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The US Democratic Party's Moment of Reckoning with Tariq Kenney-Shawa
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Tariq Kenney-Shawa, Al-Shabaka’s US policy fellow, joins our latest episode to unpack the widening divide between the US Democratic Party’s elite and its voting base over the ongoing Gaza genocide, military aid to the Israeli government, and support for Zionism.
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Transcript
Assessing Candidates' Stance on Israel
00:00:00
Speaker
I think when we're looking at candidates running for office in midterms, when we're looking at the eventual presidential candidates running for office in 2028, I think we need to pay attention to whether they're actually supporting initiatives that will rein Israel in, whether they're actually supporting and initiatives that will cut Israel off from U.S. weapons permanently, or whether they're just figuring out ways to reshape the U.S.-Israel relationship in a way that will be more codependent and more mutually beneficial instead of just the endless flow of U.S. tax dollars that have been going to Israel for free for so long.
00:00:40
Speaker
From Ashabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network, I am Yara Hawari, and this is Rethinking Palestine.
00:00:51
Speaker
The Democratic Party is in crisis and depending on who you ask, it's a crisis of identity, strategy or moral collapse. While mainstream political commentary has focused on the fractures inside MAGA, there's a quieter but no less significant reckoning happening on the other side of the aisle.
00:01:11
Speaker
One being driven not by party leadership or even politicians, but by grassroots organizers, independent media voices and communities that have watched their government co-perpetrate a genocide in Gaza.
00:01:23
Speaker
In this episode, we're getting into all of it. What is actually happening inside the Democratic Party right now? Is there a reckoning for its role in the genocide? Who is Hassan Paikah? Why is the establishment so rattled by him? And will the 2026 midterms bring some form of accountability at the ballot box?
00:01:43
Speaker
Joining me to discuss all of this is Darit Ganeshawar, Shabaka's U.S. Policy Fellow. Darit, thank you for joining me on this episode of Rethinking Palestine. Thanks for having me on, Yara.
00:01:58
Speaker
So Tarek, there is a lot that is being discussed about the schisms in MAGA on Zionism and support for the Israeli regime. But what is happening on the Democrat side? Yeah, well, I think there's there's a massive divide on the Democratic side between the Democratic establishment and the Democratic part, the the the voters themselves, right? The Democratic consistent constituency.
00:02:19
Speaker
So just to look at the numbers, for example. So back in 2022, when the Pew polling did a poll of of Democratic voters, it found that 53% viewed Israel unfavorably. Now, a whopping 80% of Democrats or adults who lean towards the left view Israel unfavorably. And that's per per poll, per Pew's most recent polling on the subject.
00:02:43
Speaker
So, you know, that's that's kind of just like one example of of how indicative of of how much the Democratic voting base has actually moved on this subject. More importantly, you know, I have always kind of been very skeptical of of polls that just discuss favorability or sympathy, because like, what does that really mean when it comes down to it, whether from the standpoint of like actually what people do with their their votes or what people say about actual policy.
00:03:09
Speaker
But now we're also seeing that between consistently between 60, 70 percent and and rising of American voters across the political spectrum, not just not just on the left, not just Democrats are actually calling for conditioning or cutting outright U.S. military aid to Israel. So why that is important is that that's tying their their sympathies, tying these favorability numbers to actual policy demands. And that's why that's more important, in my opinion, than the actual sympathy numbers.
00:03:37
Speaker
But if you if you look at a Democratic voting base, you know, they have substantially shifted to a position where the vast majority of Democrats are not only critical of Israel, don't only view Israel in an unfavorable light, but are actually starting to tie their voting decisions to candidates' positions on Israel. And so now that that runs up against this long-running establishment inertia in the democratic base that we saw in 2016, we saw in 20, in terms of how the democratic establishment itself actually positions itself vis-a-vis both where their base is at, which has always been a lot more left and a lot more progressive than they'd like to admit. And they're kind of stuck in this paradigm of you know reaching back towards the middle ground,
00:04:23
Speaker
trying to reach out to to what they would call a centrist voter, an independent voter. And that is very much at odds, in my opinion, and the numbers obviously play out and support this. That is very much at odds in terms of where the actual Democratic Party base is at.
