Democrats are united against Israeli ‘regime,’ says Gavin Newsom

California’s governor blasts Netanyahu government and AIPAC, saying Democrats are “overwhelmingly opposed” to Israel’s leadership.

By World Israel News Staff

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has become overwhelming within the Democratic Party, arguing that criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza and Judea and Samaria is no longer a major point of division among Democrats.

“I think it’s overwhelmingly opposed to the current regime in Israel,” Newsom said in an interview with PBS’s Amna Nawaz released this week.

He added that “the condemnation of what Bibi Netanyahu’s doing is almost universal.”

Newsom, widely considered a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2028, rejected Nawaz’s suggestion that Israel remains a deeply divisive issue within the party.

He pointed to opposition to settlement expansion and Israel’s rejection of Palestinian statehood.

“We want a democratic and secure Israel, and we want a secure, democratic Palestinian state as well, right next door,” Newsom said.

The governor also described Israel’s conduct in Gaza as a “moral catastrophe,” while stopping short of personally accusing Israel of genocide.

“I think universally, everyone agrees, even if you don’t think it’s genocide, that it’s been a moral catastrophe how things have been conducted,” he said.

Newsom added that “the vast majority of us also agree about the atrocities on October 7 and how horrific and unacceptable that was and the terrorism that was perpetrated by Hamas.”

His comments mark some of his strongest criticism yet of Israel and come as Democratic voters and politicians have grown markedly more critical of Israel since the war that followed Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack.

A July AP-NORC survey found that 58% of Democrats believe the US is too supportive of Israel, up from 45% in early 2024.

Fifty-two percent of Democrats said they believe Israel’s military actions in Gaza constitute genocide, while 62% said Washington was not providing Palestinians enough support.

Newsom also said attitudes toward the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, one of Washington’s most influential pro-Israel organizations, have shifted substantially inside his party.

“It’s a minority of Democrats that are accepting AIPAC,” Newsom said. “The vast majority of Democrats I talk to, even Democrats in the past that have in the past have taken AIPAC money, are pledging not to now.”

“That’s more of a mainstream position, interestingly, within the Democratic Party,” he added.

Newsom said earlier this year that he has never accepted AIPAC money and would not do so in the future.