Visiting a synagogue in his district for a recent Shabbat, Rep. Dan Goldman regaled the congregation with stories about the early days of his marriage, when he and his wife had to decide how to approach Judaism in their home.
He grew up secular in an Ashkenazi family. Her Sephardic family maintained Orthodox customs. What would they do together? They settled, he told members of the Downtown Minyan, on keeping kosher at home but not maintaining a traditional observance of Shabbat.
The story offered a window into the centrist approach Goldman has sought to maintain as a member of Congress. It also left out a detail that might have implications for his stance in the Democratic Party right now: that Goldman and his wife met at an AIPAC conference.
Some Democrats who have previously accepted the pro-Israel lobby group’s backing have distanced themselves as the AIPAC brand has soured alongside perceptions of Israel during the war in Gaza. Goldman isn’t among them: He accepted an AIPAC endorsement again this year, as he faces down a Jewish challenger who is much more harshly critical of Israel.
Now, AIPAC has turned into a line of attack against him by supporters of Brad Lander, the former New York City comptroller who is an ally of Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
In an interview, Goldman suggested that he understood some aspects of the critique of AIPAC while also saying that he believed something else was driving its emergence as an electoral boogeyman.
“I do think there is an undercurrent of antisemitism in the degree to which AIPAC seems to be vilified,” Goldman said.
“I have personally pushed AIPAC very much to recognize that it is an organization that supports first and foremost the State of Israel and the US-Israel relationship, but that does not mean that they should be unwavering in their support for the Israeli government,” he added. “And that it is important for them to draw that distinction and be critical of the Israeli government when it is appropriate.”
Between his AIPAC endorsement, and his status as a millionaire and Levi Strauss heir who calls himself a “proud Zionist,” Goldman is, in a number of respects, outside the bounds of the progressive movement in 2026 as defined by the left and many of his critics. Goldman bristles at the “moderate” label, however, noting that he is hellbent on fighting Donald Trump. Some of Goldman’s biggest priorities, like fighting ICE and tackling wealth inequality, also fit the model of a progressive politician. Goldman has been taking on Trump since before joining Congress in 2023, when he served as lead counsel in Trump’s first impeachment.
Goldman insisted that he is a progressive — and argued that his views on Israel are consistent with his progressive values, rather than an exception.
“I think I have a very progressive approach to Israel, and to my support for the U.S.-Israel relationship,” Goldman said.
Goldman outlined his beliefs: He supports Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and U.S. ally, while also supporting Palestinian self-determination and a two-state solution. People “should speak out” against the Netanyahu government, he said, comparing it to the Trump government in that both are “acting against the best interest of the people of their countries.”
And Palestinian civilians should be “receiving as much aid as possible,” Goldman said, while the United States should be “putting pressure” on Israel to “significantly rein in any violence that is ongoing in Gaza.”
“Those are progressive ideals,” he said.
Goldman has earned the imprimatur of J Street, the liberal pro-Israel lobby, as well as AIPAC. “My view is that I will work with both, I will challenge both, and I will continue to work based on my independent and knowledgeable view of what I believe is best for the survival and thriving of the State of Israel,” he said.
But as more left-wing politicians increase their distance from Israel and take harsher stances against it, progressive voters may see Goldman’s criticism of Netanyahu as too weak a response to Israel’s military action in Gaza. And they may see Goldman, if not as a moderate, as a “progressive except for Palestine” politician, a term used to deride people not seen as critical enough of Israel.
“It’s a common insult, being lobbed at not only Goldman, but our members are also called ‘progressive except for Palestine,’” said Rudi Weinberg, founder of a group called Progressives for Israel.
“I reject the term,” said Goldman. “I think my same progressive approach to unrig the system here in the United States and lift up our working families is directly applicable to how I view Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian situation.”
A recurring progressive criticism of Goldman is that he doesn’t label Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide and won’t say whether war crimes were committed pending an independent investigation. Asked whether those criticisms have led to his specific positions being oversimplified, Goldman said it is “difficult in this day and age, across the board, to have a nuanced opinion on issues.”
He pointed to his record, such as the letter he co-authored with Sen. Cory Booker a month after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel asking Biden to press Israel to crack down on settler violence in the West Bank. He has criticized Netanyahu for allowing his personal interests to guide Israel’s actions in Gaza, and condemned the Israeli prime minister’s West Bank expansion plan.
But for a number of progressives, Goldman’s pushback against Netanyahu doesn’t move the needle.
“Being against Bibi doesn’t change anything,” said Arlene Geiger, coordinator of the Upper West Side Action Group, a progressive group supporting Lander.
