Fetterman says anti-Israel platform could push him out of Democratic Party
The Pennsylvania senator told NBC News that cutting off Israel aid in the party platform would be a personal red line.
By Deshawn Carter · Sports Writer
3 min read
Sen. John Fetterman has put a hard marker on his future as a Democrat: if the party formally moves against Israel, he says he could walk.
The Pennsylvania Democrat told NBC News on Thursday that he would leave the party if it “officially” became “the anti-Israel party.” It was the clearest condition he has given publicly for quitting Democrats amid his increasingly open breaks with them.
Fetterman said the line would be crossed if Democrats wrote opposition to Israel aid into the party platform. “If they put that in our platform, no aid for Israel, and officially become the anti-Israel party, then yeah, that’s a red line for me,” he told NBC News.
He framed support for Israel as a core Democratic position. In the interview, Fetterman said Democrats “should support Israel” and called the country a special ally and, in his words, “the only democracy in the entire region.”
Fetterman also said it would be a problem for him if the party formally described Israel as undeserving of existence or U.S. support, or failed to call out Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran as terrorists.
He did not say whether leaving the Democratic Party would mean joining the Republican Party. NBC News reported that he also did not say whether he would instead become an independent and continue caucusing with Democrats, as former Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema did before retiring in 2024.
A public split over Israel
Fetterman, first elected to the Senate in 2022, has become one of the most outspoken pro-Israel Democrats in Congress during the war in Gaza. NBC News reported that his relationship with fellow Democrats has grown strained as he has broken with the party on Israel and other issues.
He told NBC News he has been frustrated with what he described as Democrats turning away from Israel. He repeated that his concern was specifically about an official party platform position calling for no U.S. aid to Israel.
The comments came as Democratic opinion on the issue has been moving. Gallup polling has shown American sympathies shifting away from Israelis and more toward Palestinians during the Gaza war, with that movement especially visible among Democrats.
On Wednesday, 103 House Democrats voted for an amendment from Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, that would have cut off U.S. aid to Israel, according to NBC News. Republicans overwhelmingly voted against the measure.
Approval trouble at home
Fetterman’s split with Democrats is also showing up in Pennsylvania polling. A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found his approval rating among Democrats in the state at 19%.
That figure could make a Democratic primary difficult for him if he seeks another term in 2028, NBC News reported. The same Quinnipiac poll put his approval among Pennsylvania Republicans at 77%, though NBC News noted it is not clear that Republican approval would translate into votes for him.
Fetterman has also sided with Republicans on several other matters, according to NBC News, including government funding votes and some nominees from President Donald Trump’s administration.
For now, Fetterman remains a Democrat. But his message to the party was direct: if Democrats make opposition to Israel aid an official plank, he says that is where his loyalty to the party may end.
This story draws on original reporting from NBC News.