Joy Reid, speaking with Ta-Nehisi Coates, warned she will withhold her vote from Democrats unless they pledge to end the United States’ relationship with Israel, and the exchange touched on recent praise from Hillary Clinton for Donald Trump’s Gaza plan and Reid’s long-running criticism of Israel’s conduct in the Gaza conflict.
Podcaster and former MSNBC host Joy Reid said she will no longer cast a ballot for Democratic candidates who do not commit to severing the U.S.-Israel relationship. She made the statement during a podcast conversation with author Ta-Nehisi Coates that focused on foreign policy and the war in Gaza.
Reid reminded listeners she backed former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 campaign, but argued the issue runs deeper than any one candidate. “But for me, the problem is not so much her, it’s the party,” she said. “The Democratic Party is as married to this Israel over everything, Israel no matter what, Israel no matter what they do, no matter how many people they kill. The Democrats were as married to that as the Republicans.”
She pressed the point further about how difficult it would be to shift the party’s stance. “It would take a really strong Democrat” to push for ending the U.S.’ relationship with Israel, Reid said. She added, “But to me, I, going forward, cannot vote for a Democrat who does not pledge to end this relationship,” and then drove home her conclusion: “This relationship needs to end. This is a nuclear-armed expansionist power. They don’t need our money. And they definitely won’t get my vote. That’s just where I’m at.”
The back-and-forth moved to remarks from Hillary Clinton, which Reid and Coates parsed as part of a broader debate over how the U.S. should approach Gaza. Coates noted Clinton’s recent praise for aspects of Donald Trump’s Gaza plan and framed it as a striking point of agreement across political lines. “Hillary Clinton was in an interview the other day, and obviously there may not be a human being alive who has more reason to hold Donald Trump in low regard than Hillary Clinton. But the one area that she praised Donald Trump on was on his Gaza plan,” Coates said.
Clinton’s comments from a June 15 appearance at 92NY and an interview with The New Yorker’s David Remnick have stirred the conversation. She described the plan as “the only game in town” and called it “actually a pathway to security for Israel, reconstruction for Gaza, and the possibility of self-determination — however defined — for the Palestinians.” Clinton also observed that many reject the plan “because Trump did it.”
Reid’s stance is consistent with earlier, sharp critiques of Israel’s conduct in the Gaza conflict she has voiced publicly. During a November 2023 segment on MSNBC she took aim at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rhetoric, saying his comments sounded “like a call for genocide.” That line has been cited often as emblematic of her hard line on the issue.
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From a Republican perspective, Reid’s position makes two things clear: the left flank of American politics is willing to push for a radical break with a longtime strategic partner, and that break is being framed as a litmus test for Democratic loyalty. Republicans argue that the U.S.-Israel relationship is about shared security interests, regional stability, and countering hostile actors, so cutting those ties would be reckless.
Reid’s statement also reveals the political strain inside the Democratic coalition, where progressive voices press for a foreign policy that sharply distances the U.S. from Israel while more centrist figures, including some who praise Trump’s Gaza plan, aim for different outcomes. That split could reshape primary politics if voters decide loyalty to Israel becomes a decisive line for either side.
