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In the wake of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and kidnapped about 250 more, Sen. John Fetterman听papered his office walls听with pictures of the hostages.听

He wore the Israeli flag听like a cape听to a pro-Israel march on the National Mall and听waved听it from the roof of his home as pro-Palestinian protesters chanting below accused him of 鈥渟upporting genocide.鈥�

He even broke ranks with President Joe Biden, who last week threatened to withhold U.S. military aid if Israel moved ahead with invading Rafah, the last Hamas stronghold in Gaza and refuge for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians.听

鈥淗ard disagree,鈥� Senator Fetterman posted on X. 听

In short, he has arguably become the most outspoken supporter of Israel in the Democratic Party.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a very clear right side on this,鈥� he says, comparing Hamas to the Confederacy in the U.S. Civil War and the Nazis in World War II. 鈥淭hat kind of evil cannot be allowed to operate. Because if it is, how are we ever going to have peace?鈥澨�

His uncompromising stance has set him apart from many in his party, underscoring the extent to which the Democratic center of gravity on Israel has shifted听left since last fall. Some argue that if it鈥檚 now controversial for a Democrat to support the Middle East鈥檚 sole democracy, when dozens of its citizens are still being held hostage by a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, that says more about the party than about Mr.听Fetterman.听

But there鈥檚 also plenty to say about Mr. Fetterman, an unorthodox figure who seems to be finally finding his voice after a rough start to his Senate career.听

A larger-than-life politician, he was elected as an ally of the left. He officiated a 2013 same-sex marriage in defiance of Pennsylvania law as an 鈥渁ct of civil disobedience.鈥� He wants to legalize weed and codify Roe v. Wade. He posts selfies from picket lines. But he has now rejected the label of 鈥減rogressive鈥� and is charting a path as a pragmatic Democrat. That has dismayed some voters who thought they were getting a burly version of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, but it has also won plaudits from moderates and even Republicans, and elevated his profile.听

鈥淚s this the John Fetterman Pennsylvania elected?鈥� asked a recent in-depth听profile听in Philadelphia magazine, which compared him to an 鈥渦nderground band from the 1980s that somehow finds itself scoring hit singles and Grammy nods a decade later.鈥澨�

The truth is, John Fetterman has never fit into neat boxes. This is a man who earned a master鈥檚 degree from Harvard and then moved to a Rust Belt steel town, where he became mayor 鈥� for $150 a month. Married to a U.S. citizen brought to the country illegally by her Brazilian mother, he supports both border security and protections for 鈥淒reamers.鈥� Unlike many Democrats who want to curb reliance on fossil fuels, he opposed a moratorium on fracking, saying it would have taken away the jobs of Pennsylvanians.听And now, even as a growing number of Democrats are calling on Israel to show restraint and prevent further killing of Palestinian civilians, he puts the onus on Hamas, which he says could end the war by returning the remaining听hostages. 听

鈥淭he vocal stance that John has taken about Israel is something you can鈥檛 jump to easy assumptions about,鈥� says Pat Clark, a community organizer in the Pittsburgh area who first met Mr. Fetterman in the mid-1990s, when the latter came to the city to run an AmeriCorps GED program.

A media darling who struggled to find his footing in the Senate

Mr. Fetterman became a media darling back in the mid-2000s, as national reporters found an irresistible story in the tattooed mayor trying to revitalize Braddock, Pennsylvania, which is 70% Black.听

He went on to become the state鈥檚 lieutenant governor and then mounted a bid for the U.S. Senate. While campaigning in May 2022, Mr. Fetterman suffered a major stroke that left him with auditory processing challenges. He narrowly won election with 51.2% of the vote, but six weeks into his first term sought treatment for clinical depression and didn鈥檛 return to the Senate for two months.听He still uses live transcription on his phone to help him process reporters鈥� questions in the hallways.听

Much of the early press coverage of the freshman senator, never known as a policy wonk, revolved around either his health or his flouting of the staid Senate dress code with his trademark Carhartt hoodie sweatshirts.听

Then came Oct. 7. Hamas invaded Israel听in what the group later听told听The New York Times was a calculated effort to 鈥渃ompletely overthrow鈥� the status quo and put the Palestinian cause back in the global spotlight. During the attack, fighters听killed听babies, raped听women, and burned听people alive.

鈥淗e was very shocked, upset, and deeply moved by what happened on Oct. 7,鈥� says听Mark Fichman, head of the Pittsburgh chapter of J Street, an advocacy group that describes itself as pro-Israel and pro-democracy.听

Why Senator Fetterman, who is not Jewish, cares so much about Israel is something that ultimately only he can answer. But it鈥檚 clear he genuinely cares, says听Mr. Fichman, who met with the senator about a week after the brutal cross-border attack.听

In conversations leading up to their October meeting, Mr. Fichman adds, the senator openly admitted that Israel was an area about which he didn鈥檛 have extensive knowledge.听

But one thing he did seem to听have, Mr. Fichman observes, was a sincerely felt empathy for听victims of violence.听

It was the fatal shootings of two youths he worked with in Braddock that prompted him to run for mayor in 2004, Mr. Fetterman has said. He won by one vote. Two weeks into his tenure, a father about his age was shot and killed while delivering pizzas 鈥� 鈥渁 senseless crime that affected me deeply,鈥� the mayor would听tell a reporter听later.听

Mr. Fetterman tattooed the date on his right forearm. Eight more such tattoos would follow, a list of losses literally etched onto his body.

