m more concerned about those who may vote for third party spoiler candidates or not vote at all.”