00:04:40
Speaker
So, you know, you have establishment Democrats like the Schumers, like the Pelosi's, the Gillibrand's, who are pretty much diehard Zionists on ideological level, but they also can't wrap their minds around the fact that being pro-Israel is actually no longer good politics in in this country. And, you know, they have no no real answer to this newer generation that is demanding actual tangible policy change on Israel-Palestine. So I think there is a newer generation, and I guess we'll get into that further in
Young Voters' Disillusionment Post-2024
00:05:12
Speaker
this discussion. There's a there's a newer and younger generation of Democratic candidates that are running for office across the country and at varying levels of ranging from running for seats in Congress to eventually potentially running for the presidency that recognize the sea change in public opinion on Israel-Palestine. And also recognize that it's not just a ah passing phase. They recognize that people are actually demanding concrete policy demands. And and they're kind of they're coming up against the the democratic establishment. Again, the Schumers, the Pelosi's who are kind of stuck in that institutional inertia in which they are unwilling and unable to to budge on the issue.
00:05:53
Speaker
So I think what we're going to be seeing in November is kind of a real crisis of identity for the Democratic Party. And I think we're we're absolutely seeing this on both sides of of the both sides of the aisle. On the right, obviously, there's been a lot of conversation around the shifting shifting opinion when it comes to the American right.
00:06:10
Speaker
the fractures between among and between different camps in the MAGA, America First cohort. But I think on the left too, it's it's it's really, it's a moment of reckoning for the Democratic Party and and who comes out on top and who who wins their elections in both November and in 2028, in my opinion, are going to be the people who who are who listen to the outspoken demands of of the Democratic voting base and who rec it who who listen to the polling and and who take note from it.
00:06:40
Speaker
But to be honest with you I wouldn't put too much faith in the Democratic Party for learning those lessons because they didn't learn those lessons back in 2016. They didn't learn the lessons or they refused to learn the lessons in 2020.
00:06:51
Speaker
And now they're faced with more glaring evidence that the middle ground approach doesn't work, doesn't mobilize voters and is now continuing to hurt their chances to regain both the House and the Senate and then eventually the executive office in 2028.
00:07:08
Speaker
You've kind of answered this, but maybe we can unpack it a bit deeper. For the for the Democrats, the 2024 election saw significant defections from Arab American, Muslim American and young progressive voter communities and because they felt completely disgusted by the party's unwavering support of the genocide in Gaza. Do you think the damage is done now or do you think they'll be able to win those communities back?
00:07:35
Speaker
I don't think the damage is necessarily done in a permanent sense, right? I think that it's obviously very early to discuss the 2028 cycle because we don't know who exactly who the candidates are going to be.
00:07:47
Speaker
However, if we listen to the rumor mail that's kind of going around, I mean people are already discussing the potential for Kamala Harris to jump back into the race. So it's, you know, in short, it all depends on who's going to run and it all depends on what positions they take.
00:08:01
Speaker
However, I don't, I think there's two ways to think about this. The first way is to say that, just to recognize that, you know, no, I don't think, I don't think these, you know, Arab American voting blocs, Palestinian American voting blocs, progressive voting blocs, who really drew the line at at support for genocide when it came to their decision for who they voted for in 2024, I don't think they're going to leave their morals behind at the voting booth this time.
00:08:24
Speaker
the same considerations are going to be in play. And I think even more so now that in in light of the fact that the Trump administration launched its war of aggression on Iran, basically fighting Israel's war in Iran. I think that has only added to ah suspicion and demands of these voters. And they're going to, you know, I don't think that will be leading them to lower their standards at all for who comes into this race opposing Trump.
00:08:47
Speaker
In other words, what that is to say is that progressive voters, Arab American voters and other disaffected voters who drew the line at Kamala's support for for genocide in 2024 are going to now demand of the forthcoming Democratic candidate that they not only lee ah make clear the steps they're going to take to reign in Israel and to oppose genocide, but they're also going to make clear the steps they're going to take to avoid the u s further U.S. entanglement in additional wars like the current war in Iran. that's My read now is that you know the voting blocs are not actually...
00:09:24
Speaker
you know reducing their demands and not watering down their standards, they're they're entrenching them. And we can see them at at, for example, town halls when they shout out to essential candidates that they ask them about where they stand on on on the genocide. I think the other side of of looking at this, and I'm not sure if there' is there's actual polling out there yet, because again, it is it is early when it comes to the 2028 considerations for president. But I do think that there is going, you know, by that by that time, there is going to be a significant amount of Trump fatigue. I think that is kind of inevitable.
00:09:56
Speaker
I think there will be more people who will simply look at the options given to them and say, listen, I'm at this point right now. You know, the economy is faltering. Inflation is skyrocketing.
