The Shift: Israel debate continues to rage on the right

In a recent interview, Vice President JD Vance said some interesting things about voters turning on Israel.

Vance brushed off the suggestion that such criticisms are antisemitic. “99% of Republicans, and I think probably 97% of Democrats, do not hate Jewish people for being Jewish,” he told UnHerd.

These stats are obviously pulled out of thin air, and there’s undoubtedly more antisemitism on the right than the left, but Vance’s comments are notable. For years, virtually every GOP lawmaker has insisted that denunciations of Israel are effectively bigotry.

“What is actually happening is that there is a real backlash to a consensus view in American foreign policy,” says Vance.

This certainly makes sense, but it’s hard to take the source of these sentiments seriously.

Vance is part of an administration that continues to intensify hostilities against Venezuela, brazenly ignoring international law altogether. Polls show that the vast majority of Americans oppose this aggression and that opposition is part of the backlash that Vance is referring to.

However, even if Vance is being insincere, he clearly knows that Israel has become a major debate on the right, and he can’t afford to lose supporters on either side of the battle if he wants to become the next president.

“Vance’s allies say he’s balancing a desire to keep in the fold young Republicans who are increasingly concerned about how much military aid the United States provides to Israel, while still embracing the Jewish state as a strategic U.S. partner in the Middle East,” notes the Washington Post.

“He’s walking a tightrope,” one ally told the paper. “One hundred percent.”

In his speech at Turning Point USA’s annual conference last week, Vance decided to refrain from referring to Israel at all, which was probably a smart political decision, as the subject inevitably became a central topic at the event.

Pro-Israel conservative Ben Shapiro was repeatedly criticized by prominent right-wing personalities, like former White House strategist Steve Bannon.

“Israel needs its sovereignty, Israel needs to be independent. If Israel wants to take on Syria, go for it … but not drag the USA into another endless war,” said Bannon.

Popular right-wing podcaster Tucker Carlson criticized U.S. evangelicals who support the genocide in Gaza.

“If a man commits a crime, do we kill his kids?,” asked Carlson. “I don’t care if it’s in Minneapolis or Gaza City. No, we don’t. God is not on any country’s side.”

Tulsi Gabbard‘s anti-Muslim speech

Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard’s also gave a speech at the Turning Point USA conference.

In her remarks, she warned that “Islamist ideology” represented an existential threat to the United States, invoked the 9/11 attacks, claimed that the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) is trying to implement Sharia Law, and embraced the late Charlie Kirk’s Islamophobic rhetoric.

“The bottom line is this. When we talk about the threat of Islamism, this political ideology, there is no such thing as individual freedom or liberty,” said Gabbard. “As Charlie said over and over again, it is fundamentally incompatible with our nation’s foundation of freedom. And at its core, when we understand that our freedom comes from God and no one else, we understand the seriousness of this Islamist ideology threat, because it means they deny that God is the one who has bestowed this right to freedom in every one of us. So what do we do?”

CAIR’s Washington D.C. branch put out a statement condemning the comments.

“Tulsi Gabbard’s anti-Muslim rant at Turning Point USA was the moment she took off her mask, dropped all pretenses and confirmed her virulent hatred for Islam and the American Muslim community,” it read. “She should apologize and retract her remarks or resign, and all elected officials should speak out against her unacceptable, deranged bigotry.”

The Gabbard rant comes amid a plethora of anti-Muslim rants from GOP politicians in response to the mass shooting in Australia.

“Islam is not a religion,” wrote Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL). “It’s a cult. Islamists aren’t here to assimilate. They’re here to conquer.”

“Stop worrying about offending the pearl clutchers,” he added. “We’ve got to SEND THEM HOME NOW or we’ll become the United Caliphate of America.”

Similar comments came from the infamously bigoted Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL).

“This has to stop. Diversity is not our strength. Diversity has become suicidal,” he tweeted. “It is time for a Muslim travel ban, radical deportations of all mainstream Muslim legal and illegal immigrants, and citizenship revocations wherever possible. Mainstream Muslims have declared war on us. The least we can do is kick them the hell out of America.”