Bipartisan backing for special relationship is fraying as Middle East conflicts turn public opinion
Via the Guardian
Israel’s conflicts in the Middle East have driven a sea change in US public opinion, threatening a bipartisan consensus of support for military aid for Israel that has been the status quo for decades.
In public opinion polling of Americans, among likely candidates for president, and even in pro-Israel lobbying circles, the special relationship enjoyed by Israel with the US is now under fire as human rights concerns from the left and a new “America First” foreign policy groundswell on the right could impact coming elections – including the 2028 presidential elections.
The shift has been particularly marked on the left. When Bernie Sanders, a US senator, first tabled a joint resolution of disapproval (JRD) to oppose arms sales to Israel last year, it received votes from just 15 Democratic members of the Senate. A similar vote last July won 27 supporters.
On Thursday, a vote against supplying Caterpillar D9 bulldozers to Israel – which Sanders said could be used to destroy homes in the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon – was defeated again but with a record 40 Senate Democratssupporting it. (Another measure restricting the sale of 1,000lb bombs to Israel was rejected by a 36-63 vote.)
Most importantly, said observers, a number of Democratic senators who flipped to support the resolutions are considering presidential runs in 2028.
“None of the senators who are publicly considering running for president on the left voted against it,” said Jon Hoffman, a foreign-policy analyst at the Cato Institute who has called the relationship with Israel a “strategic liability” for the US.
“I have this conversation with my Democratic colleagues a lot: I think it’s going to be very difficult for a 2028, Democratic primary candidate to win, if they do not openly disavow US aid to Israel – possibly even the US-Israel special relationship. I think we will have reached that point by 2028.”
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