Gavin Newsom, the Democratic California governor, likened Israel to “an apartheid state” on Tuesday in comments sharply critical of the country’s joint war with the US against Iran.
Newsom, seen as a frontrunner for his party’s presidential nomination in 2028, made the comment during an appearance in Los Angeles to promote his book, Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery. He was asked if the US should rethink its military partnership with Israel.
“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 said.
“To say this in America’s interest at a time when affordability is at crisis levels, where you have an administration that literally got elected saying this is exactly opposite of what they would ever consider doing, the fact that we are in this regional war [with] all these proxies, all the grift and the corruption that also marks a huge part of this, that’s a real conversation we need to have.”
Newsom made the “apartheid” comment when he was asked by the event’s moderator, Pod Save America host Jon Favreau, about the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, known as Bibi. The governor cited New York Times opinion writer Thomas Friedman, who wrote on Tuesday that the war could propel Netanyahu to an election victory that would fuel even more extremism in Israel, against US interests.
“The issue of Bibi is interesting because he’s got his own domestic issues,” Newsom said.
“He’s trying to stay out of jail. He’s got an election coming up. He’s potentially on the ropes. He’s got folks on the hardline that want to annex the West Bank. Friedman and others are talking about it appropriately, [as] sort of an apartheid state.”
His comments come amid declining support for Israel among the general public, and Democrats in particular, who see the issue increasingly as a vote loser as the midterm elections approach.
A Gallup poll last month revealed that 41% of Americans now sympathize more with Palestinians than Israelis over the situation in the Middle East. In no previous poll over 25 years have Israelis, now at 36%, trailed in general support.
Among Democratic voters, the divide is much wider. Gallup found 65% sympathize more with Palestinians, and only 17% for Israelis.
It is also not the first time Newsom has been critical of Netanyahu, or Donald Trump’s decision to partner with Israel to attack Iran, during his book tour. On Saturday, he accused the president of “doubling down on stupid” during his State of the Union address to Congress, and said Trump’s eagerness to engage the US military in Iran stemmed from “weakness masquerading as strength”.
In a January conversation with conservative podcaster Ben Shapiro, Newsom said he was “crystal clear in my love for Israel, and my condemnation of Bibi, and there’s a distinction”.
He said he could understand why people thought, from images of Israel’s war in Gaza, that Israel had committed genocide there, but did not share the opinion, even though he said Israel’s military action was “disproportionate”.
He said: “I have a lot of issues with the way Bibi ultimately conducted the war. I didn’t like the way he talked about the Palestinian people.”
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