OpEd: Senator Jon Ossoff Has Just Put His Reelection in Jeopardy

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — “Nobody wants you here. Nobody!,” pro-Israel neighbors of U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in metro Atlanta would readily tell him. Seinfeld fans will recall that a hostile tenant in his building uttered those words for snubbing her.

Ossoff, a Jewish Democrat representing Georgia, must be taking note of the massive matzoh ball in the room that is being ignored by the news media and most everyone else: the pro-Palestinian vote. It was not so much that Donald J. Trump won the presidency on Nov. 5. He became president once again because Vice President Kamala Harris lost the election.

Advocates for the Palestinians, especially in battleground state Michigan, predicted their faction would vote for neither Trump nor Harris to punish Democrats on grounds that President Biden did too little to restrain Israel’s military response to Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas slaughtered 1,200 Israelis. Another faction that was expected to undermine Harris were racial minorities who accused Democrats of taking their votes for granted.

A New York Times assessment projects that when election results become official Harris will receive 7 million fewer votes than did President Biden in 2020, and Trump will acquire 2 ½ million more votes than Harris. That leaves 4 or 5 million voters who chose between Biden and Trump in 2020 who either did not vote or cast votes for others with no chance of winning.

So, if the pro-Arab threat to rob Harris of votes did materialize, then the anti-Israel mob alone could have cost Democrats the presidency. Democrats no doubt recognize this probability and are even now seeking to retrieve those votes for the 2026 midterm and 2028 presidential elections, which includes Georgia, known as the Peach State.

All kinds of excuses have been conveyed for Harris’ loss – the economy, brutal migrant crimes, the flood of immigrants, emphasis on gender-bending, Biden’s late retirement decision, resistance to a female president, Harris’ campaign strategy, etc. There are some credible explanations out there, but the evidence is strong that Harris would have won if pro-Palestinian voters had supported her.

Ossoff embodied Ground Zero in the election aftermath when he voted last Wednesday for two of three resolutions to block sales of tank rounds and high-explosive mortar rounds. The resolutions were rejected by the full Senate with votes of, respectively, 79-18 and 78-19. Ossoff voted against the third resolution to block guidance systems for bombs, which the Senate rejected in an 80-17 vote, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The spotlight may well shine on Ossoff as he faces re-election in 2026 in America’s eighth most populous state, which voted for Trump in 2016, Biden in 2020 and back to Trump this year. No matter how they voted on Nov. 5, American Jews have since 2018 been enraged by Sen. Bernie Sanders (Ind-Vermont) and a minority of House Democrats who followed his lead in seeking to ban weapons sales to Israel.

What should jolt Democrats is the support that roughly a third of Democratic and independent senators supplied to the three resolutions. The “yea” votes from some senators did not surprise, but what did surprise were “yea” votes cast by Dick Durbin of Illinois, George Helmy of New Jersey, Tina Smith of Minnesota, both New Mexico senators and a few other senators, including Raphael Warnock, Ossoff’s fellow senator from Georgia. Ossoff is one of three Jewish senators to vote for at least one resolution, the others being Democrat Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Sanders.

Two of our most populous states, Illinois and New Jersey, are home to large populations of pro-Palestinian activists, particularly in Chicago and throughout New Jersey along with its proximity to New York City.

Ossoff released this statement to summarize his votes: “I fervently want Israel to succeed, both in defeating the threat posed by Hamas, and as a historic effort to secure a safe homeland for Jews. But I do not accept that the total deprivation of millions of innocent civilians is necessary for Israel to secure its objectives, or in the national interest of the United States. Just as I pray for the freedom of hostages taken so cruelly from their families, as a pro-Israel Jewish American I urge mercy for the innocent civilians in Gaza.”

He was swiftly rebuked by state Rep. Esther Panitch, who represents heavily Jewish suburbs north of Atlanta. PBS station WABE in Atlanta reported her words in a statement: “In the end, the failed vote will not be felt by the Israeli forces or government, but acute feelings of abandonment by our senators are already being felt by pro-Israel constituents, both Jewish and not Jewish, in Georgia.”

The senator’s harshest Jewish critics will likely charge that he is trying to have it both ways, and Republicans will accuse him of exploiting the Israel-Hamas war to win pro-Arab votes.

Ossoff’s predicament has three-ring circus written all over it, which exemplifies the dilemma faced by Democrats in the run-up to the next series of elections. They are damned if they do, damned if they don’t. They risk making enemies of Jews or supporters of the Palestinians, probably both.

The outcome of 2024 obviously wrecked everything that so-called progressives planned to do for the poor and vulnerable here and Palestinians caught in the crossfire between Israel and Hamas, and now Hezbollah. They welded the causes…well, one is a cause…together. Their hostility toward Jews and Israel, when combined with other issues, ultimately destroyed their credibility, which jeopardized their domestic policies even while Democrats still hold power. Starting in January, they will be on defense as Trump and other Republicans have pledged to upend liberal programs.

Then progressives will have nothing after siding with a movement that is trying to destroy America’s democratic ally. Unlike issues in America, social justice was never the goal in Gaza and the West Bank.

Even during the arms debate, some senators employed the same disingenuous tactics which antagonized pro-Israel Americans. Sanders referred to J Street as “a pro-Israel group,” a description which Jewish conservatives and even center-left Jews would dispute.

More essential, while Sanders has condemned Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion, he has yet to demand that Iran cease supplying terrorists with weapons, nor have most pro-Palestinian activists. That makes the protests one-sided.

Once Trump takes office, we will find out if the very voters who made the difference by not voting will denounce Trump for backing Israel when they believe the Jewish state is right or wrong. Already, a New Jersey caller to C-SPAN griped that Trump has announced that a long list of advocates for Israel will be named to administration jobs.

Even for those of us who fear what Trump will do, how can we take seriously harsh critics of Israel any longer?