Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumers blunt characterization of anti-Zionism as antisemitism is casting a harsh new spotlight on prominent progressive Democrats who openly question Israels existence as a Jewish state.
Speaking at a New York Public Library event in May 2025 to promote his book, Antisemitism in America, A Warning, Schumer drew a bright moral and political line around the issue of Israels legitimacy. According to The New York Post, the veteran New York Democrat declared, To be anti-Zionist to not believe the Jewish people should have a state is in my view a form of antisemitism, a remark captured in resurfaced video from the event, where he was repeatedly heckled by pro-Palestinian protesters.
Schumer went further, arguing that denying Jewish nationhood while affirming it for others exposes a discriminatory double standard. If you believe every other people should have their own state, but the Jewish people should not, that is antisemitic, he added, effectively placing anti-Zionist rhetoric in the same category as classic anti-Jewish bigotry.
That definition directly implicates New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who drew fire during last years mayoral race when he refused to clearly affirm Israels right to exist as a Jewish state. Under pressure at a UJA-Federation event in May 2025, Mamdani attempted a carefully hedged formulation, saying, I believe Israel has a right to exist and it has a right to exist also with equal rights for all.
Mamdani has built his political brand on harsh denunciations of Israel, backing the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement and accusing the Jewish state of committing genocide in Gaza. He pointedly skipped this years Salute to Israel Day Parade in New York, a symbolic snub that underscored his distance from the citys large and historically pro-Israel Jewish community.
The mayor has also demanded the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in Gaza, aligning himself with the global lefts most aggressive legal and diplomatic campaigns against the Jewish state. Netanyahu, addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York last week, fired back, accusing Mamdani of being an antisemite who has inflamed hatred and made New York less safe for Jews.
Mamdani insists his quarrel is with Israeli policy, not Jewish people, and has tried to inoculate himself against charges of bigotry. He has said he supports Jewish New Yorkers and has zero tolerance for antisemitism or bigotry of any kind, even as his rhetoric mirrors the language of anti-Israel activists who routinely blur the line between criticism of a government and delegitimization of a nation.
A similar pattern is emerging in Michigan, where Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has repeatedly sidestepped direct acknowledgment of Israels right to exist as a Jewish state. When pressed by one interviewer, El-Sayed replied, I do not. I just dispute the idea that you should have an ethno-state, adding, I dispute Egypts right to be an ethno-state, and Saudi Arabias right to be an ethno-state.
In a recent CNN appearance, El-Sayed again dodged the core question, shifting the focus to American taxpayers rather than Israels legitimacy. Its interesting. Nobody has ever asked me if Palestinians have a right to exist, he told host Kasie Hunt, before asserting, The question of whether or not Israel has a right to exist is quite secondary to whether they have a right to our tax dollars.
El-Sayed then escalated his critique, framing U.S. aid to Israel in the harshest possible terms. Israel exists. The question is whether or not we want a politics where our money is sent over to Israel to do genocide and apartheid instead of investing in our own kids, he said, language that echoes the far-lefts most incendiary talking points.
Even when pressed again, El-Sayed refused to give a straightforward answer on Israels existence, dismissing the inquiry as a political trap. The question of Israels existence is not a question. Im not going to play this gotcha game, he said, insisting instead, The question we ought to ask is, `Does everyone have equal rights to peace, dignity and self-determination.'
Schumer, Mamdanis office and El-Sayeds campaign had no immediate comment, leaving voters to reconcile the Senate leaders definition of antisemitism with the rhetoric of his partys rising progressive stars. The controversy comes as the New York Public Library itself faces criticism from Jewish and pro-Israel advocates after hosting Benjamin Moser, an Israel-bashing Jewish author whose book, Anti-Zionism, a Jewish History, likens the Jewish state to a dog shelter and challenges its existence as a Jewish-led nation.
The NYPL has stressed that it presents diverse viewpoints on contentious issues, but the growing normalization of anti-Zionist language on the left raises deeper questions about where principled criticism ends and bigotry begins. As Schumers own standard gains renewed attention, Democrats who refuse to affirm Israels right to exist as a Jewish state may find it increasingly difficult to claim they stand firmly against antisemitism while echoing rhetoric that undermines the worlds only Jewish homeland.
Login