On China, the Democrats are the hawks now

Democratic criticism of Trump’s wars in Iran and Israel’s assault on Gaza has been cautious, almost procedural. The party remains attached to a foreign policy doctrine that many supporters have abandoned.

The traditional autopsy report commissioned by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to identify the causes of Kamala Harris’s presidential election defeat has finally been released after months of delay. It has angered one section of the party’s leadership, who have criticised it for sidestepping the most sensitive issues, including the electoral consequences of the Biden-Harris administration’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza.

This omission attracted particular attention. Preliminary DNC analysis highlighted the political cost of President Joe Biden’s support for Binyamin Netanyahu’s government. Yet in the final version of the nearly 200-page document, neither Gaza, Israel nor the Palestinians are mentioned. In late February, Harris herself admitted that the administration in which she served as vice-president should have distanced itself from Netanyahu. An opinion poll carried out before the election in several swing states had also warned that for every voter likely to punish an American arms embargo on Israel, five others might have been won over by such a measure. Today nearly two thirds of Democratic voters say they are more sympathetic to the Palestinians than the Israelis – three times the level recorded back in 2013.

At its spring meeting the DNC nevertheless rejected several resolutions proposing that US military aid be conditioned on compliance with international law. The party’s official line remains more or less that of the Biden era: occasional strong criticism of Netanyahu’s government, but a refusal to question the foundations of the strategic partnership between the US and Israel.

This continuity reflects the habits of a political class shaped by decades of privileged relations with Israel. It also stems from the fact that since 7 October 2023 the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the principal pro-Israel lobbying organisation, has considerably increased its electoral spending and earmarked record (…)

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