Fetterman threads the needle after threat to leave Dems
The warning from Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) that he could leave the Democratic Party over its fading support for Israel comes with a large asterisk.
It was a threat that prompted the centrist Democrat to spend much of Thursday clarifying to reporters in the halls of the Capitol.
Roughly half of House Democrats voting to cut off U.S. aid to Israel and insurgent progressives with anti-Israel sentiments ousting incumbents are not part of his calculation. Fetterman considers the events largely “symbolic.”
“If you actually [make] it part of our platform, then that’s different,” Fetterman said. “When they just make it official. That they add that to the platform and say, ‘We will never support aid for Israel, it doesn’t deserve to exist,’ and makes it very clear.”
The party’s grappling with immense divisions over what was once ironclad support for the longtime U.S. ally has included a rise in antisemitism. But without a more unified stance, Democrats remain without an official position on continuing billions of dollars in annual military aid, let alone declaring Israel lacking the right to exist.
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