Dahlia Scheindlin, a pollster, a Policy Fellow at Century International, and a columnist at Haaretz, reports on how Gaza has accelerated the social and political forces driving America and Israel apart.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Joe Biden meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, Tel Aviv, October 2023
On May 8, 2024, the Biden administration confirmed that it was withholding a major weapons shipment to the Israel Defense Forces. It was the biggest step that the United States has taken in decades to restrain Israel’s actions. The decision concerned a consignment of 2,000-pound bombs—weapons that the United States generally avoids in urban warfare, and which White House officials believed that Israel would use in its Rafah operation in the Gaza Strip—and did not affect other weapons transfers. Nonetheless, the administration’s willingness to employ measures that could materially constrain Israel’s behavior reflected its growing frustration with Israel’s nearly eight-month-old war in Gaza.
Washington prides itself on its tradition of bipartisan support for Israel, but in reality a partisan gap has been growing for years. Many Democratic voters, and younger Americans generally, have become critical of Israel’s long-standing denial of Palestinian human rights and national self-determination. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s populist, illiberal policies and his theocratic governing-coalition allies have alienated them further. On the other hand, Republicans and many religious conservatives have seized on support for Israel—including unrestrained backing for right-wing Israeli governments—as an article of faith, and, increasingly, a political litmus test. (Scheindlin, n.d.)
Despite the Biden administration’s strong support for Israel after October 7 and through much of the war—and despite the fact that a large majority of American Jews have traditionally voted Democratic—Israelis show that they prefer Donald Trump to Joe Biden by a wide margin. Unlike in past decades, a majority of Israelis also approve of their leaders’ defying U.S. policy preferences. And it’s not clear that these Israelis are much concerned about a rupture in the U.S.-Israeli relationship or that Israeli defiance might one day jeopardize the extensive military aid on which Israel relies. (Scheindlin, n.d.)
By contrast, even before he entered the Oval Office, Biden’s lifelong record as a devoted pro-Israel Democrat left many Israelis cold. In October 2020, ahead of the U.S. election that year, a survey conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) found that 63 percent of Israelis preferred to see Trump reelected; just 17 percent preferred Biden. Following Biden’s victory, an even larger percentage of Israelis—73 percent—said that Biden was likely to be somewhat or much worse than Trump for Israel, according to another IDI poll.
By contrast, in April 2024, after the United States gathered an international coalition that included even Arab states to provide extraordinary military support to Israel, using their combined air defenses to thwart a massive Iranian missile attack, Israelis seemed no more favorable toward the Biden administration than before. Following the attack, the IDI reminded Israelis of this highly effective coalition and asked if they would now “agree in principle to the future establishment of a Palestinian state, in return for a permanent regional defense agreement.” Israeli numbers didn’t budge: a majority of 55 percent rejected the idea, while just 34 percent agreed. The rate was even lower among Israeli Jews: only 26 percent agreed. (Scheindlin, n.d.)
Israeli political analyst Dahlia Scheindlin joined The Sunday Magazine guest host David Common to talk about how developments at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC) are straining relationships with some of Israel’s traditional allies.
Israel is facing renewed pressure in the war with Hamas, between the International Court of Justice ordering the country to halt its Rafah offensive, and the International Criminal Court's top prosecutor seeking arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. Israeli political analyst Dahlia Scheindlin joined Common to talk about how these and other developments are adding to tension in Israeli society, political divisions within its government, and strain in the country's relationships with some allies. (How ICJ, ICC Moves Are Playing Out in Israel Amid War With Hamas, n.d.)
The commentary by Israeli political analyst Dahlia Scheindlin reveals a drifting apart of American and Israel over the conduct of the war in Gaza and the trajectory of right wing political aspirations that are contrary to the two state target for Palestine and Israel.
References
How ICJ, ICC moves are playing out in Israel amid war with Hamas. (n.d.). The Sunday Magazine. Retrieved May 26, 2024, from https://www.cbc.ca/radio/sunday/the-sunday-magazine-for-may-26-2024-1
Scheindlin, D. (n.d.). Can America’s Special Relationship With Israel Survive? Foreign Affairs. Retrieved May 26, 2024, from https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/can-americas-special-relationship-israel-survive
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