Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said Wednesday that while he remains committed to the Democratic Party, he would walk away if it formally abandoned its support for Israel. Speaking at The Hill Nation Summit in Washington, D.C., Fetterman said backing Israel remains a defining principle for him.

“If our party ever becomes — and just makes it official — the anti-Israel party, that’s when I would leave because that’s been a moral clarity for me,” he said Wednesday during an interview at the Hill Nation Summit in Washington, D.C.

Fetterman said he has become increasingly troubled by what he sees as a growing shift among Democrats away from supporting Israel, driven in part by pressure from the party’s progressive wing.

“My long-term concern has been with the Democratic Party, as I am a member of that, is that our party is going to back away and turn its back on Israel,” he said.

As an example, Fetterman pointed to House Minority Whip Katherine Clark’s support for an amendment introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., that sought to eliminate the $3.3 billion in annual U.S. security assistance provided to Israel.

Although the proposal failed in the House on Wednesday, Fetterman argued that Clark’s vote reflected a broader ideological movement taking shape within the Democratic Party.

“You look at the kinds of individuals that are winning our recent primaries,” he said. “It’s becoming more anti-, anti-Israel and hostile to people” who are pro-Israel.

He also criticized Democrats whom he believes are attempting to appeal to voters who are deeply opposed to Israel.

“are trying to ingratiate ourselves with that segment of the base of our voters are intensely, intensely anti-Israel.”

Fetterman acknowledged that Republicans have approached him about changing parties but declined to discuss the conversations in detail, saying they were private.

The Pennsylvania senator also expressed concern about the Michigan Democratic Senate primary, where progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed has been performing well in public polling.

He argued that if El-Sayed secures the nomination, Democrats would be forced to invest substantially more resources to remain competitive in the battleground state during the general election.

“Rogers just barely, barely lost in ’24,” Fetterman said, referring to former Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate who narrowly lost the 2024 Michigan Senate race to Sen. Elissa Slotkin.

“If El-Sayed wins, then that puts Michigan much more in play for us and would require us to spend more money. What’s defined El-Sayed is the more anti-Israel and hostile-to-Israel thing,” Fetterman said.

Fetterman also took aim at progressive candidates who continue to embrace the “defund the police” movement, questioning whether Democrats have learned from the political setbacks they suffered in the 2024 election.

“Now here’s more Democrats to ‘defund the police.’ Here we are back to part of the worst impulses that we just can’t resist,” Fetterman said.

“We forgot the crazy things that we said and that cost us the election in 2024. Now we want to revisit that,” he continued.

“If anything, they’re coming back in the strongest kind of terms. Look at the people who are winning.”

Among those candidates, Fetterman pointed to Darializa Avila Chevalier, a 32-year-old democratic socialist backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat in the Democratic primary for New York’s 13th Congressional District. He noted that Chevalier had previously deleted a social media account in which she advocated abolishing police, borders, and prisons, and asserted that Israel does not exist.

Fetterman also criticized Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for continuing to strongly support Graham Platner in Maine’s Senate race despite reports published by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal in early June detailing allegations about Platner’s past.

According to Fetterman, the collapse of Platner’s campaign has made it “more difficult” for Democrats to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins and regain control of the U.S. Senate.

{Matzav.com}