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ronx Democrats sent a loud message to party higher-ups in last week’s primary election. Avowed socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 28, upset ten-term incumbent Joe Crowley for the party nomination in New York’s 14th Congressional District. Ocasio-Cortez is a community organizer with a focus in health and education, and believes in abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

She’s also known for her anti-Israel stance, as evinced by her tweet a month and a half ago on the Hamas provocations at the Gaza border: “This is a massacre. I hope my peers have the moral courage to call it such. No state or entity is absolved of mass shootings of protesters. There is no justification. Palestinian people deserve basic human dignity, as anyone else.”

On other occasions, she’s expressed solidarity with BDS, explaining that her Puerto Rican ancestry on her mother’s side moved her to identify with the Palestinians. Her election elicited criticism by the ADL, but understanding on the part of J Street, the George Soros–funded lobbying group that promulgates a left-wing perspective on the Mideast conflict. In a statement, J Street said Cortesia-Ortez’s remarks were “within the bounds of the more open and frank debate we’re seeing in this country about the policies of the Israeli government” on the part of “a new generation of candidates.”

A leading Jewish Democrat who requested anonymity told Mishpacha: “While Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s victory had nothing to do with her Middle East policy, it is a deafening wake up call to the pro-Israel community that they must take progressive outreach seriously. It’s something for our pro-Israel leaders to think about as many of them trip over themselves to embrace Trump and his people.”

This gets to the heart of the argument over Ocasio-Cortez’s meteoric rise. While establishment Democrats insist her victory is not indicative of an overall change in the party’s direction, Jewish Republicans rightly point out this is simply the latest development in the Democrats’ hard left turn, and especially in the increasing political polarization on the subject of Israel. As more up-and-coming Democrats tout their strident opposition to Israeli policy, it may mark the beginning of the end of bipartisan support for Israel.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 717)