Newsom says he regrets earlier comments likening Israel to an ‘apartheid state’

By David Wright, CNN

(CNN) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said that he regretted using the word “apartheid” to describe the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians, though he warned “that’s a word you may hear others use” if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushes for territorial gains.

Newsom made the initial remark during a live appearance on “Pod Save America” earlier this month, while discussing the backlash to Israel over its military operations in Gaza. The governor cited New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and others who Newsom said were “talking about it appropriately as sort of an apartheid state.”

Many in the Democratic Party have distanced themselves in recent months from the Israeli government and allied groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. But Newsom, a top potential contender for the 2028 nomination, drew attention for suggesting Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in territories it has controlled since 1967 amounted to “apartheid” – a claim Israel strongly rejects.

“Do you regret using the word apartheid to describe Israel?” asked Jonathan Martin of Politico in an interview published Tuesday.

“I do, in this context,” Newsom said, pointing to the February piece by Friedman, who wrote that “Israel by default could become some kind of apartheid-like state in permanent control over the 2.5 million Palestinians.”

“Tom used it in the context of the direction that Bibi is going,” Newsom said.

“Not the current state?” Martin interjected.

“Correct,” Newsom responded. “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.”

The subject came up during a lightning-round section of a sprawling interview when Martin began by asking Newsom if he considered himself a “Zionist.”

“I revere the state of Israel. I’m proud to support the state of Israel,” Newsom said. “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.”

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