Head of College Dems, Progressive Groups Back DNC Resolution for Israel Arms Embargo, Palestinian State

The national president of the College Democrats is co-sponsoring a Democratic National Committee resolution calling for party members to support an arms embargo and the suspension of military aid to Israel, as well as the recognition of a Palestinian state.

The resolution comes after just 8% of voters in the Democratic Party said in a July Gallup poll that they support Israel's military actions in the Gaza Strip, a dramatic sea change from October 2023, when 36% expressed support.

According to an Economist/YouGov poll from mid-August, 69% of Democratic voters said they believed Israel was committing a genocide against Palestinian civilians.

Disapproval of Israel's actions is most staggering among young voters. Among Democrats ages 18 to 49, Pew Research found that unfavorable views of Israel have shot up to 71% from just 62% in 2022. Just 6% of Americans under 35, across all parties, said they had a favorable opinion of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Young Americans have made their voices clear," said the national president of the College Democrats, Sunjay A. Muralitharan. "A modern Democratic Party must stand against global injustice."

The College Democrats were joined by a trio of activist groups—Progressive Democrats of America, RootsAction, and Our Revolution—who signed on in support of the proposal Thursday.

"This resolution is a critical step toward aligning our foreign policy with our values," said Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution. "By calling for an arms embargo and suspending military aid to Israel, the DNC would be recognizing what grassroots movements have long demanded: that American taxpayer dollars must not bankroll human rights abuses."

The resolution is one of two dueling proposals that will be considered at the DNC meeting on August 26. Another, backed by DNC chair Ken Martin, expresses support for long-held Democratic Party policies of a "two-state" solution and a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

RootsAction political director Sam Rosenthal describes it as a "watered-down resolution that stops far short of calling for an end to arms shipments to Israel."

That proposal closely mirrors the one put forward during the 2024 Democratic National Convention, which stopped short of calling for the suspension of weapons sales to Israel and emphasized the importance of maintaining Israel's "qualitative military edge."

Allison Minnerly, the 26-year-old DNC member from Florida who introduced the embargo resolution earlier this month, told The Intercept that Martin offered his resolution as a compromise in the face of her more ambitious one.

Though her resolution now has the support of the College Dems and delegations from Maine, California, and Florida, it nevertheless faces an uphill battle to pass. If it fails, Minnerly says, it will further exacerbate the yawning rift between the Democratic Party and its supporters.

"Our voters, our base, they are saying that they do not want US dollars to enable further death and starvation anywhere across the world, particularly in Gaza," Minnerly said. "I don't think it should be a hard decision for us to say that clearly."

Though the vote is largely symbolic, Matt Duss, a former foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), said that "the position of the DNC does matter" because "it sets the tone for the entire party."

"There are two Gaza-related DNC resolutions," said Prem Thakker, a reporter and commentator at Zeteo. "A status quo one. And one that recognizes public opinion and events in the past 22 months."

"We have a moral obligation to do what we can to stop the slaughter, but most people feel powerless," said Alan Minsky, the executive director of Progressive Democrats of America. "However, it is well understood that Israel would not be able to maintain the siege of Gaza without the steady flow of US weapons."