Instead of the resolution, DNC chairman Ken Martin invited members who preferred an all-out arms embargo to join a committee reevaluating the party’s position on Israel
A Democratic National Committee meeting on Tuesday devolved into an anti-Israel slugfest, leading its chairman, Ken Martin, to pull a resolution many party members believed was not harsh enough on the Jewish state. Instead, Martin invited the anti-Israel members to join a committee to reevaluate the party’s position on Israel.
The Martin-backed resolution, which the DNC initially approved, called for “unrestricted” aid to Gaza and a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, language that moderate Democrats have long used. An alternate resolution championed by the party’s anti-Israel wing went significantly further, calling for a full-scale arms embargo on Israel, the suspension of American military aid, and recognition of “Palestine as a country.”
DNC members initially adopted the more moderate version in an uncounted voice vote, but Martin ultimately pulled both from consideration after the party’s anti-Israel members revolted. Semafor reporter Dave Weigel captured Martin during a private discussion “with the alternative Gaza resolution sponsors” before he canceled the vote.
Martin kibitzing with the alternative Gaza resolution sponsors, as debate goes on about other resolutions. pic.twitter.com/HZEM4wUldr
— David Weigel (@daveweigel) August 26, 2025
“There’s a divide in our party on this issue,” Politico quoted Martin as having said. “This is a moment that calls for shared dialogue, calls for shared advocacy.”
After abandoning his own moderate proposal, Martin pledged to assemble a DNC committee “comprised of stakeholders on all sides of this” that will “continue to have the conversation, to work through this, and bring solutions back to our party.”
The tumult during the meeting reflects the Democratic Party’s growing divide on Israel in the nearly two years since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks against the Jewish state. The terrorist organization’s massacres ignited a flurry of violent protests, primarily involving the party’s progressive base. Anti-Israel Democrats formed an “uncommitted” delegation during the 2024 election, protesting the party’s convention over its failure to grant a speaking slot to a Georgia state representative with a history of pro-Hamas rhetoric.
Allison Minnerly, the 26-year-old DNC member who spearheaded the arms embargo resolution, told the Nation in an interview published Tuesday that her efforts represent the will of the Democratic Party.
“I think it starts by acknowledging that this issue is not just something brought forward by me alone,” said Minnerly, who works with the Florida-based Youth Action Fund. “It’s a conversation that is had by voters across the country right now, where we see that only 7 percent of Democrats support the Democratic Party’s current position [on Israel’s military action in Gaza] as of polling last week.”
She said the party’s base has quickly abandoned its historically pro-Israel outlook, which she considers an “establishment” position.
“This is the entire Democratic base that is really calling for this change, but also for a more clearly communicated stance,” she said. “I think that there’s a much larger base of people that are really pushing this.”
Speaking to Politico, Minnerly said Martin’s decision “might reflect, maybe, some inner thoughts and fears that even the establishment Democratic Party, here at the DNC, is not aligned with the base and trying to avoid that conversation because it’s already created a problem with the party.”
