Lapid Says America Is Not Lost to Israel, Proposes Listening Tour; NY Congressman-elect Pushes Back

A day after the US midterm elections elevated a group of anti-Israel politicians to public office, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid argued that America is not lost to Israel and laid out a plan to shore up declining bipartisan support. His proposal was swiftly rejected by a newly elected American progressive critic of Israel.

In a Hebrew post on X on Wednesday, Lapid, who is No. 2 in the opposition B'Yachad party, urged the incoming Israeli government to focus on isolating hardline anti-Israel Democrats while repairing frayed ties with moderates in the party, which now controls both houses of Congress. He proposed that Israeli leaders embark on a listening tour of the United States, speaking not only with politicians but with leaders of US Jewry and other religious and ethnic communities across the ideological spectrum.

Lapid also renewed his call to oust the right-wing government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he described as toxic. Most Democratic officials, he asserted, do not oppose the Jewish state but are appalled at the behavior of the outgoing coalition, which lost its majority in last week's election.

Hours after the post went up, New York Congressman-elect Brad Lander, who identifies as a Zionist but has accused Israel of genocide, dismissed Lapid's remarks, saying what US voters want is Israeli adherence to "international law and human rights," not "barnstorming." That exchange drew responses from commentators and a follow-up post from Lapid, this time in English, in which he wrote, "We know some people will hate us no matter what. And some people will be against us no matter what."

The Democratic sweep of the midterms brought into office a crop of new US lawmakers who accuse Israel of genocide and, in some cases, have spoken out against Jewish statehood. Their victories come as American public opinion of Israel has fallen precipitously, especially among Democrats, and as voters expressed anger over the Iran war, which the US and Israel launched jointly in February.

The frustration in Israel's closest and most powerful ally appears bipartisan. On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump announced a halt to military aid for Israel at the end of the year, and on Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance blamed the Iran war for Republican losses and said voters were seeking a "change" in the US relationship with Israel.

Against that backdrop, Lapid urged Israelis not to exaggerate their predicament. "There's an urgent need for leadership and a plan of action instead of politicians' panic," he wrote. "It's easiest to scream, 'America is lost,' because if it's lost, there's no need to work. But that's not true. Not at all." He acknowledged that "the anti-Israel nucleus in the House of Representatives has grown," but noted that Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, the latter of whom is Jewish, are both pro-Israel. "The real problem isn't the extremists," he said, adding that even as Democrats increasingly vote against weapons shipments, most of their lawmakers "don't hate us."

"These people aren't against Israel," Lapid argued. "They are against extremist ministers who say crazy things. They are against settler violence; they are against a government that they don't understand; they are mostly against Netanyahu." He called for a return to the norm in which "Israel doesn't pick sides in America. We work with everyone," saying the next government's first delegation should visit not only the White House but Congress, "with both parties," and travel the country meeting governors, local officials, media figures and religious leaders "to reach the America beyond the politics." Jewish communities, he wrote, are "hungry" to hear from Israeli leaders, and he urged outreach to "Hispanics, to Afro-American churches, to young evangelists, who abandoned us." "America is not lost," he concluded. "It is waiting for somebody to talk to it again."

Lander, who is Jewish and will represent parts of New York City beginning next year, describes himself as a "liberal Zionist" and was briefly detained by Israeli forces last month while picking olives with a pro-Palestinian activist group in the West Bank. Responding to Lapid, he said he is someone who "cares about Israel" but that Lapid was not listening to what American voters, Jewish and non-Jewish, are saying. "We aren't starving for a barnstorming tour," he wrote. "We're hungry to see respect for international law and human rights."

Dan Senor, a prominent commentator on Israel, wrote that while Lapid was correctly identifying the "blind spots" of Israeli leaders about changes in US politics, the opposition figure was showing his own gaps in understanding, and that Lander shut him down on cue. "Everything about this exchange is depressing," Senor wrote. Lapid replied that "there will be those who want to genuinely engage to rebuild and repair the relationship between our two countries, and there will be those who relentlessly push an anti-Israel agenda no matter what," adding, "I'm interested in those who are willing to listen and engage."