As Maine Democrats jump at the chance to replace Graham Platner on the ballot against Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), one of the issues where candidates are staking their claim early is U.S. foreign policy — and Israel and Gaza in particular. 

Jordan Wood, a former chief of staff to Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA), shared his views on the U.S.-Israel relationship with Jewish Insider on Thursday. He entered the race after placing third in last month’s congressional primary to replace retiring Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME). 

He told JI that he considers Israel “our strongest ally in the Middle East” but that its government must be reined in. 

“The United States should absolutely have a cooperative relationship with Israel, and I want that relationship to work. But a real partnership is not a blank check,” said Wood. “It comes with honesty and accountability. The United States has enormous leverage with the Israeli government, and we’ve been refusing to use it.” He pledged to “push America to actually use that leverage to stop the genocide in Gaza.”

Wood spent a decade in Washington as a political staffer, with stints as a vice president at End Citizens United and executive director at a pro-democracy nonprofit. 

Shortly after announcing his campaign, he said in his first official statement that he would not accept support from AIPAC. In a post on X hours later, he said that the U.S. “can’t continue to fund Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” and that he would support the Block the Bombs Act.

Still, he told JI, he believes that “Israel is our strongest ally in the Middle East.”

“But there’s a difference between the Israeli people and the Netanyahu government, and nothing about self-defense justifies waging a war without limits,” said Wood. “Starving children and flattened hospitals don’t make Israel safer, and they don’t make America safer.” He referred to the family members of the Israelis taken hostage after Oct. 7, many of whom protested in Tel Aviv for two years, and said “they deserve leaders, in Israel and in America, with the courage to deliver the peace they’ve been asking for.” 

Wood said Hamas should have no role in governing Gaza and called for the group to disarm. “The Oct. 7 terrorist attack was a horrific crime that shocked the world’s conscience,” said Wood.

Despite his pledge to eschew any support from AIPAC, he said that AIPAC supporters are still welcome in the party, even as he said AIPAC’s “agenda is not aligned with our values.”

“Jewish Democrats, and Democrats who care deeply about Israel’s security, are part of this party and always will be,” said Wood. “What’s not welcome is AIPAC’s agenda, which demands unconditional support for the Netanyahu government’s genocide in Gaza no matter the cost in innocent lives.”