California Governor Gavin Newsom compared Israel to an “apartheid state” and questioned future U.S. military support for the country.
Speaking on stage at an event to promote his new memoir, Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery, Newsom, who is widely expected to enter the 2028 presidential race, was asked by Pod Save America host Jon Favreau about the U.S.-Israel relationship and whether it should be reconsidered. “It breaks my heart, because the current leadership in Israel is walking us down the path where I don’t think you have a choice about that consideration,” Newsom said about the U.S. potentially rethinking its support for Israel.
Newsom’s comments come in light of the devastation in Gaza and the ongoing war with Iran. But also as the Democratic base’s views of Israel have shifted markedly to being negative, so much so that even minor links to the country have become an electoral liability for Dems in primary races.
Newsom was also asked about Israel’s leader Benjamin Netanyahu, someone the governor has publicly slammed on many occasions.
“The issue of [Netanyahu] is interesting,” Newsom said. “He’s got his own domestic issues. He’s trying to stay out of jail. He’s got an election coming up. He’s potentially on the ropes. He’s got folks, the hard line, that want to annex the West Bank. I mean, [Thomas Friedman] and others are talking about [Israel] appropriately as sort of an apartheid state.”
Newsom’s reference to Friedman relates to the New York Times columnist’s consistent warnings that Israel was on the road to becoming an apartheid state. In his latest column, Friendman argues that, ” If the war in Iran enables Netanyahu to win the Israeli elections planned for this year, it will be a major propellant to his efforts to annex the West Bank, cripple the Israeli Supreme Court and make Israel an apartheid state, which would be a major blow to American interests in the region beyond Iran.”
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