We absolutely did not have Ed Sheeran, of all people, being taken down by the politics of Palestine on our bingo card for this week.
The short version of what happened to the previously blandly inoffensive pop star is this: His opening act, the dubiously talented rapper Macklemore, spoke on stage about the plight of Palestinians. This led to an uproar, after which, Sheeran said, the promoters dropped Macklemore from the tour. Then nearly all the musical personnel involved with the tour resigned from it, citing their support of Macklemore’s statement and outrage on behalf of Palestinians.
We provided more details here.
It’s been a wild couple of days, and yet another indication that something has changed in American life when it comes to our understanding of Israel and Palestine. Will any of that have an effect on the midterms? The answer is a firm “maybe.”
In the wake of Israel’s response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas and despite the efforts of AIPAC, Israel has become radioactive in some quarters of the American electorate because of the nature of its retaliatory attacks on Gaza. Where people in the public eye once had incentive to be as deferential as possible to the Middle Eastern nation and its leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, now they’re being praised for not prioritizing Israel.
It’s a major shift, and media and political parties are struggling to keep up and just starting to recognize that the ground has shifted beneath their feet.
Witness mainstream media outlets, searching for “gotcha moments,” asking Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan whether he supports the existence of Israel over and over. Meanwhile, El-Sayed says, he just wants to focus on the issues important to Michiganders.
And he is virtually tied with his Republican competitor in the race, potentially an indicator that a substantial portion of the Michigan electorate either support him on the issue, or don’t think it’s important enough to change their votes.
It’s not clear when exactly the tide turned for politicians.
But the fate of Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign may have been part of it. Arab Americans in critical states like Michigan declined to support the former vice president due to disappointment with the Biden-Harris administration’s unwillingness to act on Palestinians’ behalf in what has come to be described as a genocide.
Harris lost Michigan by about 80,000 votes. There are about 400,000 Arab Americans in the state, with more than 175,000 estimated to be voters. Democratic politicians learned the lesson. Since the 2024 election, they have been less reticent about offering verbal support to the Palestinian cause and a two-state solution.
Pro-Palestinian Democrats, including most famously New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, also are winning elections, showing that the cause isn’t a career-killer.
(For what it’s worth, as Harris criss-crosses the country these days, possibly ahead of declaring another presidential run, she is reaching out to Palestinian activists. Not all are convinced of her sincerity).
Voters are paying attention.
Most Americans say the U.S. does too much for Israel. That can matter when voters are choosing Congressional candidates who will have the power of the federal purse in Washington.
Whether the Sheeran-Macklemore saga registers long-term as part of the political shift, it’s clear that Israel is no longer the third rail in American life that it once was. Voters are watching and candidates are starting to speak more plainly.
We’ll know in November whether any of it makes a difference.
