Watching politics in the United States seems like an endless parade of compromised people finding new ways to dedicate themselves to the Israeli cause. The genocide in Gaza and the mass killings in the West Bank seem to be no obstacle to their devotion. Voices supporting Palestine, or at least challenging Israel’s tactics, are few and far between. But public opinion in America is changing, quite drastically in some cases—including in the Jewish community.
Israel is increasingly a country supported by evangelical Christians, conservative Jews, European political parties with Nazi pasts, and the global far right. Hatred of Muslims, Islam, multiculturalism, and the democratic majority is the glue that binds these disparate groups together.
A recent Economist/YouGov poll in the US is a stark reminder that Israel’s actions in Gaza and elsewhere since October 7, 2023, have caused a monumental decline in American support for the Israeli state. Twenty-one percent of American adults sympathize more with the Palestinians, compared with 31 percent who sympathize with the Israelis – but that is the highest percentage for Palestine since the Economist/YouGov poll was first asked seven years ago.
Perhaps most telling is the effect on Democratic and Republican voters. Republicans, perhaps bolstered by President Donald Trump’s presence in the White House, remain strongly supportive of Israel. But 35 percent of Democrats express more sympathy for the Palestinians, compared to nine percent for Israel.
The Democratic Delusion
It is no surprise that many voters in the state of Michigan simply refused to vote for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in the November election because of her party’s fanatical support for Israel. While foreign policy is rarely a major deciding factor in Western elections, Gaza was clearly an obstacle to Democrats retaining the White House, with some Arab voters believing that Trump would end the war in Gaza.
To this day, Democrats continue to blame voters for abandoning the party over Gaza—a delusional strategy that shows how little the party elites have learned since their defeat. There is no evidence that Harris cared about the daily devastation of Palestinians in Gaza, so voting for her, unlike Trump, was not the logical choice for Americans concerned about Israel’s genocidal actions and intentions.
American Jews, traditionally considered Israel’s strongest supporters, are divided—and this was bound to happen, for a long time…
According to a poll published in May of last year by the Jerusalem-based Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, about a third of American Jews agreed with the view that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. Mass demonstrations in support of Palestine across the United States, especially on university campuses, have been denounced by critics as anti-Semitic hate demonstrations. But among American Jews surveyed, 28 percent saw the protests as completely anti-Israel, while 34 percent described them as pro-peace and anti-war.
More than half of those polled supported the idea of blocking American weapons from Israel in the context of the Rafah invasion. In November of last year, when Americans were voting in the presidential election, another poll of American Jews, conducted for the liberal Zionist lobby group J Street, showed general support for Israel but strong reservations about the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A Sharp Divide
The loudest Jewish voices in most Western countries are usually the most belligerent in their support of Israel’s actions, motives, and ideas. The more extreme and openly racist the Israeli government becomes, the more unstable the blind support for the country becomes. But there has always been a sharp divide in the Jewish community over Israel between those who believe it is their duty to support whatever the country does, and others who have long recognized that their values differ sharply from supporting a Jewish nation-state in the Middle East.
Israel’s far-right turn has become impossible to deny. The country proudly supports Trump’s vision of ethnic cleansing of Gaza, along with Israel’s desire to rule Palestinians indefinitely in the occupied territories. Nearly 60 years of illegal occupation are certainly not temporary. They are permanent and deepening daily.
We have always believed that Diaspora Jews have allowed their communities to be represented by the most radical Zionist groups that show contempt for Palestinians and democracy – organizations like AIPAC in the US, the British Lawyers for Israel, and Aijac in Australia. With Israel moving happily toward a possible theocratic future, its main supporters must be looking enviously at Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The country’s image as a liberal oasis in the heart of the Middle East will be difficult to maintain, no matter how much money is spent on brazen propaganda.
For countless Americans, including the diverse Jewish community, this outcome is both disturbing and saddening. It is arguably more dangerous to be a Jew in Israel than in almost any other country on the planet. The allure of Israel, always praised by representatives of the Jewish community, has diminished significantly. Zionism has always been seen as a colonial enterprise, including by its founders – and now many in Western countries are beginning to see the threat it poses.
62 percent supported Washington not sending any weapons to Israel until Netanyahu supports a ceasefire agreement in Gaza. The majority of those polled also had unfavorable views of the Israeli prime minister and supported sanctions against far-right ministers in his government.