Pittsburgh鈥檚 Jewish community and rising antisemitism

Born in Pennsylvania, Senator Fetterman represents a state with the fifth-highest percentage of Jewish residents in the United States. And one where the threat of antisemitism is felt particularly keenly.听

In October 2018, a shooter committed the worst act of violence against Jews in America鈥檚 history, killing 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh鈥檚 Squirrel Hill neighborhood. Mr. Fetterman joined a vigil that evening and later toured the synagogue and saw the bullet holes.听

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 be a part of that and have that not really change you,鈥� Senator Fetterman told the Monitor.听

It took nearly five years to bring the synagogue shooter to trial, a proceeding that reopened a raw wound for the Jewish community.听

鈥淲hen our community thought we could close the chapter on that, we woke up to the events from Oct. 7 鈥� and it鈥檚 one more in a series of traumas that the Jewish community is facing,鈥� says听Shawn Brokos,听director of community security for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. She says the number of antisemitic incidents spiked after Oct. 7, with a third of the year鈥檚 total coming in the last 2 1/2 months. This year, the number of incidents so far is about triple what Pittsburgh saw last year, from graffiti on Jewish schools to hoax bomb threats at synagogues.

It was against that backdrop that Senator Fetterman鈥檚 2022 campaign vow to support Israel was put to the test.听

Two weeks after the Oct. 7 attack, Senator Fetterman posted on X: 鈥淭wo things can be true at the same time: I unequivocally stand with Israel and demand the immediate release of all hostages. I grieve for all innocent Palestinian lives lost. We must minimize suffering in Gaza and our humanitarian aid efforts must match the need.鈥�

But his support for Israel鈥檚 efforts to root out Hamas in Gaza 鈥� including mass displacement of civilians, cutting off water for a week after the attack, and killing thousands of women and children 鈥� has rankled some of those who had helped him get to the Senate.听

Last October, an听open letter听by 16 former unnamed Fetterman campaign staffers said that his push for unconditional U.S. military aid to Israel felt like a 鈥済utting betrayal.鈥�

鈥淥n the trail, your overarching promise was to 鈥楩orgotten Communities鈥� 鈥� people and places that get overlooked, written off, and left behind,鈥� they wrote, saying it wasn鈥檛 too late to stand on the 鈥渞ighteous鈥� side of history. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 be a champion of forgotten communities if you cheerlead this war and the consequent destruction of Palestinian communities at home and abroad.鈥�

But as the months passed, and pro-Palestinian campus protests spread across the nation, Senator Fetterman only听became more pointed. He mocked the 鈥減up tent intifada鈥� on college campuses, urged unconditional support for Israel, and countered calls for an Israeli cease-fire by placing the blame for the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza squarely on Hamas.

鈥淗amas fully owns and remains committed to the misery, deprivation, and trauma for Palestinians,鈥� he wrote on May 5.听

Many Republican and Orthodox Jewish voters in the Pittsburgh area were pleasantly surprised by how unmovable he was, digging in further as he received blowback.听Politically, it may be boosting him overall; a听January poll听showed twice as many voters saying they viewed him more favorably as a result of his stance than those who viewed him less favorably. 听

Still, there are听some in the largely progressive Jewish community of Pittsburgh who wish the senator would do more to support Palestinians 鈥� more than 35,000 of whom have been killed in Israel鈥檚 military offensive, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.听

And indeed, Mr. Fetterman鈥檚 stubbornly pro-Israel position听stands in sharp contrast to that of a growing number of his Democratic colleagues in Congress.

J Street鈥檚听Mr. Fichman听says there鈥檚 been a 鈥渟ea change鈥� within the party over the past six months when it comes to the U.S.-Israel relationship. Mainstream Democrats, including President Biden and Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate鈥檚 first Jewish majority leader, are now taking a closer look at how Israel is using听U.S. military aid and whether it aligns with American values.听

Mr. Fetterman鈥檚 stance has drawn ire on social media, with some antagonists 鈥渆ncouraging me to kill myself or hoping that I get a stroke,鈥� says the senator. He adds that he doesn鈥檛 know how anyone thinks that will get him on their side. 鈥淏ut that鈥檚 not a side that I鈥檓 going to be on.鈥澨�

Ms. Brokos, speaking on a personal level, says Senator Fetterman has been a 鈥渢remendous鈥� ally 鈥� a 鈥渧ery visible鈥� presence in the Pittsburgh Jewish community, from rallies to Shabbat services.听

鈥淚 think what he鈥檚 done is remarkable, and it does give people a sense of hope,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ecause right now it feels like a lot of people are abandoning the Jewish community. And he is not.鈥澨