Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), speaking to a gathering of Jewish activists on Capitol Hill, highlighted concerns about rising left-wing antisemitism and the ways that antisemitic narratives are being spread to and by college students.

“We’re used to the right-wing side. What is new and what I think has so many in the Jewish community on our heels is that new left-wing antisemitism and how to approach it,” Slotkin said at a pre-High Holidays security briefing organized by several Jewish communal organizations. “How do we counteract it? How do we protect against it? How do we educate?”

“And certainly, we’re watching, on many college campuses, a lot of young people who actually maybe didn’t grow up with the Jewish community at all, get to campus and maybe repeat what they’re hearing, sometimes not even understanding or knowing,” she continued. “I would just say that one of our responsibilities as Jewish leaders and Jewish activists is to try and really parse through how to deal with antisemitism on the left, since antisemitism on the right isn’t good, but it’s more of a well-known threat.”

The freshman Michigan senator, who is working to establish herself as a leader in the chamber on national security issues, recently backed efforts to stop at least some offensive weapons shipments to Israel and emphasized that she hadn’t accepted endorsements from “Jewish group[s],” naming AIPAC and J Street.

Slotkin said at the Wednesday event that she “[doesn’t] think there’s been a more complicated and dicey time to be Jews in America, period, maybe since World War II.”

Speaking in support of the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, Slotkin said that one of the “most powerful moments that I had” during her time as a member of Congress was when a mosque in her district faced threats, and she worked with the local Jewish federation and her synagogue to help the mosque apply for an NSGP grant.

An emotional Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) referenced the killing of her friend, Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, and the mass shooting at the Annunciation Church in Minneapolis as she discussed the rise of violent extremism across the country, including various incidents targeting the Jewish community.

“We have been through this each and every time, but the babies keep dying,” Klobuchar said.

Klobuchar said that in conversations with administration officials immediately after the Annunciation shooting, her top priority was pushing for increased NSGP funding, in addition to gun control measures and action to address extremism and incitement on social media platforms.

She highlighted that the Annunciation Church shooter had left a manifesto spreading hate against a range of targets including Jews, Muslims, Black people and Hispanic people, and emphasized that he and other mass shooters have been “performing for the internet.”

While she noted that data shows that political violence has been coming more from the right than the left, “I don’t want to go tit-for-tat. I care about what we’re doing now and going forward, and words matter right now for bringing America together,” Klobuchar said.

Speaking about threats to the Jewish community specifically, Klobuchar noted the rise in antisemitic hate crimes nationally, saying that “something is seriously wrong in our country.” She said that 25 Jewish facilities had received bomb threats in Minnesota in the past year.

“This has completely shattered people, kids are scared,” Klobuchar said.

Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) said, referring to a string of recent antisemitic attacks, “I don’t care what fringe it comes from. This kind of extremism, hate and violence is unacceptable and needs to be condemned. … Foreign policy debates are complicated. Condemning antisemitism is not.”

She added that, as the generation that survived and witnessed the Holocaust shrinks, “we have to decide as a country if we will let their lessons pass.”

Hassan continued, “We can’t afford inaction. We can’t afford indifference, nor should we feel the need to offer qualification or apology, to simply say that the world’s oldest hate should be denounced as loudly as any other.”

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) also delivered remarks at the event, as did Rev. Russ McDougall, a member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who was invited in part to discuss the Annunciation Church attack. Sens. James Lankford (R-OK) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) delivered video remarks.

The session also featured a panel with Jewish Federations of North America CEO Eric Fingerhut, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations CEO William Daroff, Secure Communities Network CEO Michael Masters, Orthodox Union Executive Vice President Moshe Hauer and Anti-Defamation League director of government relations Carmiel Arbit.

Fingerhut told Jewish Insider there is “a domestic terror crisis” in the country “and we need comprehensive, strong action.”

“[Members of Congress] didn’t create the COVID problem either, but they responded with a crisis-level response, and that’s the level of response we need,” Fingerhut said.

He emphasized the need not only for increased NSGP funding but stronger funding for local law enforcement, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to fight domestic terrorism. He said that resourcing and funding at those agencies for the counterterrorism mission isn’t sufficient.

“We’re in an era now of a trillion-dollar defense budget that is aimed at fighting terror and protecting America all over the world,” Fingerhut said. “We have a domestic terror crisis here, and it needs the level of attention and coordinated leadership by the federal government that we get in national defense.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) is rebuking a top mayoral candidate in Minneapolis, far-left state Sen. Omar Fateh, who has recently faced criticism for employing campaign staffers who have glorified Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks, blamed Israel for the war in Gaza and called for the destruction of the Jewish state, among other extreme comments.

In a statement to Jewish Insider on Wednesday, a spokesperson for Klobuchar, who is backing Fateh’s chief rival, Mayor Jacob Frey, said that the senator “strongly and immediately condemned the Hamas terrorist attack, and condemns any statements to the contrary.”