00:10:08
Speaker
We're getting entangled yet again. And what we define as forever wars in the Middle East, oil prices are skyrocketing. And their approach to this will be a lot more kind of like simpler and a lot more crude in the sense that we just want to vote for anyone who isn't Trump.
00:10:24
Speaker
So I think we're going to get a mix of both come 2028. I think a lot of people on the progressive side, a lot of marginalized communities, both you know from Arab American communities to you know, African-American communities to, you know you name it. I think those communities are going to be sticking to their guns in the sense. I think they're going to be sticking to their demands. And I think they're going to want a Democratic candidate to come out forcefully against what the Trump administration is standing for. And not just that, come out forcefully against genocide, have a clear policy about what they'll do when it comes to Israeli ah aggression and the and the use of U.S. weapons.
00:11:01
Speaker
They're going to feel that they have no choice but to vote for a Democratic candidate. But then again, I think it's it's very early to discuss the 2028 presidential election because we don't know who's going to be running on the Republican side. We don't necessarily know who's going to be running on the Democratic side.
00:11:16
Speaker
But from what we're seeing right now, I think it's it's going to be a mix of those two camps, people who are sticking to their guns regarding standards and and red lines when it comes to support for genocide and forever wars. And then people who are trying to balance that with the fact that Trump is causing severe harm to communities here in the United States and and they're going to want him out at at whatever cost.
00:11:39
Speaker
I think those are the main considerations for the the presidential election. But I think congressional elections upcoming, you know, that have been going on now between now and 2026 offer a fundamentally different calculus because I think we're seeing a lot of action there in terms of people actually holding these candidates accountable and and demanding actual, you know, concrete statements about where they stand, whether it's on the the Iran war or on conditioning and cutting military aid to Israel.
Grassroots Pressure on Democratic Candidates
00:12:10
Speaker
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00:12:24
Speaker
Darit, maybe I'll just jump in here and ask, you know, you mentioned about politicians being confronted at town halls over their support for the the genocide and also around the war in Iran. And we've also seen them lose primaries. Has that pressure actually moved anyone in real time or is that yet to be seen?
00:12:42
Speaker
I think a little bit of mix of both. I think one example of where that pressure has actually moved candidates in real time or or sitting lawmakers in real time is Elissa Slotkin, right? Elissa Slotkin is a Democrat who sat out previous votes on conditioning or cutting U.S. weapons shipments or or israel or or U.S. weapons to Israel.
00:13:03
Speaker
And in this in this most previous round, Elissa Slotkin actually voted for blocking U.S. bombs and bulldozers to Israel. And that came kind of on the heels of ah of one of those, you know, infamous town halls in which in which she was confronted by a a questioner who was who is pretty much asking her to to take ah take a firm, concrete stance on the issue. So I think we have already started seeing sitting lawmakers start to start to come to terms with the fact that this isn't just a passing a passing phase.
00:13:35
Speaker
But I think come 2028, and I think we're going to start seeing more candidates feel the need to adopt slightly more concrete positions on the on the topic. However, um I don't want to kind of, I don't want to sound too glossy eyed on that because establishment Democratic candidates are very much looking for ways to adopt rhetorical opposition to Israel while not actually adopting actual concrete opposition to Israel when it comes to policies. And this is something that we've kind of seen play out in in some of the competing bills that are going through Congress right now between the Block the Bombs Act and the Ceasefire Compliance Act, which I think we'll also get into in a later question. But what we're seeing right now is that a lot of the establishment Democratic candidates either running for office or who are in office right now, some of them are like, for example, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, AOC has shifted on the question, saying that now she will vote to block any and all weapons to Israel, whether they're quote unquote offensive or defensive, quote unquote. And this is a change from a previous position in which she was, where she was hesitant to block
00:14:43
Speaker
quote unquote, defensive missile defense systems to Israel because of her argument that they help protect civilian life. And she was kind of shot down on that. received a lot of criticism from the left and from her constituents. And she has since changed her position on that.
00:14:59
Speaker
And then we are seeing also candidates who are who are running for office, who are making it clear that they recognize the the fundamental shift in the democratic electorate. And they recognize that it's not just a ah ah passing phase and they need to take actual stands that are going to satisfy these demands that aren't that aren't going away. Dariq, you mentioned those two pieces of legislation, the Block the Bombs and the Ceasefire Compliance Act. Can you talk to us a little bit about those?
00:15:26
Speaker
So the Block the Bombs Act was introduced in June 2025 by Delia Ramirez, Sarah Jacobs, Pramila Jayapal, and Mark Pocan. And basically, it's that that legislation is designed to stop the transfer of a specific list of of what they call offensive weapons. I'm talking about the 2,000 pound, 1,000 pound bombs that that Israel has been known to drop on on civilian areas.
