Michigan Primary: Fringe Cult of Anti-Israelism on the Left

If the anti-Israel voters whom Democrats have cultivated as an element of their base were going to push their weight around, it would have been in Michigan. To judge by the Biden administration’s repeated efforts to mollify this restive force — dispatching envoy after envoy on listening tours to the state, only to be rebuffed by its unappeasable activist class — the administration knew it. And yet, Michigan Democrats spent the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary rending garments over the White House’s supposed failure to take seriously the threat to the president’s electoral bottom line.

“I feel like this is 2016 all over again,” one anguished Michigan Democrat told Politico last week. “If the president doesn’t change course, I would not be surprised if Biden loses the state.” Unnamed Democrats used the cover of anonymity to go even further. Potential Biden voters are hardening their hearts against the president, one party strategist lamented. “Every day, as violence in Gaza continues, getting those voters back becomes more of a challenge for Biden.” Anti-Israel Democrats tried everything from emotional blackmail to political extortion to get Biden to see the light and abandon his support for Jewish state’s war against Hamas. “If they’re not going to be moved because of the humanity of the Palestinian people,” state representative Abraham Aiyash said, “then perhaps they’ll view things differently when there’s a political calculus they have to make.”

If the anti-Israel voters whom Democrats have cultivated as an element of their base were going to push their weight around, it would have been in Michigan. To judge by the Biden administration’s repeated efforts to mollify this restive force — dispatching envoy after envoy on listening tours to the state, only to be rebuffed by its unappeasable activist class — the administration knew it. And yet, Michigan Democrats spent the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary rending garments over the White House’s supposed failure to take seriously the threat to the president’s electoral bottom line.

“I feel like this is 2016 all over again,” one anguished Michigan Democrat told Politico last week. “If the president doesn’t change course, I would not be surprised if Biden loses the state.” Unnamed Democrats used the cover of anonymity to go even further. Potential Biden voters are hardening their hearts against the president, one party strategist lamented. “Every day, as violence in Gaza continues, getting those voters back becomes more of a challenge for Biden.” Anti-Israel Democrats tried everything from emotional blackmail to political extortion to get Biden to see the light and abandon his support for Jewish state’s war against Hamas. “If they’re not going to be moved because of the humanity of the Palestinian people,” state representative Abraham Aiyash said, “then perhaps they’ll view things differently when there’s a political calculus they have to make.”

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.