The most disturbing result of America’s midterm elections wasn’t simply who won. It was what Americans were willing to overlook when they voted.
On Nov. 3, Americans elected politicians whose records include anti-Zionist activism, inflammatory accusations against Israel, and controversies involving antisemitic conspiracy theories. When did hostility toward the Jewish state become a political credential?
I see a pattern: Anti-Israel propaganda presented as human rights advocacy, selective outrage masquerading as moral principle, and anti-Jewish prejudice repackaged as political virtue. I call it moral permission: prejudice acquiring legitimacy through the language of justice.
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Consider Michigan’s senator-elect Abdul el Sayed. In July, he suggested that Democratic support for Israel could only be explained by money and characterized every definition of a Jewish state as illiberal. In October, he declared, “Israel is not actually our friend.” On Nov. 5, he endorsed ending approximately $4 billion in annual military assistance.
Israel is a major American strategic partner in intelligence, missile defense, military technology, and regional security. El Sayed’s sweeping false accusations of genocide and apartheid also deserve scrutiny against Israel’s democratic reality. In the Oct. 27 Israeli election, Arab-led parties increased their Knesset representation from 10 to 19 seats, a 90% increase. Official results confirm 11 seats for the Joint List and eight for Ra’am. Arab voters exercised their democratic rights and expanded their representation in the parliament of the world’s only Jewish state.
Minnesota reelected Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), whose assertion that congressional support for Israel was “all about the Benjamins, baby” invoked the antisemitic trope of Jewish financial control. She previously claimed Israel had “hypnotized the world.” Omar also praised her daughter Isra Hirsi’s anti-Israel and anti-Zionist campus activism, which threatened Jewish students and Jewish professors, declaring herself “enormously proud.” Hirsi organized with Columbia University Apartheid Divest. Omar’s public endorsement demonstrates how anti-Zionist activism has gained support from elected officials.
Michigan reelected Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), who repeatedly spreads disinformation about Jews and Israel, obsessively accuses Israel of genocide, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing. Following Israel’s October election, she called prospective prime ministers war criminals while demanding sanctions and an arms embargo. Tlaib has defended “from the river to the sea,” a slogan associated with Jihadi and Islamist movements seeking Israel’s elimination as a Jewish state and killing of ‘infidels.’ Jewish national self-determination should not be treated as uniquely illegitimate, but Tlaib is a pan-Arabist activist with clear intentions.
New York reelected Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who pledged to oppose American military assistance to Israel, including defensive capabilities. She also opposed codifying the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. Opposing missile-defense assistance raises a fundamental question about protecting Israeli civilians from rocket attacks. She opposes defense systems in Israel, and conflates defense with offense.
Pennsylvania elected Chris Rabb after his campaign’s Instagram account circulated a conspiracy theory suggesting that the terrorists responsible for the December 2025 massacre at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration in Sydney were “likely Zionists themselves.” The documented false-flag allegation redirected suspicion toward Jewish victims. Such conspiracies demonstrate how anti-Jewish disinformation can circulate through political campaigns.
Colorado elected Melat Kiros, who initially declined to identify the Boulder firebombing attack against demonstrators supporting Israeli hostages as antisemitic. “I don’t know what was in the heart of the perpetrator,” she said. Although she condemned the violence, she subsequently linked antisemitism to Israeli government actions. Jews should never be held collectively responsible for a foreign government’s policies.
Washington, D.C., elected Janeese Lewis George after she pledged not to attend events promoting “Zionism and apartheid,” as an example of her supporting the self-determination of other ethnic and religious groups, but not that of Jewish people. New York elected Aber Kawas, who committed to avoiding affiliations with organizations that represent Jewish peoplehood and indigeneity, including AIPAC and J Street.
Their records differ, but their rhetoric and political commitments warrant scrutiny. So do the accusations against Israel that increasingly dominate American political discourse.
It is vital to understand facts and statistics, and not pretend to know truths merely by parroting the hateful activists who were elected into power. Here are some quick facts to acknowledge that discredit the disinformation claims of the aforementioned politicians.
General Martin Dempsey, former chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, praised Israel’s extraordinary civilian-protection efforts. The Pentagon studied Israeli precautions. Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, documented firsthand Israeli evacuation warnings, proportionality assessments, and civilian-protection measures during the Gaza war.
American urban-warfare specialist John Spencer reported observing operations delayed or canceled because civilians were nearby. The IDF has published targeting procedures addressing intelligence, proportionality, and civilian warnings. These documented practices cannot simply be erased by political slogans.
Israel reported killing Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Al-Qassam terrorist militants and shares those documented operations. Israeli officials previously estimated two civilian deaths per enemy militant, which is lower than most democracies around the world.
International legal institutions are not infallible. Former ICJ President Joan Donoghue corrected misrepresentations of the court’s 2024 genocide proceedings. In a separate advisory proceeding, ICJ judges Julia Sebutinde and Georg Nolte challenged important aspects of its evidence and reasoning. The United States also criticized that opinion. Contested legal proceedings are not unquestionable verdicts.
If these politicians who engage in virtue signaling, performative activism, and claim to care about human rights, why do they obsess about Israel? Where is comparable urgency about Sudan’s atrocities, China’s persecution of Uyghurs, or Iran’s repression? Selective outrage becomes especially revealing when accompanied by conspiracy theories and hostility toward Jewish national legitimacy.
On Nov. 4, the Democratic Socialists of America celebrated its electoral victories, promoting its socialist agenda and an arms embargo against Israel. The Anti-Defamation League warned about antisemitic scapegoating and ideological tests affecting Jewish Americans.
I was once a progressive liberal Democrat. Today, I am a moderate, centrist-minded Republican. My affiliation changed; my commitment to American democracy, individual liberty, merit, Jewish civil rights, and Israel’s right to exist never did.
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What concerns me is not simply the politicians. People elected them. Their controversies were public, and their victories now give them governing power.
Americans must challenge conspiracies, scrutinize propaganda, and hold elected officials accountable. Our votes determine who governs. Our moral clarity determines what kind of country we become.
Yuval David is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, political commentator, filmmaker, and strategic advisor specializing in U.S.–Israel relations, Middle Eastern affairs, antisemitism, and democratic institutions. A fellow at the Middle East Forum, U.S. representative on Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s Voice of the People council, founder of the Jewish & Indian Alliance, and host of the Common Ground podcast, he appears regularly on Fox News, Newsmax, NewsNation, and Israeli news networks. His commentary has appeared in the Washington Examiner, Jewish News Syndicate, the Jerusalem Post, Middle East Observer, and other publications.