Democratic lawmakers who have been stridently critical of Israel and its operations in Gaza offered tepid support for the ceasefire and hostage-release deal, the first phase of which was signed on Thursday, while reiterating their criticisms of Israel and the U.S.’ support for the Jewish state. Few offered any words of support for the Israeli hostages who have been held by Hamas for over two years. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who has led a series of efforts to block arms transfers to Israel, didn’t explicitly praise the deal negotiated by President Donald Trump, but said he hopes the deal would lead to the end of a “horrific war.” He made no mention of the Israeli hostages set to be released, but asserted one-tenth of the Gazan population was killed or injured during the war. 

“As of today something like 10% of the Palestinian people in Gaza have been killed or wounded, mostly women, children and the elderly. The United States has put tens of billions of dollars into an effort which has led to mass destruction,” Sanders told Jewish Insider. “So I hope — and I’m sure everybody else does — that this horrific war can end as soon as possible.”

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said on X that the ceasefire is a “hopeful step” but quickly pivoted to expressing unvarnished opposition to Israel. She also made no mention of the Israeli hostages expected to be freed from their Hamas captors.

“For the sake of humanity, let’s hope this will be a lasting and permanent ceasefire,” Omar said. “While this is a hopeful step, we must demand accountability for every war crime committed during this genocide and continue to call for an end to the occupation.”

Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL), the lead sponsor of legislation that aims to place strict conditions on critical arms sales to Israel, said on X she plans to continue to pursue that legislation.

“Immediately after October 7, I called for a ceasefire and for a path that honors our shared humanity. It is unfortunate that it took this long. However, I am hopeful that today’s ceasefire agreement will bring the hostages and prisoners home and end the bombing and starvation of the Palestinian people,” Ramirez said. “We must save Palestinian lives and pursue an end to U.S. complicity in Israel’s war crimes, atrocities, and genocide.  I will continue to work to Block the Bombs, as we pursue a future of self-determination for the Palestinian people and a just and lasting peace for all residents of the region.”

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), tamping down on enthusiasm for the deal, reposted an X post suggesting that Israel may violate the deal.

“There is certainly some hope that the Gaza deal will hold but it’s important to remember that the last ceasefire agreement collapsed in March before ever reaching phase 2 when Israel reimposed a blockade on Gaza and bombings on the strip resumed,” the post, from an NBC News correspondent, reads.

Other prominent critics, particularly on the far-left, have remained unusually mum about the deal.

Squad members Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) and Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) did not respond to requests for comment and did not comment publicly.

Some other lawmakers who have been vocally critical of Israel’s operations in Gaza offered more fulsome praise for the deal.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said in a statement that the deal is “the first hopeful moment in a long time,” noting both the release of hostages and the surge of aid into Gaza. He credited U.S. pressure on Israel, however, rather than the reported increased pressure from Qatar, Turkey and Egypt on Hamas, for the breakthrough.

“Pressure from the U.S. and others has always been necessary to reach this moment — something that could have been achieved much earlier and prevented the staggering loss of civilian life, starvation, and devastation in Gaza,” Van Hollen said. “U.S. leadership will be essential to enforce this plan and convert this moment into real progress toward lasting peace — which can only be achieved by sidelining the extremists on all sides and committing to security, dignity, human rights, and justice for all.” 

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who led an effort calling for the U.S. to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state, also praised the deal and led with the return of the Israeli hostages in his comments.

“It’s obviously very welcome news. Finally, the hostages are going to come home. The bombing hopefully is going to stop. Israel is going to withdraw,” Khanna said on Fox Business. “Everything I have read seems that this is a welcome development. And I’m really glad that after two years of a war, this seems to be finally coming to a resolution.”

“Now, we need to work for 2 states & ensure the bombing does not resume later in the year,” he added on X.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) told JI, “For the sake of humanity, I pray this holds. It is so far past time to end this genocide, free the hostages, and surge food, water, and baby formula to starving families in Gaza.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) declined to comment, saying she had not reviewed the deal.

In comments to a supportive crowd of pro-Israel college students in Washington, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) said Tuesday that the world needs to be reminded that “Hamas is the central cause of the war in Gaza.”  

“We have to remind the world that despite the amnesia, Hamas is the central cause of [Israel’s] war in Gaza. The primary responsibility for a war lies with its cause … Hamas is morally responsible, principally responsible for the war in Gaza,” Torres, a pro-Israel Democratic stalwart in Congress, told about 700 attendees gathered in Washington for the Israel on Campus Coalition’s three-day annual national leadership summit.

