“There is no doubt there has been a change”: A shift in opinion as Americans support Israel Falls | US News
They seem to be relationships that would bind forever.
For three-quarters of a century, unwavering support for Israel—in the form of military aid and diplomatic support, and as a champion of broad public sentiment—has been an indelible feature of the American political landscape.
But Abdul Hadid, the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in Michigan, tipped by some as a rising star, discovered something had changed as he campaigned in 100 towns and cities across what had long been one of the nation’s up-and-coming states.
“There is no doubt that there is change,” he said. “We have now lived through genocide, and this is bound to change public opinion in a very profound way.”
Two years after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that killed nearly 1,200 — most civilians — on the Israeli side and that initially generated a surge in popular solidarity, the views of the American public have already undergone a remarkable transformation and polls and analysts are moving.
Public support for Israel has fallen to previously unseen levels, while sympathy for the Palestinian cause has risen.
The impact was evident in Michigan this week when Mallory McMorrow, one of the party’s Democratic opponents in a three-way bid to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters, He agreed publicly With Al-Sayed describing the conflict as “genocide.”
Politicians—Democrats and Republicans—who would once have bitten their tongues rather than express criticism of Israel, and are now openly dismantling the long Gaza offensive, a small but growing number. Call it genocide.
This public complacency has done nothing to alleviate the plight of Palestinians, or boycott the billions of dollars in US military aid flowing to Israel; Several election cycles may be needed for policy influence to filter through. However, analysts believe that the change in public opinion is so fundamental that it represents a permanent shift.
Significantly, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)—for years, Israel’s most influential lobby group, which organized and bragged about fundamental challenges Members of Congress deemed critical or unsupported have shown signs of diminishing influence, Top Democrats are also said to be breaking Long term relationships.
The seismic shift is more evident among the broader public.
A Pew Research Center survey Reported last week that nearly six in 10 Americans, 59%, now hold an unfavorable view of Israel, while 39% believe it is “going too far” in its war in Gaza — compared with 31% who had the same opinion a year ago, and 27% who thought this just two months after the war began. A poll from the same organization in 2022 showed 42% with negative views.
The anti-Israel swing is confirmed by other polls. accident New York Times/Siena Poll Pro-Palestinian sympathy trumps support for Israel—albeit openly, by 35% to 34%.
and Economist/You Government Poll In August, it found 45% of the public believed Israel was committing genocide — a charge Israel vociferously denies — compared with just 31% who opposed. on Four out of 10 American Jews think the same thing, according to a new Washington Post poll.
The change has been most sharp among Democrats, as support for Israel is declining among all voter groups — with profound implications for future elections and American foreign policy.
Bill Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and co-author of A. Recent report The support for Israel is eroding.
“If the next president is a Democrat, there will be a mix of views represented in the White House, and it will have an impact on governance in and of itself.”
This shift has prompted candidates who publicly identify themselves with the Palestinian cause. Most notable is Zahran Mamdani, a self-declared democratic socialist who triumphed in the Democratic primary to become the party’s nominee in New York. Mayor after defending Palestinian rights.
Another is sharp, in his campaign to be the Senate candidate in Michigan, a traditional swing state and home to a large bloc of Arab American voters who swung in large numbers to support Donald Trump in the presidential election last November due to the disappearance of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in support of Ezra gas.
El Hadd, a former public health official, told his campaign It revealed a changing view of the conflict regardless of background.
“I have been to a lot of communities where there are no Arabs or Muslims and when I talk about this issue, there is a collective sigh of relief,” he said in an interview.
“People think, ‘Finally there’s a politician willing to name the obvious…our tax dollars are being sent overseas to do unspeakable things instead of being invested here at home.’ “
“Over the past few years, we have watched life become more unaffordable. People are struggling to afford everything from groceries to gas to health care, and watching their schools collapse.
“So the idea that our tax dollars that could be used to invest in our children here at home are instead being used to destroy other children is beyond the pale for a lot of people.”
“The last administration is very Zionist-friendly.”
Republicans face their own version of skepticism over support for Israel.
While voters over 50, according to the Brookings study, remain strongly supportive of Israel, the drift has been evident among younger Republicans, many of whom see unconditional support for Israel as a clash with Donald Trump’s commitments to avoid foreign collectivization.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the tough-talking congresswoman from Georgia, made headlines in July Labeling Israel’s actions in Gaza were “genocidal,” several weeks before Bernie Sanders, the progressive senator from Vermont, He did the same.
Trump has taken note. talk to Daily Caller In September, the president — who last week unveiled a ceasefire plan between Israel and Hamas, along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — said Israel had lost political influence in Washington.
“Israel was the most powerful lobby I’ve ever seen. They had complete control of Congress, and now they don’t,” he said.
Growing MAGA sentiment among his base may have prompted Trump to try to end the war with greater urgency, though the results remain to be seen.
Some supporters say it’s a generational disappointment.
Curtis Mills, executive director of American Conservative, a magazine originally founded to oppose the US-led invasion of Iraq, who has Long an opponent of the US alliance with Israel, Trump’s presidency said, “The last baby boomer, conservative, very Zionist administration.”
“The United States has engaged in foreign policy adventures at the behest of the Israeli issue for decades, and it has not worked in the United States — it has worked for Benjamin Netanyahu,” he said. “For people under 40 or 30 or even 20 years old, when it’s the Middle East, again, again, again, the gag reaction is going into full effect. And I think it’s becoming bipartisan.”
He continued: “The average age of a congressman is in the mid-60s, so it will not be expressed in the legislature today or even in the next Congress. But for the under-50s, I think the Israel issue is dead on arrival.”
“It’s unlikely [next] republican [presidential] The nominee will be almost as pro-Israel as previous Republican candidates have been. “
Right now, the clearest signs of a sea change may be in Washington, where Aipac—long the dominant pro-Israel lobby group—is losing ground to traditionally smaller organizations.
The New York Times I mentioned Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House, accepted the endorsement of J Street, which is center-left The group has criticized Netanyahu’s government and favors a two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“For a long time, Aipac was the big kid on the block,” said Galston, of the Brookings Institution. “It will be a more equal fight next cycle.”
AIPAC spokesman Marshall Whitman cited the Senate vote in July defeating a Sanders-backed proposal Seeks to stop arms sales to Israel As evidence that Congress remains pro-Israel. While senators voted against the resolution to ban the sale of assault rifles, the majority of Democrats present in the chamber voted in favor.
“The polls fluctuate, but the reality is that Israel is fighting a just and moral war against a barbaric enemy that brutally attacked the Jewish state on October 7 and continues to hold 48 hostages,” he wrote in an email. “It is fully consistent with American interests and values to stand with a democratic ally as it fights Hamas and other Iranian terrorist proxies.”
But Galston predicted that future policymakers would not see Israel in the same light as David and the generations that once shaped the U.S. view.
“Joe Biden will certainly be the last [Democratic] A president whose views were shaped in Israel’s early years, its stunning victory in 1967 [in the six-day war]And the fact that Israel has been under siege for decades.
“This has all changed.”