Victory Would Fulfill A Dream; Restoring Israel’s Image In The U.S. Is A Mandate

While the U.S.-Israel military pact is strong, support for Israel among Americans is eroding.

From a military standpoint, the joint U.S.-Israel attack on Iran has been just short of miraculous, starting with eliminating the Supreme Leader and 40 of his top lieutenants in the first 40 seconds of the conflict.

From an American political standpoint, though, the war appears to be turning into a true dilemma for Israel – and American Jews – as bipartisan support for the Jewish state, a longtime bulwark of the relationship, is cratering.

Israelis believe this moment is their best – and maybe only – chance to free themselves of the existential threat of destruction at the hands of an Islamic fundamentalist regime fully committed to Israel’s demise. Support for the war is strong, and Donald Trump is seen as the one American leader with the resolve and commitment to topple the world’s most aggressive and dangerous source of international terror.

But here in the U.S., signs of discontent regarding Israel are coming from many directions. Large numbers of Republicans are upset with the president who promised no more “forever wars.” Tucker Carlson, hugely popular on the right and increasingly blunt about his anti-Israel and anti-Jewish views, sought to dissuade Trump from allegedly being coerced by Prime Minister Netanyahu into attacking Iran, and declares Israel is a dangerous liability.

On the left, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a likely Democratic presidential candidate and longtime supporter of Israel, said this week that the U.S. should consider “rethinking our military support for Israel” and described Israel as “sort of an apartheid state.” He recently said he “never will” accept money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the pro-Israel lobby that was once almost universally endorsed by members of Congress. It is now seen as toxic by many liberal and progressive Democrats seeking to distance themselves from Israel since the Gaza war.

Newsom’s comments reflect a dramatic shift away from support for Israel among Democrats.

Another example: A Gallup Poll taken in February found that for the first time in its many years of surveys, more Americans sympathize with the Palestinians (41 percent) than with Israel (36 percent). Only 17 percent of Democrats said they sympathize more with Israel; 65 percent favor the Palestinians. Independent voters shifted sharply from 42 percent favoring Israel in past polls to 41 percent favoring the Palestinians today. Republican support is solid, at 70 percent sympathizing with Israel (13 percent favor Palestinians). But the sympathy for Israel was 80 percent – 10 percent higher – in 2024.

The poll was taken before the latest attack on Iran began, and all indications are that the highly unpopular conflict is blamed in part on concern that Trump has offered no specific reason for “why now?” and no day-after plan, as well as the charge that Israel pushed America into it. Jews are used to being scapegoated for causing wars, and this one is no exception. But the notion that Israel pulled Trump into this conflict when in truth he has long called for taking out the Iranian regime, mocked previous presidents for not doing so, and could easily have said “no” to Netanyahu’s entreaties, seems highly unlikely. Still, emotions are stronger than logic for many people, and with anti-Israel conspiracy theories spreading on social media, and politicians, left and right, wary of appearing too close to Israel, the blame-Israel tag could stick.

In a Senate vote along party lines, Republicans blocked a Democratic resolution to rein in President Trump’s powers from continuing the war against Iran without the authorization of Congress. Only one Democrat, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, a staunch supporter of Israel, voted against the resolution. “Every member in the U.S. Senate agrees we cannot allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon,” Fetterman explained in a post on his website. “I’m baffled why so many are unwilling to support the only action to achieve that.” He joined Republicans in supporting Trump’s decision, based on striking back at a regime that launched a war on America, Israel and the West 47 years ago when Islamic fundamentalists took over Iran. Since then their terror attacks have killed thousands of innocents around the world.

Perhaps more telling than political surveys and wranglings in Congress is the pulse of American culture. Late-night TV hosts are getting big laughs for mocking Trump’s vague comments about his reasons for launching the war. “This could be the first war ever launched based on vibes,” Jimmy Kimmel observed on The Tonight Show on Wednesday night. And Stephen Colbert’s monologue called out Trump for referring to “the war” frequently even though the administration calls the effort “targeted, major combat operations.”

Many Americans, especially those too young to remember the revolution of the ayatollahs in 1979, are unaware of Iran’s history of hostility toward the West, labeling America “Big Satan” and Israel “Little Satan.” On November 4, 1979, Iranian students seized the U.S Embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. On October 23, 1983, a suicide truck bomb sent by Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah, destroyed the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 U.S. service members (220 Marines). It was the deadliest attack against the U.S. Marines since Iwo Jima in World War II. The list of terror attacks in Europe, the Mideast and South America goes on and on.

In response to the attack, Iran is turning neighboring states in the region into enemies by lashing out at a number of them, including Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. In addition to its obsession with America and Israel, Iran’s desperate attacks should indicate how dangerous the regime is to the world. But few have made that point.

For now, Israel is focused on winning the war decisively and severing Tehran from its Hezbollah, Hamas and Houthi proxies. But in the longer term, there are ominous signs indicating that the American-Israel relationship, now at its absolute highest point with the two countries full military partners, could be in for a dramatic downturn. A growing number of Americans perceive the war being fought more for Israel’s security than America’s, with some Republicans under the influence of social media powerhouses like Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly and Candace Owens. And more Democrats are viewing Netanyahu and his hard right government as moving closer to annexing Gaza and the West Bank than toward a peace path. As Michael Koplow, an astute observer of the Middle East and chief policy officer of the Israel Policy Forum, writes: “the relationship with Israel has become toxic. Israel’s American triumph is sowing the seeds for its American collapse.”

That might sound overly pessimistic to some, but wars tend to become less popular as they drag on and this one has been unpopular in the U.S. from the start. What’s more, as a result of the Gaza war, Netanyahu has become a pariah to many around the world, including Washington. That leads Koplow to assert that “the next Israeli government will need to pivot immediately, pursue normal U.S.-Israel policy processes that involve wide consultation, and most critically, seek buy-in for its aims from Congress and from both parties.”

Winning the war militarily over Iran would be a remarkable achievement, but restoring an authentic bipartisan relationship in Washington for the long term is an imperative.