“These comments are outrageous and have no place in our politics,” the spokesperson, Jane Meyer, said of the staffers’ remarks, which were unearthed by JI last week. “She has spoken out against antisemitism for years. She has endorsed the mayor and did so months ago.”

Klobuchar, who along with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is the most high-profile Democratic official supporting Frey’s campaign for a third term, had until now remained silent with regard to Fateh, a 35-year-old democratic socialist whose insurgent bid has drawn comparisons to Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor.

Meyer declined a request for comment from JI last Friday but ultimately shared a statement this week after Fateh drew backlash from, among others, the local Jewish Community Relations Council, which called into question his commitment to addressing Jewish safety concerns as he tolerates staffers who “traffic in antisemitism” and act as “apologists” for Hamas.

Fateh, who pledged to boycott the JCRC in a recent candidate questionnaire solicited by the Twin Cities chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, has not yet addressed the staffers’ rhetoric, significantly more extreme than his own public stances on Israel and Gaza.

While he has accused Israel of genocide and voiced support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, Fateh’s communications manager, Ayana Smith-Kooiman, has endorsed the Hamas attacks as a justified act of “resistance” and declared that Israel “does not have a ‘right’ to exist” and “must be dismantled,” among several other now-deleted social media posts reviewed by JI.

In addition, David Gilbert-Pederson, a local political activist and City Council aide who has been listed as a Fateh campaign staffer in filings, has unreservedly praised Hamas’ violence against Israel. Speaking in December 2023, Gilbert-Pederson celebrated “what happened collectively for the people of Palestine on Oct. 7” and said supporters of the Palestinian cause must “stand in unconditional solidarity with those resisting oppression.”

Despite Klobuchar’s new condemnation of such rhetoric, most of Frey’s leading allies in the hotly contested mayoral race have so far refrained from commenting on the situation. Representatives for Walz have not responded to multiple requests for comment on the staffers or Fateh’s acceptance of their views.

Prominent Democratic officials who have not taken sides in the race have likewise declined to weigh in on the matter.

Fateh’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. 

The state senator is set to host a “Jews for Fateh” fundraiser early next month, according to an event page, which notes that attendees will learn about his “campaign’s movement to build a city that leaves no one behind.”

Watching several nationally ambitious Democrats, under pressure from the activist left, shift away from their measured support of Israel is reminiscent of watching the party’s 2020 presidential candidates rush to embrace a panoply of hard-left positions that turned politically costly in the long run. 

The biggest flip-flop under pressure came from former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who, in a recent appearance on the “Pod Save America” podcast, tried to maintain some support for the U.S.-Israel alliance while criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for being responsible for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. 

That nuanced, largely-critical-of-Israel reaction, nonetheless, drew widespread opprobrium from the loudest anti-Israel voices within the party, including the former Obama administration operatives who host the show.

Within days, Buttigieg backtracked in favor of embracing a more hostile view towards the Jewish state. He came out against re-upping another long-term agreement to secure military aid to Israel — the type of deal that former President Barack Obama last secured before leaving office in 2016. He said he would have supported anti-Israel resolutions championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to cut off some military aid to Israel. And he called for recognition of a Palestinian state, a position held by only the furthest-left Democratic lawmakers in Congress.

Buttigieg’s rapid reversal does him little good in advancing his national political interests.  As a presidential candidate whose appeal was centered in his thoughtful pragmatism, his rush to pander to the far flank of his party threatens to undermine his more-moderate brand.  

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), to a lesser extent, is feeling similar pressure from the base as he hints at an interest in presidential politics. The swing-state senator, who has been critical of his party’s far-left, came out squarely against Sanders’ anti-Israel resolutions. But as anti-Israel activists aired an ad in Iowa targeting his position (he missed the actual vote in the Senate), he responded by saying his view on Israel is “evolving.”

And it wasn’t lost on the pro-Israel community that among the 26 Senate Democrats who voted with Sanders on the anti-Israel resolution was Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), a pragmatic Democrat who nonetheless is watching the radical strains within the party grow in influence within her state. Klobuchar is also expected to consider another presidential campaign, after experiencing surprising success in her first run — running as a centrist.

Five years ago, Israel wasn’t driving the left-wing grassroots the same way it is today. Back then, the issues driving the Democratic base were calls to defund the police, protecting illegal immigrants, ending private health insurance in favor of Medicare for All and backing protections for transgender individuals. Other than then-candidate Joe Biden, few of the leading candidates could resist pandering to what looked like an ascendant social justice movement. These issues ended up becoming politically toxic for the party’s image.

In fact, former Vice President Kamala Harris’ biggest impediments as the 2024 Democratic nominee stemmed from the most out-of-the-mainstream positions she adopted in that 2020 primary campaign. 

It’s telling that Democrats who are focused on winning general elections in swing states or districts aren’t following suit with their anti-Israel rhetoric. It’s notable that the Democratic National Committee chairman is feverishly trying to head off an effort from the anti-Israel wing of the party calling for an arms embargo against Israel. 

