Socialism’s campus appeal meets Gen Z resistance as students keep score on communism

Pro-Israel students at advocacy conference say socialist candidates and anti-Israel sentiment are alienating Jewish Democrats

2026-08-08T08:00:51-04:00 / Fox News

By Ashley J. DiMella Fox News

Published August 8, 2026 8:00am EDT

Fox News Digital spoke with college students and Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., at the Israel on Campus Coalition conference on Tuesday about the political fallout from the post-Oct. 7 campus climate and divisions over Israel.

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Pro-Israel college students who have watched socialism and anti-Israel activism gain ground on campus say the same political currents are now colliding with the Democratic Party — and the backlash is pushing some young Jewish voters to the right.

“Even before the craziness of the post-October 7 campus climate, it was already an underlying sense of, ‘America is bad and we’re gonna learn about that,’” University of Michigan rising senior Addison Stone told Fox News Digital.

Speaking at the Israel on Campus Coalition’s national summit in Washington this week, students said political currents they have watched spread on college campuses are increasingly surfacing in Democratic politics, particularly as the party’s progressive wing gains ground and clashes deepen over Israel.

Dylan Goldman, a rising senior at UC Berkeley, identified himself as “left leaning” and told Fox News Digital that Democratic lawmakers welcoming the popular socialist candidates – who overwhelmingly hold hostile postures toward Israel – are making a “really poor move.”

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Israeli pop star Harel Skaat performs for students at the 2026 ICC National Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C.(Fox News Digital)

“Jewish Democrats who are not single-issue voters… now feel so alienated by our own party that it’s pushing us conservative. It’s pushing to go further right,” said Goldman.

Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive whose campaign drew support from the democratic socialist movement, won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary Tuesday, adding to a string of victories for left-wing candidates challenging the Democratic establishment as the party battles for control of Congress in November’s midterm elections.

The conference brought hundreds of pro-Israel students to Washington for advocacy training, networking and discussions on supporting Israel, combating antisemitism and strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship on college campuses.

“The academics don’t help, but they’re sort of helping indoctrinate the next generation and the next generation with the combination of learning about that in classes and going on social media and seeing it and the DSA trying to make everything cool with communism,” Stone said. “You’re really seeing the outcome of that on college campuses where they’re burning both American and Israeli flags.”

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Student at a pro-Israel conference spoke with Fox News Digital about the ideologies finding support on college campuses.(Ashley DiMella/Fox News Digital)

As those political divisions play out nationally, organizers at the summit said Jewish students are still confronting the campus hostility that helped bring many of them to Washington.

“What’s happening to Jewish students on American campuses should alarm every American,” Israel on Campus Coalition CEO Jacob Baime told Fox News Digital. “The hostility is out in the open now: mobs on the quad, intimidation in the classroom, and harassment online. But here’s what the mob didn’t count on: this generation isn’t backing down.”

“These students are the proudest, toughest, most organized pro-Israel cohort we have ever seen. This week we brought more than 1000 campus leaders to Washington to train and equip them with the skills they need to go back to campus ready to fight for what they believe in,” he added.

FETTERMAN WINS PRAISE FOR ‘GUTS’ AFTER GOING TOE-TO-TOE WITH JON STEWART OVER ISRAEL SUPPORT

Israeli pop star Harel Skaat performs for students at the 2026 ICC National Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C.(Fox News Digital)

Fetterman, who spoke at the Israel on Campus Coalition’s flagship event, said the Democratic Party’s shifting posture toward Israel and the Jewish community is becoming increasingly consequential.

His support for Israel has repeatedly put him at odds with members of his own party, including over the broader conflict in the Middle East and his backing of President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

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“I think I was the only Democrat to support the Trump administration to bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities,” Fetterman told Fox News Digital. “If you don’t want them to acquire a nuclear bomb, it’s pretty reasonable to bomb their nuclear facilities.”

Fetterman argued the threat extends beyond Israel, casting the confrontation with Iran as a larger battle over American values and the West’s role in the region.

“The problem is Iran. That’s the problem,” he said, later adding, “I’m proud to stand for America, civilization, democracy, and Israel is our special ally that represents all of that in that region.”

Ashley J. DiMella reports on politics for Fox News Digital.