WASHINGTON — The Israel-Hamas war and U.S. policy in the Middle East remain early flashpoints in the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania, where there are more Jews than all but four other states and where voters are poised to help determine which party controls Congress and the White House in 2025.
David McCormick, the Republican former hedge fund CEO and George W. Bush administration official, used a high-profile visit to Israel earlier this month to emphasize the need for strong support for the Jewish state while slamming President Joe Biden’s foreign policy as “appeasement” of Iran, one of Hamas’ chief financial backers.
Mr. McCormick has sought to link Mr. Biden’s policies and what he describes as America’s weakened position in the Middle East to his opponent U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a three-term incumbent Democrat and longtime supporter of Israel who is endorsed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the powerful pro-Israel lobby.
“American leaders need to act now in this critical moment when the stakes are so high,” Mr. McCormick wrote in a recent letter to Pennsylvania voters, obtained by the Post-Gazette. “Israel needs America’s firm and unequivocal support. Hamas must be destroyed. The lesson of October 7 is clear — the Middle East respects strength and that is why Israel must win. America’s mission must be to help Israel win. It’s that simple.”
Mr. McCormick’s letter, which did not mention Mr. Casey, comes as Republicans continue a years-long effort to woo Jewish American voters away from Democrats. Mr. Biden and Mr. Casey have received solid support from Western Pennsylvania’s Jewish community, but the Israel-Hamas conflict has also sparked criticism from progressives more willing to criticize Israel’s policies toward Palestinians.
Mr. McCormick says the Obama administration’s Iran nuclear agreement — a push to curtail the country’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief and which Mr. Casey supported — gave Iran access to funds to underwrite “terrorist proxies” including Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad.
Former President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018 — which Mr. Casey called a “drastic” decision that flouted the advice of some of Mr. Trump’s own national security leaders and opened the door for Iran to resume its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Iran now potentially could produce enough weapons-grade uranium to make its first nuclear weapon within a week, according to a report by American physicist David Albright, the Jerusalem Post reported Sunday.
Mr. McCormick says a policy of appeasement with Iran continues under Mr. Biden. In a news conference after returning from Israel, he called on the U.S. to implement an aggressive “multilateral across-countries sanctions regime that would put Iran back in the box,” and for a stronger response to direct attacks against American citizens and soldiers in the Middle East.
“Our adversaries smell weakness and they’re testing us, and we’re failing the test,” he said.
Mr. Casey has pointed out that he previously led efforts to sanction the Iranian regime for its nuclear program, development of ballistic missiles and backing of terrorist proxies.
While fellow Pennsylvania Democratic U.S. Sen. John Fetterman has made headlines for his vocal pro-Israel stance over the objections of some members of the party’s progressive wing, Mr. Casey repeatedly has supported Israel’s right to defend itself and to eliminate Hamas, which the U.S. has designated as a terrorist group.
Mr. Casey was one of 49 Democratic senators on Wednesday who said they would move to amend the proposed national security funding package to endorse a two-state solution in the Middle East. Official U.S. policy calls for two independent countries between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea — Israel and Palestine.
“Oct. 7 made clear that as long as the terrorist group Hamas is in a position of power, lasting peace is the Middle East is not possible,” Mr. Casey said. “This amendment reaffirms the United States’ long-standing commitment to a two-state solution once Hamas has been dismantled.”
Mr. Fetterman said Thursday that he also supported the amendment.
“But I also believe that to have lasting peace and a two-state solution, Hamas must be fully destroyed,” he said. “I am working with my colleagues on an amendment to the national security supplemental that would include that precondition.”
Like Mr. Fetterman, Mr. Casey has not joined with some Democratic progressives — including U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale — in calling for a ceasefire. Hamas says more than 20,000 civilians have been killed during Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attacks.
“Horrific loss of life is troubling to everyone,” Mr. Casey said earlier this month on the CBS News podcast, “The Takeout.” “I've seen no evidence that Israel has not taken a series of steps to avoid civilian casualties. They're trying to do everything they can."
Mr. Casey said that the “kind of depravity” seen in a video of the Oct. 7 attack shared with senators — and cited earlier by Mr. McCormick — is “different than some of the terrorism we've seen over the last generation.”
“They're trying to wipe out a people, the Jewish people,” he said. “They're not simply trying to terrorize the state of Israel, or terrorize a kibbutz, or terrorize a neighborhood. They’ve continued to attack. They've said over and over they want to have more Oct. 7ths. This idea that the threat manifested itself on Oct. 7 and then receded and everything since then has been an Israeli response is really faulty."
Mr. Casey, who visited the Jewish Community Center in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood earlier this month, acknowledged that the situation is “an exceedingly complex, difficult circumstance” that has divided some Democrats. But he described back-and-forth on social media as “unfortunately oversimplified.”
A bid for Jewish American voters
Almost three-quarters of American Jews (71%) identify as Democrats, according to the Pew Research Center. But Republicans have made some inroads among Jewish voters over the last several years, in large part due to foreign policy. President George W. Bush received 25% of the Jewish vote in 2004 and Mr. Trump received about a quarter of the Jewish vote in 2016, according to network exit polls. Mr. Trump received almost 30% in 2020, according to a Republican Jewish Coalition poll.
Every major Republican presidential candidate showed up at the RJC’s annual leadership conference in Las Vegas in late October, and the RJC co-hosted a primary debate, highlighting the importance of attracting Jewish voters in Pennsylvania and other battleground states.
Halie Soifer, the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, said Mr. Biden and Mr. Casey have been “steadfast in their support of Israel’s security and right to self-defense for decades.”
“They have both stood firmly with Israel following the horrific massacre of Oct. 7,” she said. “President Biden requested $14.3 billion in supplemental security assistance to Israel on Oct. 20, which Sen. Casey and Democrats have supported as Republicans have politicized and delayed its passage.”
Weeks after the Oct. 7 attack, Matthew Brooks, CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition, criticized Mr. Casey for supporting the Iran nuclear deal and not backing a 2021 bill that he said would have “denied terrorist groups access to loans or credit guaranteed by American financial institutions and penalized foreign countries that gave money to Hamas.”
But Mr. Casey said in 2015 that his pushes for tough sanctions on Iran helped bring the regime to the negotiating table.
Four months after voting to support the Iran deal, Mr. Casey pressed the Obama administration for additional sanctions for the Iranian regime’s “provocative and aggressive behaviors, including recent tests of ballistic missiles.” He said at the time that he was concerned “the administration has not taken steps to hold Iran accountable for its actions and to demonstrate that there will be swift consequences for violations.”
Mr. Biden’s support for Israel after Oct. 7 has drawn praise from both Democrats and Republicans, the Pittsburgh-area Jewish community and Israeli officials, although Mr. Biden has received criticism from some factions in his own party who believe Israel’s response has been disproportionate.
Mr. McCormick has said the best group to decide how to conduct the war is Israel. He said Hamas had embedded itself in civilian infrastructure in Gaza, blocked the flow of aid and kept civilians from leaving.
“As a soldier, I look at every innocent death happening in Gaza as absolutely regrettable,” he said. “I believe the Israeli military is taking all the steps they can to minimize the impact of its military operation on innocent civilians.”
Benjamin Kail: bkail@post-gazette.com, @BenKail
First Published: January 25, 2024, 10:30 a.m.
Updated: January 26, 2024, 3:56 p.m.