Merkley's Anti-Israel and DSA Alignment

Over three terms in the United States Senate, Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley has moved steadily from the mainstream Democratic position of “pro-Israel, pro-peace” to one of the Senate’s most outspoken critics of the Jewish state.

What began as occasional concern for Palestinian human rights has hardened into repeated attempts to restrict or block U.S. military aid to Israel—even at moments when Israel was fighting a multi-front war against Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

This trajectory has placed Merkley in close alignment with the extreme left Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and other organizations that openly endorse the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, label Israel an “apartheid state,” and in some cases question its very right to exist as a Jewish homeland. Anti-Zionism is antisemitism. 

A Record of Restricting U.S. Support at Critical Moments 

In November 2024, Merkley was one of only 19 senators who voted to block the sale of tank rounds, mortar shells, and guided-missile components to Israel—weeks after Iran’s first direct ballistic-missile attack on Israeli cities.

In April 2025, he co-sponsored Bernie Sanders-led resolutions to cancel more than $8 billion in offensive-weapons sales, again citing civilian casualties in Gaza while giving little weight to Israel’s simultaneous defense against Iranian proxies on seven fronts.

Throughout 2023–2025, Merkley repeatedly voted against or attempted to strip funding for Israel’s Iron Dome and other defensive systems unless paired with sweeping humanitarian conditions that no ally—except Israel—has ever been asked to meet.

These votes did not occur in a vacuum. They came at a time when Israel faced an existential threat unprecedented since 1973, yet Merkley’s public statements consistently emphasized Gaza’s humanitarian crisis while downplaying or ignoring the Iranian-orchestrated campaign to annihilate the Jewish state.

Alignment with DSA and the Hard-Left Ecosystem

Although Merkley is not a formal member of the Democratic Socialists of America, he has enthusiastically accepted the support of DSA chapters and operated in the same political orbit:Portland DSA and Eugene-Springfield DSA have repeatedly praised Merkley as “one of the strongest allies” of their anti-Israel platform.

Merkley shares speaking platforms, staff networks, and policy priorities with figures such as Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush—both avowed supporters of BDS and the “apartheid” libel.

J Street has itself moved extremely leftward; Merkley now proudly touts their endorsement while J Street increasingly echoes DSA talking points on conditioning or cutting aid.

This is the same DSA that in 2021 unanimously passed a resolution committing the organization to BDS, withdrawing from the Socialist International over its “Zionist” members, and declaring Israel an “settler-colonial apartheid state.” Merkley has never distanced himself from these positions or from the activists who promote them.

The Rising Tide of Left-Wing Antisemitism

The positions Merkley has embraced—conditioning aid exclusively on Israel, amplifying the “apartheid” smear, and voting to disarm an ally under attack—do not exist in isolation. They are part of a broader surge of antisemitism on the extreme political left that disguises itself as “anti-Zionism.” This ideology rejects the right of the Jewish people alone, among all peoples on earth, to national self-determination in their ancestral homeland.

It ignores the fact that Jews are an indigenous Middle Eastern people who maintained continuous presence in the land for more than 3,000 years. It dismisses the reality that 22 Arab states spanning millions of square miles already exist, while the world’s only Jewish state—smaller than Oregon—must constantly justify its existence.

Russ McAlmond: A Clear and Unapologetic Contrast

Into this environment steps Republican challenger Russ McAlmond, a U.S. Marine veteran who rejects antisemitism in all its forms, including the increasingly common variant that masquerades as anti-Zionism. McAlmond’s campaign is built on the simple, historically grounded proposition that Israel is not the oppressor but the oppressed: a lone Jewish democracy surrounded by hostile regimes and terrorist organizations sworn to its destruction.

McAlmond supports unrestricted U.S. military assistance to Israel, robust funding for joint defense projects, and an uncompromising stand against BDS and the “apartheid” libel. He recognizes that weakening the one Jewish state while 22 Arab states and 56 Muslim-majority countries exist is not justice—it is the continuation of a centuries-old pattern of targeting Jews.

In 2026, Oregon voters will face a stark choice: continue with an incumbent whose positions have hardened into alignment with the antisemitic hard left, or elect a new senator who proudly and unequivocally stands with America’s most reliable Middle Eastern ally—and with the Jewish people’s right to live in safety in their one and only homeland. Russ McAlmond offers that clear, principled choice for Oregon to support our democratic ally of Israel.