Even the polling, which has swung against Israel as the war drags on in Gaza, is still evenly divided. By a 13-point margin, voters are still more sympathetic to Israelis than Palestinians, according to a recent Gallup survey. And in a spring survey from the Chicago Council of Global Affairs, Israel received a “50” favorability rating — one that reflects divided and more-partisan public opinion towards the Jewish state, not a total collapse in support. 

When the war ends and new Israeli elections are held in 2026 (if not earlier) with the possibility of a new prime minister, it’s not hard to imagine public opinion for Israel rebounding before the next U.S. presidential election. Indeed, racing to follow the ideological herd instead of focusing on the big political picture is the very mindset that drove so many Democrats off the political cliff in 2020 — a lesson that is being quickly forgotten in party circles.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said that she voted, for the first time, for resolutions blocking U.S. arms sales to Israel this week to send a message to the Israeli government of disapproval for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, even as she acknowledged that the vote might not make much of an impact.

“I just think it’s really important for people to speak out when they can, even if it’s on a vote that isn’t probably going to make all the difference right now. And it doesn’t mean I’m going to be hard-stop against aid for Israel in the future,” Klobuchar told Punchbowl News.

“At some point, you’ve got to seek change. And I think this is one way you can do it,” she continued. “I have supported Israel’s right to defend itself, I always will. But they aren’t changing.”

She said that she’d tried to communicate her disapproval of the humanitarian situation in Gaza to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his recent visit to Washington, D.C. but said it “didn’t work very well when I said it.”

Klobuchar said in a Senate floor speech several days before the votes that she attended the meeting with Netanyahu “for one reason: in my capacity as No. 3 in the Democratic leadership, and that was to raise the issue of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”

 “I say to my colleagues you can support the people of Israel. You can be horrified and condemn, as all of us did, the terrorist attack. But we cannot continue to allow people to starve,” Klobuchar said. “Lives are being lost on a daily basis, kids, innocents, and the government of Israel must change course.”

She said that U.S. policy must focus on returning to a ceasefire, increasing humanitarian aid, freeing the hostages and security a two-state solution.

The Minnesota Democrat, a moderate, has historically been a quiet but reliable supporter of Israel. She’s also the No. 3 Senate Democrat, seen as a potential successor to Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

Of the 11 members of Democratic leadership, seven voted for the resolutions on Wednesday.

Klobuchar is running for the No. 2 Senate Democratic leadership slot, competing against Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), a consistent supporter of prior efforts to halt weapons sales, and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), who, like Klobuchar, flipped her vote to support the Sanders resolutions after previously opposing them.

Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tina Smith (D-MN) have joined more than two dozen Senate Democrats publicly warning Israeli leaders of the implications of efforts to unilaterally annex portions of the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the government could start annexing territory as early as July 1.

In individual letters sent last month and made public over the weekend, both senators — Klobuchar addressed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Smith wrote to Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz — posited that annexation would undermine efforts to attain a two-state solution.

Twenty-eight senators have so far spoken out against the annexation proposal.

Last month, 19 Democratic senators sent a letter to Netanyahu and Gantz urging the Israeli leaders not to move forward with the effort. That letter, which was updated several times before being sent, cautioned the new Israeli government that “unilateral annexation puts both Israel’s security and democracy at risk” and “would have a clear impact on Israel’s future and our vital bilateral and bipartisan relationship.” Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Bob Casey (D-PA) sent individual communiques to Netanyahu and Gantz, similarly opposing the move, and Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) addressed the matter in individual letters to Pompeo. 

In addition, Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) issued statements against annexation, and Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) indicated to Jewish Currents that instead of signing or authoring a letter on annexation, he would “communicate directly with [Israeli] Ambassador [Ron] Dermer and Israeli officials to express his concerns.” 

On Monday, eight Senate candidates in battleground states are expected to join the list expressing their strong opposition to such a move. In statements provided to J Street and shared with Jewish Insider, the candidates — Cal Cunningham (North Carolina), Sara Gideon (Maine), Teresa Greenfield (Iowa), Al Gross (Alaska), Jaime Harrison (South Carolina), MJ Hegar (Texas), John Hickenlooper (Colorado), Amy McGrath (Kentucky) and Jon Ossoff (Georgia) — emphasized that annexation would put the future of a two-state solution at risk. 

Read their statements in full here.

Earlier this month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) warned that unilateral annexation “puts the future [of peace] at risk and undermines our national security interest and decades of bipartisan policy.” Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden also came out against annexation, saying it “will choke off any hope for peace.”

“From the presidential nominee to the speaker of the House and from the Senate to the senatorial campaign trail, Democratic leaders have now made absolutely clear that they do not and cannot support unilateral annexation in the West Bank,” J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami told JI. “For annexation to move forward in the face of this overwhelming opposition would be incredibly harmful to the future of Israelis and Palestinians and to the US-Israel relationship.”