So how bad is Israel’s situation in America? Bad, thanks for asking.
The real question should be how stable. An expert on U.S.-Israel relations offered a broader perspective last week: since the Iraq war, the American public has viewed wars negatively. Armed conflict means negative coverage, especially a two-year conflict, and all the more so one in which almost all the suffering is inflicted on the other side.
The main problem is in the Democratic Party, of which more than half the representatives in the Senate recently supported a proposed arms embargo on Israel. What’s interesting, however, is who did not sign it. There is a massive struggle over the soul of the Democratic Party, wounded from its defeat to Trump. One wing proposes responding to Trump’s rightward radicalization with a leftward radicalization.
Take, for example, Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, who proposes socialism and hatred of Israel. There is, however, another wing: Rahm Emanuel, a former Chicago mayor and potential presidential candidate, who insists on confronting the far-left wing head-on, and he is not alone.
Another problem is American youth, whose support for Palestinians is breaking records. While the phenomenon is not unprecedented, the numbers are. Almost no 50-year-old believes what they did at 20, but the question, nonetheless, is what beliefs will remain.
Every generation brings dangers for Israel in America. The current challenge is new, but the fact that there are challenges is not. Don’t forget that until the Reagan era, the Republican Party was quite hostile to Israel.
The current problem is a perfect storm: a long war, a radical right-wing government in Israel, and political shifts within the U.S. American public opinion. This is, of course, all elastic, and there’s little doubt that things will improve once the war ends. The real question is whether some of the damage will be permanent. Even if the rope doesn’t snap, will it still show signs of strain?
