Schumer meets with war criminal, Netanyahu. Resistance grows among younger Dems.

He's the Democrats' gift to the MAGAs.

This photo of Netanyahu flanked by Chuck Schumer, John Thune, Joni Ernst, and other key senators is more than just a diplomatic snapshot. It’s a vile symbol of establishment consensus across party lines on U.S.-Israel policy, even as grassroots opposition surges. Outside the frame, figures like Mamdani, AOC, Cori Bush, and countless organizers are pushing to redefine what support for human rights means — even if it challenges sacred foreign policy alliances.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer met yesterday with indicted war criminal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to assure him that Democratic support for the war on Gaza is unflagging.

Schumer’s meeting with Netanyahu has sparked significant backlash within the Democratic Party, especially among its progressive wing. The split reflects a broader ideological divide in the party as leadership figures like Schumer continue to support weapons shipments to the IDF and Israel’s bombing of civilian populations in Lebanon, Syria, and Iran, while most of the party’s base (especially younger Democrats) oppose them.

Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist who won the New York mayoral primary, charges that the US is “subsidizing a genocide” through its military aid to Israel. His victory in the city with the largest Jewish population outside Israel is sending shockwaves through the Democratic establishment.

Mamdani's success reflects the ideological realignment of many American Jews since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel that led to Israel's invasion of Gaza. Many Democratic voters, including Jews, have grown dismayed by Israel’s conduct in the war and are deeply critical of Netanyahu. That is especially true among younger, more progressive voters, many of whom have rejected the once-broadly accepted notion that anti-Israel sentiment is inherently antisemitic.

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Aiyana Leong Knauer, a 35-year-old Brooklyn bartender who is Jewish and backed Mamdani, said the vote represented “New Yorkers, many of them Jewish, saying we care more about having an affordable city than sowing division.”

“Many of us take profound offense to our history being weaponized against us,” she said. “Jewish people all over the world have well-founded fears for their safety, but Jews in New York are safe overall.”

Beth Miller, who’s been my guest on Hitting Left, is the political director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action, an anti-Zionist, progressive group that worked on Mamdani's behalf. She said Mamdani “was actually pretty popular among a lot of Jewish voters."

“That is not in spite of his support for Palestinian rights. That is because of his support for Palestinian rights,” she said.

Schumer’s approval ratings among Democrats are significantly lower than Mamdani’s and the broader progressive wing. Schumer’s overall favorability rating is just 17%, with 44% unfavorable. Among Democrats, only 31% view him favorably, while 30% view him unfavorably. His net favorability among Democrats has plummeted from +75 in late 2024 to just +1 now, making him and the DNC leadership a liability in upcoming elections.

In other words, Schumer is the Democrats’ gift to both Netanyahu and the MAGAs.