Lander has gone farther in his criticism of Israel, suggesting why he’s earned support from progressives like Geiger and alienated some pro-Israel constituents .
Unlike Goldman, he refers to Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “genocide.” Lander stumped for Mamdani, an anti-Zionist, during the mayoral election; Goldman refused to endorse Mamdani, saying he needed to see the now-mayor take “concrete” action to ease Jewish New Yorkers’ fears about antisemitism. Goldman does not support the Block the Bombs Act, which would limit weapons sales to Israel; Lander said he would co-sponsor the bill.
Their race to represent New York’s 10th Congressional District, which covers Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, may test just how big a role Israel plays for Democratic voters in the upcoming midterm primaries. The district includes a number of progressive neighborhoods that went heavily to Mamdani in the mayoral election, and has a large Jewish population. Some saw Goldman’s initial primary victory in 2022, which he won with 26% of the vote, as the result of three more progressive candidates splitting the vote. This year, Alexa Aviles, a City Council member who belongs to the Democratic Socialists of America, decided not to run to avoid repeating that situation with Lander.
Now, in a district that has historically leaned progressive, Goldman’s critics and Lander’s campaign have put his AIPAC ties front and center. In his launch video, Lander said he wouldn’t be “doing AIPAC’s bidding” if elected. Progressives coming out in support of Lander have cited Goldman’s support from AIPAC, which was his biggest donor in the last election cycle.
“@bradlander running against AIPAC-backed Rep. Dan Goldman in NY-10 comes out in support of Block the Bombs and calls Israel’s violence in Gaza a genocide,” Josh Ruebner, an academic at Georgetown who has worked for the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, wrote on X. “Pretty clear choice here between those who support human rights and those who support genocide.”
A group called “Dump Dan” calls him an “A1P@C‑backed oligarch” in its Instagram bio. Track AIPAC, an X account with more than 400,000 followers, posts images of politicians, including Goldman, with dollar figures of their donations from AIPAC and other pro-Israel groups.
Goldman, who accepted AIPAC’s endorsement, said he is not taking “any corporate PAC money,” including from AIPAC’s or J Street’s affiliated PACs, or other pro-Israel PACs like Democratic Majority for Israel. (AIPAC, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, makes endorsements, but not direct political contributions. Those are handled by AIPAC PAC, ostensibly a distinct operation, as well as AIPAC’s affiliated super PAC, the United Democracy Project.)
“But I certainly am not going to say that individual donations from American Jews who support Israel is money that I will not accept, as if ‘Jewish money’ is somehow different than contributions from anybody else,” he said.
Goldman pushed back on the idea that his views on Israel are influenced by AIPAC, J Street or any other group, even when they align with AIPAC, as in his opposition to conditioning military aid to Israel.
(AIPAC spent $2.3 million in attack ads against Tom Malinowski, a pro-Israel congressional candidate in central New Jersey who said he was open to placing conditions on U.S. aid to Israel. When Malinowski lost the Democratic primary to progressive Analilia Mejia, moderates blamed and progressives thanked AIPAC.)
At Downtown Minyan, Goldman talked about the experience of being awoken by sirens at a Tel Aviv hotel on the day of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Goldman said after the service that he planned on visiting synagogues in his district every week or two, while also placing an emphasis on mobilizing young voters.
Though he declined to endorse Mamdani throughout the general election, Goldman said he is “encouraged” by him retaining the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, and that he is “hopeful that he understands the impact that he has on the permission structure to allow or encourage people to engage in antisemitic hate crimes.”
Goldman is co-chair of the House Bipartisan Task Force to Combat Antisemitism. He said he wants to increase funding for the Nonprofit Security Grants Program, which dispenses funds to hundreds of synagogues across the country, among other institutions.
Goldman said there needs to be more education about the Holocaust and Jewish persecution, but also about “the positive contributions that Jews have made to society writ large” — a belief that Goldman has apparently held since law school, when he wanted to become the next Jack Greenberg, a prominent American civil rights lawyer and scholar, and wrote his senior thesis on Jewish involvement in the civil rights movement.
Goldman traces his fascination with Greenberg back to his own upbringing, in a family that strongly believed in the Jewish value of tikkun olam, or social action. Now, Goldman said, those values are compelling him “to fight for the vulnerable communities who need more allies.”
Goldman has racked up a slew of high-profile endorsements, including from Rep. Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, and New York City Comptroller Mark Levine.
Meanwhile, major figures from the Democratic Party’s progressive wing, like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Mamdani have backed Lander.
Whether or not he’s embraced by that progressive wing, Goldman said he plans to continue engaging with them in his goal of achieving Israeli security and Palestinian self-determination.
“And I won’t give up making that case to anyone,” he said.
