Joel Rubin, a political advisor who led Jewish outreach for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) 2020 presidential campaign, was a deputy assistant secretary of state in the Obama administration and ran for Congress in Maryland this year, believes that anti-Israel rhetoric has become too central to his party's culture in the past few years.

Speaking to Jewish Insider on Wednesday, Rubin said that "Much of the anti-Israel animus that we now see is morphing into antisemitism, and may be driven by it."

As an example, he highlighted the growing use of 'Zionist' as a pejorative. “That is not criticism of Israeli policy. That’s criticism of the concept of the State of Israel, and to me, that is antisemitic,” Rubin said.

He highlighted that polling routinely shows Jewish voters don’t usually make Israel their top priority when voting, and so anti-Israel activists had significantly overestimated their political power.

Since Oct. 7, he claims that anti-Israel activism is becoming a litmus test in progressive spaces, which is starting to create a rift within the party.

“It’s a shrinking space where [Jewish progressives] can operate,” Rubin said. He said that Jewish progressives have faced “a very difficult period,” trying to “keep the lid on.”

“If [Jewish] voters are not welcomed in the diverse coalition of the Democratic voting apparatus, then that coalition loses a significant component of its electoral power,” Rubin argued, “and that’s the risk that’s being run when Israel-supporting Democrats are put in positions of being ostracized for their support of Israel."