FILE PHOTO: Rep. Ed Case (D-HI) asks a question as U.S. Attorney General William Barr testifies on the Justice Department’s budget proposal before a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., April 9, 2019. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein/File Photo

Rep. Ed Case (D-HI), a longtime pro-Israel Democrat, defeated a more progressive and younger challenger in Hawaii’s Democratic congressional primary, delivering another setback to efforts by the party’s left wing to unseat established Democrats over their positions on Israel.

Case defeated state Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole by a wide margin, winning roughly 60 percent of the vote to Keohokalole’s mid-30s. The result came as Democrats continue to grapple with an increasingly contentious debate over U.S. support for Israel and the future of American policy toward the Jewish state.

Keohokalole, who mounted his challenge from the party’s progressive flank, had called for reducing U.S. military assistance to Israel. His campaign sought to capitalize on growing criticism of Israel among some Democratic voters, particularly over the war against Hamas in Gaza.

“I don’t think we should give any more money for Israel to wage war,” Keohokalole said.

Keohokalole also took aim at Case for not more stridently opposing US involvement in the war with Iran. His campaign page says the he envisioned his foreign policy approach in Congress as “reimagining the United States’ role on the world stage as a global peace leader by working to end unnecessary and costly conflicts, including opposing escalation toward war with Iran, and strengthening congressional oversight over military action and executive war powers.”

He has also stated that he would have voted in favor of the amendment to the 2027 State Department appropriations bill, which would have effectively stripped over $3 billion in aid from Israel. The amendment, introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), failed by a vote of 314–104, with Democrats comprising 103 of the votes. The proposal would have barred any funding appropriated under the State Department spending bill from being “obligated or expended for Israel” and separately reduced the foreign-military-financing account by $3.3 billion—the amount allocated for Israel’s annual security assistance.

Case, by contrast, has maintained a substantially more supportive position toward Israel. He has consistently backed the U.S.-Israel alliance and U.S. security assistance to Israel, placing him among the more reliably pro-Israel Democrats in Congress. However, Case has issued criticism with the way that Israel has approached the ongoing war in Gaza, issuing criticism towards the humanitarian situation in Gaza and condemning Israeli leadership.

“I definitely did disagree with Israel’s response to the attack on Israel — the severity, the disproportionality, the incredible tragedy of so many civilian deaths,” Case said in an interview. “I am a straight-up opponent of the current leadership of Israel.”

The Hawaii contest underscores the difficulty progressive activists face when attempting to translate growing Democratic criticism of Israel into primary victories against established incumbents.

The result is particularly notable because Hawaii’s Democratic electorate is overwhelmingly blue, meaning the primary effectively determines the winner of the congressional seat. Despite the increasingly prominent role of the Israel debate within Democratic politics, voters rejected a challenger who sought to move the incumbent significantly to the left on the issue.

Case’s victory also comes amid a series of Democratic primaries that have produced mixed results for both sides of the party’s Israel debate.

In Michigan, progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic nomination for Senate, while state Rep. Donovan McKinney defeated incumbent Rep. Shri Thanedar in a House primary after campaigning on a more critical approach to U.S. support for Israel. Both victories demonstrated the continuing strength of the party’s anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian wing.

In New York City, anti-Israel insurgents state Assemblymember Claire Valdez, Darializa Avila Chevalier, and Comptroller Brad Lander, all defeated incumbents which were perceived as being more supportive of the Jewish state. In each of these races, whether the US should continue to send aid to Israel, and whether the Israel-Hamas war should be considered “genocide,” became major points of contention.

However, other contests have produced the opposite outcome. In Missouri, Wesley Bell defeated progressive incumbent Cori Bush in a Democratic primary, with Israel policy emerging as one of the major dividing lines in the race. Bell was supported by pro-Israel political groups such as AIPAC. Bush tried, but failed, to defeat Bell by tying his campaign to the pro-Israel lobbying group.

According to a July Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, 56 percent of Democrats say they sympathize more with the Palestinian people, while just 14 percent say they sympathize more with Israelis. Among Republicans, by contrast, 71 percent say they are more sympathetic to Israel, compared with just 7 percent who identify more closely with the Palestinians.