A Democrat congressman got called out by name after trying to dodge a Jewish former Bernie Sanders staffer’s warning about antisemitism creeping into his own party.
Story Snapshot
- Joel Rubin, Bernie Sanders’s 2020 Jewish outreach director, wrote that Sanders and his allies are “actively fueling antisemitism” in the Democratic Party.
- Rep. Ro Khanna pushed back on Rubin’s characterization, prompting Rubin to publicly correct the record on what he actually said.
- Rubin says Sanders’s operation has “by design” elevated the most anti-Israel candidates the party has seen “in a generation.”
- Khanna has faced repeated questions about his own record on Israel, including a TrackAIPAC pledge and opposition to Iron Dome funding.
Former Sanders Aide Sounds The Alarm
Joel Rubin worked as Bernie Sanders’s Jewish outreach director during his 2020 presidential run. In a Free Press op-ed published August 21, Rubin wrote that his “former boss, and the broader left-wing activist infrastructure that surrounds him, are actively fueling antisemitism in this country”. That is not a fringe pundit talking. That is someone who worked inside Sanders’s own campaign speaking out.
Rubin did not stop there. He told Jewish Insider that Sanders and his team had “shove[n] into our system the most categorically anti-Israel, antisemitic candidates that we’ve seen in a generation,” and said flatly that “it’s by design”. Rubin argued this was intentional, meant to “undermine Democratic unity and even rationality on Israel.”
Khanna Tries To Reframe The Fight
Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat and longtime Sanders ally, disputed how his position was being described. Rubin had to respond directly, clarifying on social media that “on the substance, I also didn’t say that Sanders is an antisemite,” but that Sanders was “pushing the party to absorb the most radical fringe voices in its midst, who will actively fuel antisemitism in the halls of Congress and in society as a whole”. Khanna’s attempt to muddy Rubin’s message backfired the moment Rubin showed up to correct him in public.
Khanna has tried to draw a narrow line for himself. He told the Jerusalem Post that he believes “in the right for Israel to exist” and defined antisemitism as “denying the idea of a Jewish state”. That sounds reasonable on paper. But Khanna’s own record tells a different story than his talking points.
Khanna’s Own Record Raises Questions
Khanna signed a pledge from TrackAIPAC, a group Jewish Insider describes as facing “widespread accusations of antisemitism,” to win its endorsement. He also joined Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the group J Street in opposing U.S. funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, a purely defensive technology that saves civilian lives. When Townhall’s Amy Curtis asked Khanna directly about his party’s antisemitism problem tied to his support of Michigan candidate Abdul El-Sayed, Khanna ignored the question and pivoted to healthcare talking points instead.
Khanna has said the right things in front of friendly audiences. Speaking to California synagogues, he claimed there should be “zero tolerance for antisemitism” and that leaders should call it out “regardless of which side of the aisle it comes from”. But when Rubin, a man who spent years building Jewish outreach for Sanders himself, called out the problem directly, Khanna tried to twist the message instead of confronting it.
A Pattern Democrats Cannot Ignore
Rubin’s essay argues that “anti-Zionism” has become “the boundary marker separating the politically acceptable Jew from the politically suspect one” inside today’s Democratic Party. That is a remarkable admission from someone who spent his career working to elect Democrats. It confirms what conservatives have said for years: the far-left flank of the Democratic Party, with Sanders at the center, has normalized hostility toward Israel’s very existence and dressed it up as progressive politics.
Rubin’s warning matters because it did not come from a Republican or a conservative commentator. It came from inside Sanders’s own operation. When Khanna tried to soften or reframe that warning, Rubin refused to let the record get rewritten. Voters concerned about rising antisemitism in America deserve leaders who confront the problem head-on, not politicians who dodge questions or spin criticism from their own allies.
Sources:
twitchy.com, jewishinsider.com, jpost.com, thefp.com, townhall.com