Torres went on: “The accusations against Israel, whether it’s genocide, apartheid or [deliberate] starvation, are all false. It’s all a propaganda campaign. But we also have to recognize there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza … We should be doing everything we can to alleviate the human suffering in Gaza.”

At the same time, Torres offered criticism of the Israeli government’s public diplomacy, saying that it should be “mindful of the words” it speaks.

“Israel is the first country in history to be conducting a war under the scrutiny of 24/7 cable news and social media … so given those realities, you have to be more effective, not only in the actual war but the informational war and be mindful of the words you speak.” 

“There are moments when I feel like the Israeli government has the worst PR operation I’ve ever seen,” Torres said. “We are morally better than the other side. We have the moral high ground, we should act like it.” 

Asked about the ideological direction of the Democratic Party, which has become increasingly critical of Israel, Torres sidestepped the question. “Look, I reject isolationism whether it’s coming from the far left or the far right. In the end, isolationism is no friend of the United States and it’s no friend of the U.S.-Israel relationship,” Torres said.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin defended himself on Friday amid criticism that his response to a question about New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the “globalize the intifada” slogan did not sufficiently express his own view that the phrase should be condemned.

“The right-wing lie machine is at it again. That’s not what I said in this interview. I’ve never supported or condoned the phrase ‘globalize the intifada’, a phrase which is reckless and dangerous, as it can been [sic] seen as a green light to terror, and it should be unequivocally condemned,” Martin wrote in a response on X to the Washington Free Beacon.

“Let me be clear, at a time of rising antisemitism, there’s no place for rhetoric that can be seen as a call to violence,” he added.

Several Jewish Democrats and organizations that represent them defended Martin’s handling of the Wednesday “PBS NewsHour” interview fallout.

Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, told Jewish Insider on Friday that, “We welcome the clarification from Chair Martin that the phrase ‘globalize the intifada’ is reckless and dangerous because it can be seen as a green light to terror. Chair Martin has never supported or condoned this phrase, and has now made it clear that there’s no place for rhetoric that can be seen as a call to violence in the Democratic Party.”

“He also said that this phrase should be unequivocally condemned, and we would like to see all Democrats do exactly that,” Soifer told JI. 

The Democratic Majority for Israel said in a statement that the group “appreciates the recognition by DNC chair Ken Martin that the phrase ‘Globalize the Intifada’ is a dangerous call to incite violent action against Jews & Israelis.” 

“During the last two intifadas, thousands of innocent Israelis — Arabs and Jews — were victims of Palestinian terrorism. Words have meanings, and the meaning of that phrase is clear to those who have experienced the intifadas. This incitement of violence should never be acceptable and must be condemned unequivocally,” the statement continued.

Martin’s Friday comment was met with criticism from several Jewish Democrats.

Georgia Democratic state Rep. Esther Panitch took issue with the DNC chairman’s response, writing on X, “I am not right-wing, and I know what I heard. You have welcomed the person who refused to condemn the phrase you call dangerous. Why?”

Sara Forman, the executive director of the New York Solidarity Network, an organization representing Jews in New York, criticized Martin in a lengthy X post on Friday for his handling of the interview question and his subsequent tweet clarifying his position. 

“There is no excuse the chair of @TheDemocrats could come up with to put the toothpaste back into the tube. Ken Martin is the chair of the DNC and his idiotic ‘big tent’ comment is now a party position with a high cost – the loss of normal Democrats around the country,” Forman wrote.

“Incumbents will be held accountable for his words against Republican challengers who will make it very difficult and expensive to hold swing districts. And D challengers will be playing right into the hands of their Republican incumbent opponents when they distance themselves from his comments,” she continued. “For a party chair to fundamentally misunderstand his role, which is to fundraise so Democrats can win elections, is insane.”

The National Book Foundation is facing criticism from several Jewish groups for its decision to move forward in presenting a lifetime achievement award to Paul Coates, the founder of Black Classic Press, at its annual reception later this week — even after he was recently found to have republished antisemitic and homophobic texts.

Coates, the father of the journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, is set to receive the prestigious literary award at the 75th National Book Awards ceremony in New York City on Wednesday, where he will be honored for his longtime dedication to “celebrating the life of Black writers and bolstering their literary legacies” through his publishing company, founded in 1978.

But Coates, 78, has come under scrutiny in recent months for including in his catalog an antisemitic screed called The Jewish Onslaught, published in 1993 by Tony Martin, a former professor of Africana studies at Wellesley College, who sought to uphold a widely discredited conspiracy theory alleging Jewish domination of the Atlantic slave trade.