00:15:53
Speaker
And that legislation is designed so that if passed, then these these bombs, these weapons systems will no longer be provided to Israel, period. Obviously, it's it's imperfect because it's it's a limited list of of specific weapons. It doesn't include ammunition for for the Iron Dome. It doesn't include missile defense systems, which have been you know proven to just kind of continue to to to make it easier for Israel to engage in aggressive wars because they know that they have these defensive missile defense systems.
00:16:24
Speaker
So that's kind of the main bill that's been floating around Congress for the past several months. And then Sean Kasten, Democrat from Illinois, also recently introduced the Ceasefire Compliance Act, which is then subsequently backed by J Street. And what that does is that calls for a complete block of the U.S. provision of U.S. weapons to Israel if Israel is in violation of either the ceasefire that was agreed in October 2025, or found to obstructing aid to Gaza, etc., etc. So, you know, think
00:16:55
Speaker
obstructing aid to gaza etc etc so you know i think it's It's kind of, it gets kind of complicated to compare these these two to both imperfect, absolutely imperfect bills.
00:17:09
Speaker
But basically, my concern and and a lot of others concern with the Ceasefire Compliance Act is that what it does is, first of all, it only limits Israeli use of of US weapons in Gaza and the West Bank. So in other words, Israel is free to use US weapons elsewhere, whether it's in Lebanon, Iran,
00:17:26
Speaker
Syria, wherever wherever else they they've been attacking Yemen. And so then the other concern with the Ceasefire Compliance Act is that it all kind of falls on whether Israel is is found to be in violation of either the ceasefire in Gaza, whether Israel is found to be restricting humanitarian aid.
00:17:48
Speaker
And then we all know how these processes work, right? I mean, Israel can be, you know, It can be very obvious that Israel is in violation of the ceasefire. it could be very obvious that Israel is continuing to restrict the restrict humanitarian aid.
00:18:00
Speaker
However, in these biased processes, a pro-Israel State Department can easily find Israel not in violation of these of these terms, which should allow the continuation of of weapons provision.
00:18:12
Speaker
So one of the main criticisms of the Ceasefire Compliance Act and of J Street's support for it is that it's essentially taking potential votes away from the Block the Bombs Act. And it's very unlikely that either of these ah legislation will will pass Congress, but the supporters of the Block the Bombs Act were really trying to to present the package as kind of a litmus test for people who are in Congress, right? And I think that you know one of the main criticisms of the Ceasefire Compliance Act is that it dilutes that process. It makes it more difficult to present the Block the Bombs Act and and to present actual conditioning and and and aid cutting initiatives as this litmus test moving into the midterm elections and then eventually the presidential election in 2028.
00:18:56
Speaker
So J Street has argued that both bills can be supported at the same time. But if we're talking about lawmakers who are hesitant to get to sign on to the Block the Bombs Act, and they're presented with a legislation that is potentially easier, less strict, then they're likely going to sign on to the Ceasefire Compliance Act. And that takes away support from the original litmus test, which was the Block the Bombs Act.
00:19:23
Speaker
So I did mention this in the instructions, so we're going to have to talk
Influence of Hasan Piker on Young Voters
00:19:27
Speaker
about it. Hassan Piker has been one of the most consistent high profile voices in the US media, calling out the genocide in Gaza in real time and is reaching millions of of people, especially young people, in a way that legacy media has really failed to do For those who don't know who Hassan Piker he's a Twitch streamer, he's a left wing commentator.
00:19:51
Speaker
And he's been exposing something quite interesting, that there's an enormous audience, particularly among the under 35s, that is deeply opposed to the to US complicity in in the genocide and is hungry for a media that reflects that. And he's making the the democratic establishment incredibly uncomfortable. For those maybe less familiar with him, can you can you tell us why?
