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<\/a><\/p>\nMecklenburg County voters go to polls for the midterm elections as the Board of Elections receives the ballots in Charlotte, North Carolina on March 3, 2026. (Peter Zay\/Anadolu via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The measure, titled the \u201cGenocide Accountability Resolution,\u201d was struck down by members of the North Carolina Democratic Party\u2019s State Executive Committee with a vote of 163-130.<\/p>\n
For Amy DeLoach, the first vice chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party Jewish Caucus, the victory marked a sign that Jewish Democrats still have a place in the party, even as debates over Israel have roiled Democratic politics across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost Jews vote Democratically, and we were feeling abandoned, and now we feel like we have a home again,\u201d said DeLoach, who also sits on the party\u2019s international subcommittee.<\/p>\n
The defeat of the resolution comes as support for Israel has dropped dramatically among Democrats, and the U.S.-Israel alliance has increasingly emerged as a third rail within the party.<\/p>\n
While resolutions condemning the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC and calling to halt arms sales to Israel have been blocked by the Democratic National Committee over the past year, last June, the North Carolina Democratic Party passed a resolution calling for an immediate arms embargo on Israel.<\/p>\n
Joel Wanger, the chief political officer of the Democratic Majority for Israel, welcomed the outcome of the genocide resolution in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis resolution would have divided Democrats at a time when we should be united in opposing Donald Trump, while doing nothing to advance peace between Israelis and Palestinians,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The resolution was introduced earlier this year by a member of the progressive, Arab and Muslim caucuses of the North Carolina Democratic Party. It advanced from the precinct level through county, district and state bodies before reaching the State Executive Committee for a final vote Saturday.<\/p>\n
The resolution would have added language to the state party platform calling for the \u201cprosecution\u201d and \u201cvetting\u201d of individuals and entities in the United States who \u201cmay have participated in or enabled genocide.\u201d The resolution also cited a United Nations Commission of Inquiry that concluded for the first time in September that Israel had committed a genocide in Gaza.<\/p>\n
The resolution\u2019s defeat Saturday followed an extensive campaign by the party\u2019s Jewish Caucus to block its adoption.<\/p>\n
In a May 27 letter to members of the executive committee, leaders of the Jewish Caucus urged them to reject the resolution, arguing that state parties \u201cshould not adopt contested international policy positions\u201d and that its timing would hurt 2026 Democratic candidates and divide voters.<\/p>\n
\u201cJewish, Muslim, Palestinian, Christian, and secular Democrats are united on affordability, public education, healthcare, voting rights, and reproductive freedom,\u201d the letter said. \u201cThis resolution forces them to take sides on something most did not join the party to fight about.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter cited \u201cserious factual and legal problems\u201d with the resolution and said Jewish Democrats would support a substitute \u201caffirming NC Democrats\u2019 commitment to ending civilian suffering in Gaza, supporting humanitarian aid, and opposing antisemitism, Islamophobia, and political violence in all forms.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the Jewish Caucus was not the only group within the party invested in the outcome of the vote.<\/p>\n
Last month, the leaders of the Muslim, Arab, interfaith and progressive caucuses of the North Carolina Democratic Party issued its own a letter calling on members of the State Executive Committee to support the resolution in order to \u201caffirm our party\u2019s commitment to human rights and the protection of civilian life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll too frequently, the burdensome narrative of genocide denial has been heard from those persons and organizations who have 1) either acquiesced to genocide or 2) feared the worst reprisals from those who have supported it,\u201d the letter read. \u201cThis silence compromises the faith of many voters in our party.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter, which cited a recent study that found 80% of Democrats have an unfavorable view of Israel, was undersigned by the head of the state party\u2019s Jewish Democrats, a non-Zionist Jewish subgroup within the Interfaith Caucus.<\/p>\n
Mark Bochkis, the communications chair of the Jewish Democrats, told JTA that his group and the Jewish Caucus \u201cfundamentally disagree about the divisiveness\u201d of the resolution.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe this is actually an issue that galvanizes the younger base of the party and other other important key voting blocks for the Democratic party,\u201d Bochkis said. \u201cWe believe not speaking out on something like this is actually holding the party back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul McAllister, the chair of the Interfaith Caucus, told JTA that \u201cwe don\u2019t want to see anything happen to any member of any community, Jewish or otherwise, but we do want accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n
While McAllister said that the language concerning \u201cprosecution\u201d in the resolution could have been \u201cclarified,\u201d he said the Jewish Caucus\u2019 suggestion of an alternative to the resolution attracted little support because he felt it \u201cwaters down the need to hold a nation accountable for what it is doing to another people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy major concern is that we have a faction within the party that wants justice for all people equally, Jews and Palestinians, and that there\u2019s some in the party, namely members of the Jewish caucus, who do not comprehend how critical it is that we not only look after our own interest or our own group\u2019s interest, but the interest of others, and this is the struggle,\u201d McAllister said.<\/p>\n
DeLoach said the scheduling of the vote last week on Shabbat had bothered members of the Jewish caucus. But she said they had \u201clet that one go\u201d to focus on fighting the resolution.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talk about that amongst ourselves, but we\u2019re in a war right now,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to pick and choose the battles we fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeLoach said her group viewed the resolution as a political liability that could potentially force Democratic candidates in the state to either distance themselves from the party or embrace a \u201cdifficult divisive issue\u201d on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo politician is going to want to run on a platform that includes this,\u201d DeLoach said. \u201cPlatforms don\u2019t win elections, and this is going to risk us losing an outrageously important election.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeLoach pointed to the campaigns of Roy Cooper, the state\u2019s former governor who\u2019s running for a Senate seat, and Anita Earls, who is running for reelection to the North Carolina Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost Democrats in North Carolina really are more concerned about their electric bill right now, and the cost of food,\u201d DeLoach said. \u201cAs the vote shows, you know, nobody likes what\u2019s going on in the Middle East. We don\u2019t like what\u2019s going on in the Middle East, but we know that\u2019s not where our focus should be right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, DeLoach said she hoped that the resolution\u2019s defeat would serve as a warning against rhetoric she saw as \u201cadding to a drumbeat of antisemitism that is so prevalent in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s war crimes on both sides here, but it\u2019s not a genocide, and y\u2019all pounding this drum is making it more and more dangerous for Jews to live in this country,\u201d DeLoach said. \u201cWe see the defeat of this resolution not only as a chance for us to start just electing Democrats, but as a hopeful pause, at least, if not a stop to this horrible rhetoric.\u201d<\/p>\n