Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), a co-chair of the House Antisemitism Task Force, warned on Tuesday that anti-Israel sentiment has moved from the political fringes to a “dominant” position within the Democratic Party and warned the same could happen to his own party.

“My colleagues across the aisle on the Democrat side, what I see right now is a very anti-Israel dominance on the Democrat side and that scares me because it used to be bipartisan,” Bacon said. “I got a lot of friends on the Democrat side that are pro-Israel, but right now the anti-Israel tone is dominant.”

“I see it in my primary back in Nebraska right now, where there’s two Democrats vying for the nomination and one is attacking the other for being pro-Israel,” said Bacon, who is retiring at the end of his term. “I don’t want to let that happen on my side of the aisle, and I’ve seen it grow on our side of the aisle.”

Speaking at a packed auditorium in the U.S. Capitol for Israel Advocacy Day, an event organized by pro-Israel evangelical Christian groups and featuring a lineup of largely conservative speakers, Bacon warned that “all parties are grappling” with antisemitism. The event brought more than 300 rabbis and pastors to Capitol Hill to lobby lawmakers on support for Israel, combating antisemitism and supporting protections for Jewish and faith-based communities.

Bacon, who has also served on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, noted that this sentiment is being fueled by social media misinformation, including claims that lawmakers support Israel for financial rather than moral reasons — a narrative he dismissed by citing the “win-win” nature of the partnership, particularly in military intelligence and technology like the F-35 fighter jet program.

“There’s a lot of misinformation out there,” Bacon said. “I see all the time on social media that ‘Israel is paying me to do this.’ No, these are U.S. citizens who love Israel and who hate antisemitism. And it’s important for us to know that U.S. citizens are doing this.” 

“We are blessed. I mean, we provided a lot of these weapons to Israel and they make them better. A lot of our missiles they [Israelis] perfect it. They tell us on the F-35 it can be used better, because they have been using them in combat a lot longer than we have been,” Bacon continued. “We gain intelligence from Israel. It’s also a win-win when it comes to economics. We both gain from this relationship. And so I think it’s important to tell that to our neighbors in our circles and defend it. I do not retreat from it at all.” 

Also speaking at the event, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter, similarly noted the growing threat of antisemitism. “Antisemitism has tested America,” he said, acknowledging that it has “exposed the degree to which America’s institutions, notably higher learning institutions, have been poisoned by radical ideas.” 

“The Muslim Brotherhood has strategically manipulated language to deceive the West by redefining Zionism as the epitome of evil, and by disconnecting the Holy Land from scripture. This radical Islamic group attempts to drive a wedge between us — Jews and Christians — and erode Western civilization,” Leiter said. “Across [college] campuses, spineless administrators sign multi-million dollar contracts with Qatar, which exports this Muslim Brotherhood ideology.” 

Leiter also said that antisemitism has been promoted by extremist podcasters, without specifying individuals in particular. 

“Libels of genocide and starvation proliferate, and then antisemitism spreads like contagion and it kills in the name of goodness and liberation,” said Leiter. “This fiction about Jews as foreign occupiers extends to others. Particular podcasters have pontificated that the people of the Bible are not the people of the modern State of Israel today.” 

Far-right podcaster Tucker Carlson made that argument in a heated interview with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee in February, drawing condemnation from Huckabee and others.

“Zionism is moral and just, and we must start carrying ourselves like it, unapologetically, unequivocally,” Leiter continued. “We shouldn’t have to thank people for acknowledging the right of Israel to defend herself or the right of Israel to exist.”

“Claims that Jews are not indigenous to the land [of Israel] is what legitimizes” Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, he said. 

Beyond the ideological battle in the West, the ambassador framed the current conflict in Iran as a pivotal struggle for the future of the region, emphasizing that it is a fight for “moderation.” 

“A healthy battle within Islam has taken place between those who seek to accept Judeo-Christian civilization and those who continue to seek to reject it and eradicate it. The war against Iran is part of a broader struggle for moderation in the Middle East and the Muslim world, and I can tell you with confidence it is happening,” Leiter said.