{"id":46353,"date":"2026-08-15T09:11:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T04:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=46353"},"modified":"2026-08-15T09:11:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T04:11:30","slug":"dnc-interfaith-meeting-exposes-partys-israel-gaza-rift-ahead-of-midterms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=46353","title":{"rendered":"DNC interfaith meeting exposes party\u2019s Israel-Gaza rift ahead of midterms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/08\/14\/AP26225695943109_s1440x960.jpg?f72536d07237fdd262042ae8f5e6e6de3b865f3c\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/democratic-party\/\">Democratic Party\u2019s<\/a> deep fractures over the Israel-Hamas conflict spilled into the open at its interfaith gathering Friday as Jewish and Palestinian American members squared off over charged phrases like \u201cfrom the river to the sea\u201d and the word \u201cgenocide.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The heated debate exposed a fault line that threatens to splinter a coalition Democrats desperately need heading into November.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/dnc\/\">DNC\u2019s<\/a> interfaith council hosted the small gathering, which included Democratic officials and speakers from Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths who called on Democrats to put aside their personal religious disagreements and come together as one political force to win in the midterms.<\/p>\n<p>But Jewish attendees at the meeting took issue with language that some Muslim Democrats use to describe their stance against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/israel\/\">Israel<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Amy DeLoach, the first vice chair of the North Carolina <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/democratic-party\/\">Democratic Party\u2019s<\/a> Jewish Caucus, told the group that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/israel\/\">Israel<\/a> is as important to her as her \u201cnext breath.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is fundamental to who I am. \u2026 But when I hear \u2019Free Palestine\u2019 or \u2019I stand with Palestine,\u2019 what I\u2019m hearing is \u2019I\u2019m against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/israel\/\">Israel<\/a>,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I hear. And I agree with you. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s necessarily what is meant. But as a Zionist, that\u2019s what we hear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo I want that to be heard. I want you to understand how that feels,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I hear \u2019From the river to the sea,\u2019 that means the annihilation of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/israel\/\">Israel<\/a>. I don\u2019t think that necessarily that\u2019s what everybody who says that means. But I want you to hear that that\u2019s how a lot of us, what we hear and how painful that is for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Ms. DeLoach said she does not agree with \u201canything\u201d Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is doing, just like \u201cI don\u2019t agree with what Trump is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I don\u2019t hate America any more than I hate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/israel\/\">Israel<\/a>, because I am a proud American and I spend my entire day fighting to get rid of Trump,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I think it\u2019s as important for us to get rid of Netanyahu. But I strongly believe in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/israel\/\">Israel<\/a> and its right to survive and it\u2019s right to exist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want you to hear how painful it is for me when everybody is just talking about how horrible <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/israel\/\">Israel<\/a> is. It is my homeland,\u201d Ms. DeLoach added.<\/p>\n<p>Mirvette Judeh, chair of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/dnc\/\">DNC\u2019s<\/a> Arab American Caucus and co-chair of California Democrats for Justice in Palestine, used the word \u201cgenocide\u201d to describe Israeli military actions in Gaza \u2014 acknowledging directly that the term is \u201coffensive to some of my Jewish community members.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Judeh stated that Palestinians \u201cdon\u2019t have a voice\u201d within the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/democratic-party\/\">Democratic Party<\/a> and described being \u201cintentionally blocked\u201d from advocacy efforts, including pushing for more than 40 ceasefire resolutions throughout California.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy family is Palestinian,\u201d she said. \u201cMy family\u2019s land and homes are being destroyed as we speak. \u2026 I have been fighting for justice for my family and for Palestinians and all causes. All of that stems from me watching my cousins as 4-year-olds being taken in the middle of the night and imprisoned because <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/israel\/\">Israel<\/a> can.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She said, \u201cI call upon my Jewish fellow Democrats and those that are for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/israel\/\">Israel<\/a> that are watching, if I tell you what is happening to my family, this is not like a past story and pretending hearsay is horrific and that we need to stop that.\u201d \u201cThat doesn\u2019t help humanity, and that does not help our party to keep dismissing that and shoving it up and putting it on a task force that has not passed anything in the past two years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Sam Crumpleton, Nevada <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/dnc\/\">DNC<\/a> committee woman and vice chair of her state committee\u2019s Jewish Caucus, responded, \u201cI want to say what\u2019s happening is horrific. No one is advocating for it. And we\u2019re hearing. You have your voice. You hear today. As a Jew, I don\u2019t want you to tell me what is and isn\u2019t anti-Semitic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Crumpleton described facing anti-Semitism since she was 14 years old and having a cousin, Hirch, who was kidnapped from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/israel\/\">Israel<\/a> by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/hamas\/\">Hamas<\/a> on Oct. 7, 2023, and held hostage for a year before he was killed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo there, there are cousins, there are family, there are people hurting on both sides, OK? So I just ask everyone to, to please be considerate when you\u2019re having those conversations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd at the end of the day, our goal is to elect Democrats. But there is hate, there is antisemitism, there is Islamophobia. There are all of those things within the party. And I think we all need to hear each other,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/dnc\/\">DNC<\/a> did not address any resolution on its Middle East policy, which has been a flash point, with the socialist wing demanding the party break its longtime support for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/israel\/\">Israel<\/a> and back cutting off U.S. aid to the Jewish state.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/dnc\/\">DNC<\/a> opted to quietly press forward with a plan to deliver a formal report to party leadership by this winter about its stand in the Israel-Palestinian conflict and other Middle East issues. It was a low-key acknowledgment that the party remains deeply fractured over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/israel\/\">Israel<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>                        <a name=\"pagebreak\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The Working Group\u2019s existence stems directly from resolutions referred from the committee\u2019s previous meeting, signaling that rank-and-file <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/dnc\/\">DNC<\/a> members have been pushing for formal action on the issue.<\/p>\n<section class=\"author-contact-section\">\n<\/section><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 The Democratic Party\u2019s deep fractures over the Israel-Hamas conflict spilled into the open at its interfaith gathering Friday as Jewish and Palestinian American members squared off over charged phrases like \u201cfrom the river to the sea\u201d and the word \u201cgenocide.\u201d The heated debate exposed a fault line that threatens to splinter a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/08\/14\/AP26225695943109_c0-250-6000-3750_s1200x700.jpg?2cb823f519263a3e55a419724463fd44fb7f7c61","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}