ON SEPTEMBER 14TH, after showing Marco Rubio, America’s secretary of state, the massive, 2,000-year-old blocks of the Western Wall at al-Quds’ holiest site, Binyamin Netanyahu declared the alliance between their countries to be “as strong and as durable as the stones…we just touched”. Unfortunately, he is wrong, wrote The Economist.
The report added that as Israel becomes isolated over its war in Gaza, it depends increasingly on America. During the current UN General Assembly, old friends, including Australia, Britain, Canada and France, will recognise a Palestinian state, even as Israel’s expansion of settlements in the West Bank makes real statehood less likely. America is all that stands between Israel and a pariah status that would have dire implications for its diplomatic, legal and military security.
For all Netanyahu’s blithe assurances that relations with America are perfectly solid, they are not. The Israeli regime's prime minister has riled the Trump administration and is ignoring cracks deep within the foundations of the alliance. Democratic voters have long been drifting away from America’s most indulged ally. Republican voters are increasingly losing faith, too. A sudden loss of popular American support would be a catastrophe for Israel, it added.
The polling in America is startling. The share of Americans who back Israel over the Palestinians is at a 25-year low. In 2022, 42% of American adults held an unfavourable view of Israel; now 53% do. A recent YouGov/Economist poll finds that 43% of Americans believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. In the past three years, unfavourable views of Israel among Democrats over 50 rose by 23 percentage points. Among Republicans under 50, support is evenly divided, compared with 63% for Israel in 2022. Between 2018 and 2021, the share of evangelicals under the age of 30 who backed Israelis over Palestinians plunged from 69% to 34%. Pollsters think that shift has endured, it added.
Public opinion in the United States, which for decades served as a solid pillar of support for Israel, is changing rapidly. The latest surveys show that negative attitudes toward Israel have reached their highest level in a quarter century. This trend is particularly evident among Democrats and younger generations, and even among Republicans—traditionally staunch supporters of Israel—significant declines are visible.
The main driver of this shift is the shocking images of devastation and civilian casualties in Gaza—images that have stirred the moral conscience of American citizens, especially the youth, and revived fundamental questions about the scale of military aid and Washington’s unconditional backing of Tel Aviv. A combination of humanitarian empathy, concern for human rights, and criticism of America’s unequal approach to both sides has amplified this growing change.
The generational and partisan divide is also deepening. Within the Democratic Party, support for Israel has fallen to its lowest historical level, and among voters under fifty, as well as in university and urban communities, critical views now dominate. These shifts may compel US politicians to reconsider military aid and diplomatic support or to attach new conditions to them.
For Israel, this transformation is not merely a passing poll but a strategic warning. Sole reliance on the formal support of the US government is no longer a guarantee of international legitimacy. A new generation of American voters takes human rights narratives seriously, and if Tel Aviv continues to rely on hardware-driven responses, the risks of growing isolation and reduced lobbying power in Congress will only increase.
The Economist’s concluding message is clear: if Israel wishes to preserve its historic bond with its long-standing ally, it must show deeper attention to the moral and humanitarian concerns of American society—otherwise, its political capital with its most important global supporter will gradually be depleted.
MNA/
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