Trump will ‘give Netanyahu a blank check’: Youngest Jewish Congresswoman on Israel, Gaza and the election

Progressive Democrats initially might have been wary of Sara Jacobs when she came to Congress in 2021. The Center for Responsive Politics showed that in 2020, she was the fifth most self-funded candidate, a product of the fact that her grandfather co-founded the semiconductor company Qualcomm. She also beat a candidate who had the endorsement of Senator Bernie Sanders, who had won the California primary. It would be easy to dismiss her as a moneyed “nepo baby” with nothing to offer to the left of the party.

But since becoming a congresswoman, the 35-year-old California Democrat has distinguished herself as one of the more progressive voices in Congress.

When members of the Squad slept on the steps of the US Capitol in 2021 in protest of a rent moratorium coming to a close, Jacobs brought protesters pizza. She has been a consistent voice for defending women’s reproductive rights, always by leading with her own examples — she was the first member of Congress to discuss her own period on the House floor and has also openly talked about freezing her eggs.

But as the youngest Jewish American member of Congress, it is Jacobs’ support for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza that stands out.

For Jacobs, the decision is personal. Some of her own relatives from Israel are currently staying with her family in San Diego, following the violence of October 7th.

“I have family members who are members of Jewish Voice for Peace and have been part of the protests [against the war in Gaza],” she tells The Independent at her office in Washington, DC. “I have my Israeli family living with my family in San Diego. My parents are longtime supporters of the San Diego Jewish community and are very involved in it.”

She is a