Sen. Adam Schiff, a reliably pro-Israel Democrat once described as a “moderate’s moderate” in the Atlantic, delivered a harsh rebuke of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late last week, reflecting a developing trend in the Democratic Party.
The California senator broadly took aim at Israel’s conduct in its ongoing war against Hamas and at Netanyahu’s plan to occupy Gaza City. Schiff said such a move would be “calamitous.” He also blamed Netanyahu for mass hunger in the Palestinian enclave and decried what he called the “destructive policies” of the Israeli prime minister.
“Both the United States and Israel have a moral obligation to bring this conflict to an end,” he said in a statement released Friday.
At the same time, Schiff reiterated that “I have always viewed the relationship between the United States and Israel as a special one.” And he added that just as he wouldn’t want American allies to abandon the U.S. because of President Donald Trump, “nor would I abandon Israel over the destructive policies of Prime Minister Netanyahu.”
Schiff’s remarks represent some of the Jewish senator’s harshest public criticism leveled against Netanyahu. They also reflect a growing willingness among moderate Democrats to criticize Israel sharply, including accusing it of intentionally making Gazan civilians suffer.
He also signed onto a July 29 letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff expressing “alarm” about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and calling for an expansion of aid, joining 43 other Senate Democrats. Yet when a majority of Senate Democrats voted in late July for two resolutions blocking offensive weapons sales to Israel, Schiff and fellow California Sen. Alex Padilla voted no. (Both measures failed.)
A liberal Democrat who has served in Congress since 2001, Schiff burst onto the national stage while leading the first impeachment trial of Trump in 2019. Last fall, Schiff won a Senate seat following the death of longtime Sen. Dianne Feinstein. He was sworn into office holding a copy of Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah.
Schiff has said he does not belong to a synagogue, though he has spoken about the importance of his Jewish identity. The Burbank resident lived in the Bay Area as a child and celebrated his bar mitzvah at Temple Isaiah in Lafayette.
When Schiff visited Israel with a bipartisan delegation in February, he reiterated his call for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and described Israel as a “country I feel a very deep personal connection with.” He met with families of Israeli hostages in Gaza, describing the experience as “very moving” and saying they had gone through “500 days of hell.”
Schiff reliably supported Israel during his more than two decades in the House, voting in favor of military aid and funding for the Iron Dome and against the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. AIPAC, the pro-Israel political action committee, backed Schiff in his 2024 Senate bid.
Yet like many Democrats, Schiff has been increasingly outspoken against Israel’s conduct in the war and has sought to link Trump to the unpopular policies of the Netanyahu-led government.
Polling has shown plummeting support for Israel among Democrats as the two-year mark approaches in the Israel-Hamas war. Images and reports of severe hunger in Gaza over the past several weeks have intensified calls for the war to end.
Netanyahu’s government continues to assert the need both to destroy Hamas following its brutal and deadly terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and to rescue the remaining hostages held in Gaza. Cease-fire talks have broken down yet again, as Israel demands that Hamas relinquish control of Gaza and release the remaining 50 hostages.
Schiff sharply condemned Hamas in his statement Friday, describing the terrorist group as responsible for the war.
“No call upon the Israeli government to act … can ignore the barbaric acts committed by Hamas that brought this war about,” he said, stressing “the need to ensure [Hamas] can never threaten Israel again, and the even more urgent need for the release of all of the hostages.”