CNN’s Bash Asks Mamdani-Backed Dem If He Won’t Just Call Himself a Zionist Because the ‘Hard Left’ Uses It As a ‘Slur’

CNN anchor Dana Bash spoke to Brad Lander on Friday and pushed the Mamdani-backed progressive congressional candidate about his views on Israel. Lander, who beat incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) in the Democratic Party primary, was part of a wave of controversial progressive candidates now set to enter Congress, but unlike many of his fellow progressives, Lander still calls himself a Zionist – albeit a “liberal Zionist.”

“One of the big reasons you won your primary here is that you separated yourself from the incumbent Democrat, Dan Goldman, on Israel. You use the term “genocide”; he does not. You don’t want the U.S. funding Israel militarily. You call yourself a liberal Zionist. What is a liberal Zionist?” Bash pressed.

Lander replied, “I believe in the vision of a Jewish and democratic Israel. I care about the place, but I don’t think it’s possible for it to be democratic while it’s occupying the West Bank and Gaza. And I don’t think that Israel’s conduct in Gaza, which I do consider a genocide, is consistent with Jewish values. So, to me, it’s like you stand up and you call it as you see it. I don’t want to keep sending U.S. military aid to Israel while it’s violating international law and Palestinian human rights. But I wanted to actually honor international law and Palestinian human rights so it can be the Jewish and democratic Israel that I grew up believing in.”

Bash followed up, “I’m sorry, I just want to make sure I understand. You said that you don’t think it’s a democratic Israel?”

Lander clarified, “I want it to be a Jewish and democratic Israel. Right now, I don’t think it’s modeling democracy while it occupies the West Bank and Gaza, and half the people under its sovereignty can’t vote. But I believe that when occupation ends, then it can be Jewish and democratic, and that’s what I’m fighting for.”

Bash followed up, “Why are you not just a Zionist? Why do you say ‘liberal Zionist?’ What do you think the difference is?”

Lander replied, “I mean, the Declaration of Independence that founded Israel says it would be a place for the ingathering of exiles and full civil and political rights for everyone living there. But Palestinians living in the West Bank, facing settler terrorism, or living in refugee camps in Gaza because their schools and hospitals were destroyed — they don’t have full political and civil rights. So it is not living up to its founding vision. And to me, believing in Jewish and democratic means… you’ve got to fight for the human rights of Palestinians at the same time as you fight for the safety of Jews. I guess maybe a shorthand way of saying it is, I don’t think Israelis will be safe until Palestinians are free, and they both need that.”

Bash added, “Can I just ask you point-blank? Do you not call yourself a Zionist because it is a term that many people on the hard left have started to use as a slur against Jews?”

Lander shot back, “Well, I mean, a liberal Zionist is a Zionist. I just want to make clear I’m not a Zionist like Ben Gvir or Smotrich who want to eliminate Palestinians. So that’s why I say it.”

Bash pushed back, “You can be an American and not believe in what Donald Trump believes in.”

Lander replied, “To me, that’s what I am here. I believe in the vision of a Jewish and democratic Israel, but it’s got to change if it’s going to be that.”

Watch above via CNN.

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