As the 2026 midterm cycle concludes, eyes will soon turn to 2028 — and the crowded presidential field. And much like in this year’s races, the relationship between America and Israel is expected to play a central role. One group of former U.S. officials is getting a head start on working to shape candidates’ policies regarding America’s longstanding and increasingly controversial ally.
As polling shows that Americans’ favorability of Israel has hit historic lows, a dozen officials who resigned from the Biden administration over concerns about America’s role in the Israeli military campaign in Gaza released a pledge Wednesday for potential presidential candidates to sign. The pledge says signatories reject the Israel policies of Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden and promise to not hire former staffers who the group says fueled military destruction in Gaza and a humanitarian crisis among Palestinians.
“Senior Biden Administration officials who were architects of the Gaza policy are now actively white-washing their own roles in enabling genocide,” reads the pledge document, which was shared exclusively with The Washington Sun. “When faced with the opportunity to stand up in defense of our laws, they not only stayed silent, but worked resolutely in pursuit of illegal and wrongful ends in violation of both U.S. and international law. And they did so despite ample evidence and thorough internal warnings of the consequences.”
“We must ensure these officials can never again wield power in the name of the American people … not only as a consequence for their actions, but also as a deterrent,” the pledge document continues.
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The pledge from the Biden-era resignees does not name specific officials. But Biden staffers, including Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk and deputy national security adviser Jon Finer, have argued they did not receive firm conclusions that their Gaza policy broke international law or American laws governing military support to partner countries. As secretary of state, Antony Blinken did receive recommendations from several State Department offices to penalize Israeli military units, but he did not take that step. Finer, McGurk and a representative for Blinken did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The new commitment has three components. First: enforcing U.S. law and pursuing American interests “without fear or favor” — a nod to concerns in the Biden era about political backlash for challenging Israel, and to complaints that Trump’s cooperation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu constitutes an “Israel-first” policy.
Second is a promise to “acknowledge the complicity of the United States government in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.” Roughly half of Democrats believe Israel has committed genocide, according to polling by The Associated Press.
The final part of the pledge is to avoid hiring any “past or present political appointee” who the group describes as “an architect, leader, defender, or key enabler” of unchecked U.S. backing for Israel.
Israel denies that it has committed a genocide and says it investigates claims of human rights violations. The International Criminal Court has issued warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister for war crimes and crimes against humanity. U.S. government lawyers repeatedly suggested Biden’s Gaza policy could violate international law.
Josh Paul, the first Biden-era resignee over Gaza, told The Sun that the group has discussed its pledge with several potential 2028 candidates. “I would not anticipate people signing on until they announce [their candidacies],” said Paul, who had served in the State Department for more than 11 years.
Several likely 2028 Democratic candidates have made opposition to U.S. policy in Gaza, including criticism of Biden’s approach, central to their political brands. They include Rep. Ro Khanna (California), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (Maryland).
Spokespeople for Khanna and Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Van Hollen’s representative referred The Sun to comments the senator made in a recent interview.
Asked about officials like Blinken, McGurk and former National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan serving in a future Democratic administration during an interview with Zeteo this month, Van Hollen said: “People can change, but they have to be able to demonstrate that they fully understand exactly what went wrong and their role. ... I have not seen the kind of introspection and change that I think would be required.”
A spokesperson for Sullivan did not respond to a request for comment.
Paul suggested Republican candidates would also be welcome to sign, as doubts about Israel have grown among conservatives alongside mounting frustrations about Trump’s Iran war.
The backers of the pledge include former career diplomatic personnel, military officers, humanitarian experts and Biden political appointees.
“We want candidates to be aware that the officials who enabled Israel’s genocide in Gaza are politically toxic. If they try to hire them, they will face consequences from voters,” said Annelle Sheline, a former State Department official who was an organizer of the pledge.
It’s unclear whether such calls will succeed. Some of the possible Democratic presidential candidates are wary of using the term “genocide” to describe Israel’s actions. Former Vice President Kamala Harris, the party’s 2024 nominee and the front-runner in most 2028 polling, has said the Biden administration should have used American leverage over Israel more forcefully but has largely avoided specific critiques of her former colleagues. And other groups that have typically influenced Democratic Party policy, planning and staffing have welcomed some of Biden’s top Gaza advisers to their ranks, including Blinken on the board of the Center for American Progress think tank, and Sullivan as a player in the organizations Foreign Policy for America and National Security Action.
The group that could ultimately hold the most sway in 2028 Democratic policies is the party’s financial backers.
“From a donor viewpoint, it’s going to be hard for any candidate not to acknowledge the egregious behavior of the Biden administration,” Liam Connell, a longtime Democratic donor in the Chicago suburbs, told The Sun. “Some of the very centrist or right candidates may keep quiet about it, but nobody is going to defend it.”
Connell, who helped organize a donor letter to Biden’s team in 2024 saying the Gaza policy risked helping Trump, said he has seen a shift away from previous “reluctance” among donors to discuss America’s entanglement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He argued that the pledge is “pushing an open door.”
But another source involved in Democratic campaigns and fundraising suggested it would be complicated for the party to find unanimity on barring those involved in past Gaza policy from future service.
‘For every donor that finds them problematic, you’ll find another donor that does not,” said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private organizing efforts.
The source tied the chances of a reckoning over Gaza to an electoral calculation — specifically, the upcoming Senate race in Michigan, a crucial swing state where the Democratic nominee, Abdul El-Sayed, is a prominent proponent of overhauling the U.S.-Israel relationship.
2028 campaigns, the source said, are “waiting to see if Abdul wins” to decide how much Biden’s Gaza record matters.
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