The book, which Black Classic Press had praised in a laudatory blurb, was recently removed without explanation from the company’s website following a Jewish Insider report, published in late September, that first highlighted its inclusion in the publisher’s online catalog.

In addition to Martin’s book, which was widely criticized as antisemitic at the time of its release, Coates has reissued several other works by authors who have espoused antisemitism and homophobia, the online journal Arc found in a review of the Black Classic Press catalog published last month.

The National Book Foundation, which in recent weeks has privately weighed its decision to honor Coates, has said that it will move ahead with the ceremony this week as planned, despite pushback from leading Jewish groups raising questions over the award.

In a statement shared with JI on Friday, the foundation said it “condemns antisemitism, homophobia, Islamophobia, racism and hatred in all its forms,” adding it “also supports freedom of expression and the right of any publisher to make its own determination on what it chooses to publish.”

“Anyone examining the work of any publisher, over the course of almost five decades, will find individual works or opinions with which they disagree or find offensive,” the organization said. “The National Book Foundation is honoring W. Paul Coates, not for the publication of any particular titles or authors, but for his tireless efforts of scholarship, to ensure that Black voices and stories, that might otherwise have been lost, are instead preserved as an irreplaceable part of American literary history.”

But Jewish advocacy groups, including some that Martin singled out in his book nearly three decades ago, voiced frustration with the decision, especially amid heightened concerns over increasing incidents of antisemitism in the literary and publishing worlds in recent months.

The Anti-Defamation League, which denounced Martin’s tract at the time of its publication, took issue with the award in a statement to JI. “The revelation that Black Classic Press published and promoted a deeply antisemitic title, and the National Book Foundation has chosen to overlook this fact, is emblematic of a wider problem in the industry, where publishing companies continue to carry antisemitic books such as The Jewish Onslaught and literary organizations shun Jewish writers,” an ADL spokesperson said on Monday.

“Although this particular title from the Black Classic Press website was removed, it’s disturbing that the site continues to carry other books that contain antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ themes,” the spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, the World Jewish Congress, which Martin attacked in his book along with the ADL, called on the National Book Foundation to rescind its award to Coates. “At a time of surging global antisemitism, the World Jewish Congress finds it particularly disturbing that the National Book Foundation would fête publisher Paul Coates with a lifetime achievement award this week,” the group said in a statement to JI. “Coates, who recently republished The Jewish Onslaught, a pernicious essay that invokes antisemitic conspiracy theories and attacks Jewish organizations, deserves no such honor.”

“If the National Book Foundation truly condemns antisemitism, homophobia, Islamophobia, racism and hatred in all its forms, as its executive director has insisted,” the WJC argued on Monday, “it would immediately halt the upcoming event.”

Naomi Firestone-Teeter, the CEO of the Jewish Book Council, which launched an initiative last February to help report antisemitic incidents in the book industry, said the award “speaks to the double standard of how antisemitism, Jews and Israelis have been treated in the literary and publishing world.”

“Even naming the existence of antisemitism in this field has been met with anger and denial by the secular literary community — a frightening reaction that I can’t imagine we’d see with any other group that wanted to acknowledge discrimination or bias that they’ve experienced,” Firestone-Teeter told JI. “To see authors and books uplifted that lean on antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories and at the same time seeing Jewish and Israeli authors and books discriminated against shows how deeply entrenched — and normalized — these views have become.”

The National Book Foundation did not respond to a request for comment from JI regarding the criticism from Jewish groups. 

Black Classic Press, which has avoided publicly addressing the controversy surrounding its catalog, did not respond to a request for comment from JI on Monday.

While Coates has won plaudits for his longtime commitment to discovering contemporary writers as well as reissuing works by obscure and celebrated authors, his decision to republish Martin’s viciously antisemitic book has threatened to overshadow such achievements as he prepares to accept the award on Wednesday.

Mary Lefkowitz, a professor emerita of classical studies at Wellesley College who frequently sparred with Martin — who died in 2013 — told JI it was “a shame” Coates had brought renewed attention to The Jewish Onslaught, which had also targeted her with antisemitic attacks.
“I believe in freedom of speech but I wish that Mr. Coates had not chosen to promote Tony Martin’s The Jewish Onslaught, a book which uses virulent antisemitism in order to defend a theory that has repeatedly been shown to be demonstrably untrue,” Lefkowitz said.