00:20:17
Speaker
Yeah, I think you laid it out pretty effectively. I mean, yeah, Hassan Piker, he's become a very well-known Twitch streamer. He's also kind of seen as what some would call the Joe Rogan of the left, right? Joe Rogan being this leading right figurehead who who also had had his own podcast that that really blew up and then has gained a lot of attention and has kind of become a political bellwether. So I think that Hasan Piker has caused such consternation just because of the, for two things, right? A, because of the fact that he speaks to so to young audiences in such an effective way. He speaks to them in their language. And that is something that fundamentally doesn't sit right with older democratic establishment who are kind of stuck in this mindset of decorum and and and civility, quote unquote. And so when people like Hassan Piker throw around curse words or describe things in an admittedly, sure, it's it's a little bit of a crude manner, but it's it's a new way of talking about, it's not necessarily a new way, it's it's a common way of talking about politics that doesn't really sit well with the democratic establishment, but reaches a lot of people, especially young people. I think that's the first issue that the democratic establishment has with Hassan Piker. The second issue is that he is outspoken in his support of Palestine. and Palestinians and his support of Palestinian resistance. And I think this is the issue that a lot on the on the Democratic or in the Democratic center and the Democratic establishment are really latching onto. And I think this is why they're making him such a martyr, to be honest. And it's because Hassan speaks about Palestinians in an honest way and supports Palestinian resistance. You know, the relationship that Hasan Piker has with the Democratic establishment is in many ways a microcosm of the wider Democratic voting base. And this isn't just anecdotal evidence. This is if you line up Hasan Piker's statements, even some of the most outrageous, according to the Democratic Party establishment, they line up with the Democratic voter. You know, Hassan Piker calls the Gaza genocide a genocide. Most American Democrats now call Israel's conduct a genocide.
00:22:21
Speaker
And I think that is what fundamentally frightens the Democratic Party the most, because they, in many ways, just don't know how to engage with someone like this. And in many ways, they also just don't want to admit that the Democratic Party is far more progressive than they are and far more progressive than they projected they want to be and supports Palestine in ways that is you know fundamentally unrecognizable to them. So basically, I think the relationship that the Democratic Party establishment is having with Hassan Piker is very representative of the relationship that it's gonna be having with the with the party base going into the midterms, going into the presidential election.
00:23:00
Speaker
And because I think in many ways, Hasan Piker represents a lot of at least the the under 35, under 40 Democratic voters right now. And the longer the Democratic establishment fights back against that reality, I think the more it's going to hurt them, whether it's in 2026 midterm elections I think the relationship right now that they have is very much a microcosm of of the wider chasm that we're seeing between the establishment and the base itself in terms of what people are actually demanding, you know, concrete steps to oppose genocide, concrete steps to fundamentally change the, quote unquote, special U.S.'s relationship.
00:23:39
Speaker
You know, I think what the establishment is doing, the democratic establishment, is they're trying to sacrifice Hassan Piker as a scapegoat. And it's not working, unfortunately, for them. It's kind of just giving him more attention.
00:23:51
Speaker
It's turning more people to his Twitch streams, his YouTube channel. And I think it's it's kind of further entrenching this chasm between the party base and the establishment heads that continue to control it.
00:24:03
Speaker
Darit, just as a final question, ahead of the midterms in November, what or who should we be watching out for as this all plays out?
Progressive Candidates Challenging Establishment
00:24:12
Speaker
Yeah, so I think there's two things I want to discuss. is the first The first one I want to talk about are the actual candidates who are running that we should pay attention to.
00:24:19
Speaker
And then the second thing I want to talk about is how the Democratic Party establishment is co-opting the language of the progressive left, of people who want to hold them accountable for support for genocide, and trying to repackage their support for Israel in a way that will be palatable to the left, to the Democratic voting base, without actually fundamentally changing the situation on the ground. So first, let's talk about the people who we should be keeping an eye on. For example, we have Abdul Sayyid, who is running for the Michigan Democratic Senate primary.
00:24:56
Speaker
He, funnily enough, did some campaigning with Hassan Piker, which drew a lot of attention, only ended up pushing him up even higher in the polls. And he is, you know, he is obviously extremely pro-Palestine. He supports cutting all U.S. military support for Israel, whether that's quote-unquote offensive or defensive. He has been gaining a lot of popularity in Michigan, in part, but not solely because of Michigan's large Arab American population, but but because of the fact that he's also just gaining a lot of attention from the progressive left because of his um because of his ah you know populist positions, his progressive positions that are actually extremely popular across the political spectrum.
00:25:35
Speaker
Clara Valdez in New York 7 is someone someone we should also pay attention to. Chakrabarty is in the race for Nancy Pelosi's open seat in San Francisco. So these are kind of like the three names that we should pay attention to on that, like, I guess, the first tier.
