North Carolina Democrat spurns AIPAC, in latest sign of party’s growing distance from Israel

Rep. Valerie Foushee, a North Carolina Democrat whose campaign in 2022 was supported by AIPAC, announced this week that she “will not accept” donations for the 2026 elections from the PAC associated with the pro-Israel lobby.

The announcement comes as Foushee, along with five other House Democrats, cosponsored a bill this week that would withhold the transfer of offensive weapons to Israel from the U.S.  Her decision underscores a growing willingness among Democrats, including some previously supported by pro-Israel advocacy groups, to challenge longstanding U.S. policy toward Israel.

Later this month, the Democratic National Committee is set to consider two Gaza resolutions at its biannual meeting, including one pushed by progressive members that would call for an arms embargo on Israel and recognize Palestinian statehood.

The Block the Bombs Act is now backed by 33 Democrats. It was first introduced by Illinois Rep. Delia Ramirez and co-led by Reps. Sara Jacobs of California, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, and Mark Pocan of Wisconsin.

“We simply cannot continue to provide the Israeli government with weapons when they are not being used in accordance with international law to maximize the protection of civilians in Gaza,” wrote Foushee in a post on Bluesky announcing her decision to cosponsor the bill.

During the 2022 election, Foushee’s campaign received about $2 million in AIPAC PAC spending and donation bundling, according to WUNC. In April 2024, she visited with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a trip to Israel funded by the lobby.

But at a town hall in North Carolina earlier this month, Foushee said that during her meeting with Netanyahu, she “shared our concerns with how the war was being run.”

“You all know that I took the money from AIPAC, but check to see how much I’ve taken since that time, and check my voting record to see how I have voted and what I have voted for as it relates to the people of Gaza,” Foushee said at the town hall, according to Indy Week.

Foushee’s shift on Israel comes as support for Israel within the Democratic Party has sharply declined over the course of Israel’s 22-month offensive in Gaza. A recent Gallup poll found that just 8% of Democrats said they approve of Israel’s war in Gaza, marking a significant drop from the 36% of Democrats who supported the war in November 2023.

Last month, a record number of Senate Democrats voted in favor of two resolutions seeking to block U.S. military sales to Israel, including eight senators who had not supported past efforts to cut off aid to Israel.

Among the senators who voted in favor of one of the resolutions, which sought to block the sale of tens of thousands of assault rifles to Israel, was Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat who was among the first Jewish senators to criticize Israel’s conduct in the war in November 2023.

“I do not believe the United States Senate should acquiesce without objection to the extreme mass deprivation of civilians in Gaza, including the intolerable starvation of children, that has resulted from the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government,” said Ossoff in a statement regarding his vote.

Last November, Ossoff also supported two resolutions seeking to block weapons shipments to Israel. The following month, as his bid for reelection next year grew near, AIPAC launched an ad criticizing the senator for voting to “weaken Israel.”

“When you look at the appalling extent of civilian harm and destruction and hunger ongoing in that territory, it is clear to me — and it’s been clear to me for quite some time — that it is neither consistent with America’s national security interests or our values to simply acquiesce to that policy without any objection,” Ossoff said at the Atlanta Rotary on Monday, according to the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

While the 2028 presidential election remains years away, Democrats eyeing a future White House run appear to be treading carefully in how they position themselves on Israel.

If the DNC were to call for recognizing Palestinian statehood, it would contravene a U.S. policy that was reaffirmed during the Biden demonstration, which supports a two-state solution but not a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state.

Pete Buttigieg, the former secretary of transportation under the Biden administration and potential 2028 presidential hopeful, last week told Jon Favreau, host of the popular liberal Pod Save America podcast, that recognizing Palestinian statehood was a “profound question,” but shied from giving a definitive answer.

“I think that we, as Israel’s strongest ally and friend, you put your arm around your friend when there’s something like this going on, and talk about what we’re prepared to do together,” Buttigieg said when asked how the next administration should handle its relationship with Israel.

Responding to Democrats who hoped he would be more critical of Israel, Buttigieg told Politico, “I get it,” adding that, “It’s important to be clear about something this enormous and this painful. It’s just that it’s so enormous and it’s so painful that sometimes words can fail.”

Grace Gilson is an author at the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

RELATED: