Israel’s leadership could leave the United States with little choice but to reconsider its military support for the country, California governor Gavin Newsom said.
Newsom, who is widely touted as the frontrunner for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, was asked on Tuesday by Pod Save America host Jon Favreau if the US should consider “rethinking” its military support for Israel.
He replied: “It breaks my heart, because the current leadership in Israel is walking us down that path where I don’t think you have a choice about that consideration.”
Newsom also stated that some people are – correctly, in his view – talking about Israel as a “sort of apartheid state”.
The Democrat has to date been viewed as a supporter of Israel and these comments mark the sharpest criticism he has yet made about the country.
Less than two weeks after October 7, Newsom visited Israel to express solidarity with the Jewish state during the Gaza war. During his trip, he met survivors of the Hamas attack, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, president Isaac Herzog and other top officials.
Newsom said earlier this year that he is “crystal clear in my love for Israel, and my condemnation of Bibi [Netanyahu], and there’s a distinction.”
Netanyahu, Newsom said this week, has “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.”
Refering to the ultra-nationalistic politicians in Netanyahu’s coalition, he added: “He’s got folks, the hardline, that want to annex the West Bank.”
Newsom also criticised the joint Israel-US military attacks on Iran this week, despite agreeing that the Iranian regime “must go”. He said: “We’re talking about regime change? For two years, they haven’t been able to solve the Hamas question in Israel.”
And he accused Donald Trump of dragging the US into “an illegal, dangerous war” that will put American lives at risk.
Newsom has been governor of the US’s most populous state since 2019, previously having served as its lieutenant governor from 2011, and as the mayor of San Francisco before that.
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