00:25:50
Speaker
And then in tier two, we have Adam Hamawi and NJ12. And Brad Lander is is challenging Dan Goldman and in lower Manhattan, Brooklyn. And so all of these candidates are also talking about their support for conditioning and cutting all forms of U.S. military aid to Israel. And I think these are the candidates, importantly, who are kind of recognizing that chasm between the the democratic establishment and where the rest of the party stands. And these, I think, are the people who to look to to see whether they actually take a substantive and concrete
00:26:24
Speaker
policy positions that would actually fundamentally change the status quo, not just performative rhetorical positions that are designed to just please the voting base in the election season, after which they'll then turn around and change their position. So those are some of the names I think we should keep an eye on. But then I think there's also a wider trend that we're seeing that we need to pay a lot of attention to. So a couple months ago,
00:26:48
Speaker
Netanyahu, Lindsey Graham, various pro-Israel think tanks kind of came out and surprised a lot of people by saying that they support initiatives to essentially wean Israel off of U.S. military support and over the coming five to 10 years. And each one of them has a different timetable on when they would like that done.
00:27:09
Speaker
But I think a lot of that is coming from the position of these figures recognizing the fact that support for Israel in the U.S. is crumbling and recognizing the fact that Israel cannot forever count on the U.S. to be footing the bill for its forever wars, footing the bill for its occupation, footing the bill for its genocide, and that there needs to be a new paradigm of of this, quote unquote, special U.S.-Israel relationship.
00:27:33
Speaker
And so since then, we've seen a lot of figures, lawmakers, think tanks, lobby organizations on the left or on the Democratic side that are kind of adopting this language. For example, Rahm Emanuel went on Bill Maher's show the other day and also started echoing this point about saying that Israel should be paying its fair share for U.S. weapons. Israel shouldn't be getting any of these weapons for free. Jay Street recently came out saying that they also are now calling for cutting military aid to Israel.
00:28:03
Speaker
And, you know, a lot of people approach this kind of like, oh, this is like what we've been wanting all, you know, forever. I think it really needs to be analyzed and seen against the backdrop of Israel's recognition that the current paradigm of U.S. support for Israel isn't sustainable.
00:28:20
Speaker
What that means is that a lot of people, a lot of candidates, for example, like Rahm Emanuel, who is also considered to be a potential presidential candidate in 2028. Rahm Emanuel, for example, is a staunch Zionist. What he is trying to do is repackage the U.S. s support for Israel in a way that will be palatable to the voting base, which is now extremely critical of Israel. but in a way that can continue giving Israel the the impunity and and the ability to to wage endless wars of aggression, occupation, and genocide, yet in a way that is palatable to to the U.S. voting base. and And how they're doing this is they're calling for more cooperative co-development models of U.S. and U.S.-Israeli military development, right? So that
00:29:06
Speaker
We can eventually get to a point where the U.S. isn't necessarily straight up just gifting Israel U.S. weapons through through U.S. tax dollars and is instead doing more to co-develop weapons in a more codependent relationship.
00:29:20
Speaker
and And what this does is ah obviously this this does nothing to actually... stop Israeli genocide. This does nothing to deter the Israeli occupation. But what it does is it is it chips away at that at that arguing point in which many on the left are saying, or many across the political spectrum of the US are saying, we shouldn't be using our tax dollars to fund Israeli war crimes.
00:29:42
Speaker
um So I think, you know, moving into the midterms, moving into the 2028 presidential election, we need to be really cognizant of that as ah as a strategy. We need to be very, very aware that they're that they're kind of using that, not because they're sincere about about reigning Israel in, but because they want to find ways to support Israel that will be more sustainable in the long run. I think when we're looking at candidates running for office in the midterms, when we're looking at the eventual presidential candidates running for office in 2028, I think we need to pay attention to whether they're actually supporting initiatives that will rein Israel in, whether they're actually supporting initiative initiatives that will cut Israel off from U.S. weapons permanently, or whether they're just...
00:30:28
Speaker
figuring out ways to reshape the U.S.-Israel relationship in a way that will be more codependent and more mutually beneficial instead of just the endless flow of U.S. tax dollars that have been going to Israel for free for for so long.
00:30:43
Speaker
So I think those are the two angles we need to pay attention to in the lead up to the coming midterm and the presidential elections. Sarut, thank you so much for that comprehensive analysis. I think we'll leave it there. I'm looking forward to having you on a future episode of Rethinking Palestine.
00:30:59
Speaker
Thank you, Yara.
00:31:05
Speaker
Rethinking Palestine is brought to you by Ashabaka, the Palestinian policy network. Ashabaka is the only global independent Palestinian think tank whose mission is to produce critical policy analysis and collectively imagine a new policymaking paradigm for Palestine and Palestinians worldwide.
00:31:22
Speaker
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