There has been a noticeable shift in public opinion on Israel and Jews—they are related, but not identical—and it does not look promising.
Leading the way are the most left-wing members of the Democratic Party. Just last week, more than 100 House Democrats voted to eliminate roughly $3 billion in military aid to Israel. Siding with the Congressional Progressive Caucus was California Rep. Nancy Pelosi, former two-term Speaker of the House, as well as others not known to be extremists.
The vote came after a publicity stunt by California Rep. Ro Khanna, a man with presidential ambitions. His visit to Israel was not designed to be a goodwill gesture; rather, it was a media-grabbing headline done at the expense of the Israelis. He claimed that he was “detained” from entering a restricted area in Judea and Samaria, when, in fact, he was stopped to assure identification.
After the Israeli military intervened, he was allowed to proceed. At no time were he and his crew threatened by “violent settlers,” as he put it. He further exploited this staged event by charging Israel with “genocide” and “apartheid.”
Politicians like Khanna are taking a page out of the playbook of the Democratic Socialists of America, the surging competitor to the Democratic Party. The DSA is so filled with hatred of Israel that on July 12 it rejected a proposal to back Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) as a presidential candidate, deeming her too moderate. According to The New York Times, she was seen as “insufficiently supportive of the Palestinian cause and efforts to end the war in Gaza.”
Another reason why the DSA opposed Ocasio-Cortez had nothing to do with Israel, but with the Jewish community. To be specific, on July 8, it issued a statement ripping her for sponsoring a recent event with Jewish leaders on the subject of antisemitism. The political movement branded this a “deep betrayal.”
We have entered a new day when radical Democrats are criticized by influential far-left activists for opposing bigotry against the Jewish people.
This is not a surprise. In New York City, protesters have been seen walking the streets brandishing anti-Jewish posters, some adorned with swastikas, at pro-Palestinian rallies. This would never have happened as recently as during the tenure of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, but now that Zohran Mamdani, the Marxist Muslim, is in charge, these kinds of vile incidents are now unexceptional.
Earlier this year, a Gallup survey found that 41% of Americans said they sympathize more with the Palestinians than with the Israelis (they drew 36%). This is a dramatic change. As Gallup reported, “from 2001 to 2025, Israelis consistently held double-digit leads in Americans’ Middle East sympathies, with the gap averaging 43 points between 2001 and 2018.”
That change followed the terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas and other Palestinians launched an unprovoked attack, murdering 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 others, dragging them into the Gaza Strip for days, months and even years. Subsequently, Israel sought to drive the terrorists out of Gaza. So why did public opinion work against Israel?
A study issued last year by the Jewish People Policy Institute found that of the 17 leading international media outlets, 77% of the coverage focused on Israel and only 23% on Iran. Not surprisingly, Al Jazeera English focused 92% of its coverage on Israel.
More than anything else, the media—and elites in general—have been pushing the “two-state solution,” meaning the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. Gallup reports that 57% of Americans now favor the idea. On paper, it sounds reasonable, even appealing.
But it’s time for a reality check.
A two-state solution was broached in 1947, but Arab leadership opposed it. Under the U.N. partition plan, Arabs would be given complete control over Judea and Samaria (“the West Bank”) and the Gaza Strip. They rejected the new Jewish state.
Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948, and the next day, it was invaded by five regional Arab armies. The head of the Arab League declared: “This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre.” Those were not empty words; he meant it.
Over the next decades, government after government—and international summit after summit—focused on the Israeli-Arab conflict, keeping the Palestinian political situation in news headlines.
In the summer of 2005, there was another attempt at a two-state solution. The Israeli government unilaterally withdrew its military forces and removed 9,000 Jewish residents from Gaza as part of disengagement, turning over the land to the newly elected Arab government. It was up to Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas, still the leader at age 90, to build a peaceful state there.
That was not to be. Instead, Hamas seized control of the Strip in June 2007, following a brief but intense civil war against the rival Fatah faction. Hamas wanted war, not peace.
Those who now applaud a two-state solution need to turn their anger at those who have intentionally subverted it. These activists, groups and governments aren’t interested in co-existing; they are interested in destroying Israel.
