The California governor, Gavin Newsom, backtracked on earlier remarks likening Israel to an “apartheid state” in a new interview with Politico published on Tuesday.
In the interview, the Democrat, who is widely expected to launch a presidential bid in 2028, said that when he used the term three weeks ago, he meant it to apply to Israel’s future should it continue on its present trajectory.
Asked whether he regrets using the term, Newsom said: “I do in this context. I said it, and I referenced why I used it – a Tom Friedman article – in that same sentence where Tom used it in the context of the direction that Bibi is going.” (Bibi is the nickname of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.)
Pressed further, he clarified he does not believe the term applies to Israel’s present. He added: “And that is a legitimate concern I have, that I share with Tom – that that direction, if that vision and that direction of the far right that Bibi is indulging, that if they see the full annexation of the West Bank, then that’s not something – that’s a word you may hear others use.”
When asked if he considers himself a Zionist, the governor did not respond directly: “I revere the state of Israel,” he answered. “I’m proud to support the state of Israel. I deeply, deeply oppose Bibi Netanyahu’s leadership, his opposition to the two-state solution and deeply oppose how he is indulging the far right as it relates to what’s going on in the West Bank.”
The original remarks came during a book tour event with Pod Save America’s Jon Favreau. At the time, Newsom said of Netanyahu: “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.”
Newsom’s original comment sparked immediate backlash from pro-Israel voices such as the Israeli-American Civic Action Network, which said Newsom was pursuing “narratives advanced by America’s enemies over the facts”. An umbrella organization representing Jewish community groups from California lamented “this isn’t the Governor Newsom that we know”. Other pro-Israel Democrats such as Josh Shapiro and John Fetterman also weighed in.
Newsom’s comments come amid shifting American public opinion on Israel, driven in part by its war in Gaza and the broader Middle East crisis following US and Israeli strikes on Iran, which have prompted retaliatory attacks on US allies in recent weeks.
According to a February Gallup poll, 41% of Americans said they sympathize more with Palestinians than Israelis in the Middle East. The finding reflects a notable shift, as Americans have historically expressed greater sympathy for Israelis.
A range of international human rights groups and legal scholars have increasingly adopted the label apartheid to describe the Israeli political and legal system.
