Netanyahu’s government is alienating Israel’s lifeline in Washington - opinion

This has been brought to a boil by despair at the continuation and threatened escalation of the stupendously ugly Gaza war. Almost every conversation I have with American Jews – historic supporters of Israel all – eventually touches upon this issue.

It is a calamity that should be front and center in the coming election.

The core divergence is between a mostly liberal, pluralistic American Jewry and an Israel increasingly defined by religious nationalism and partisan alliance with US President Donald Trump, and this began before the war.

Netanyahu’s attempted judicial overhaul, meant to gut the independence of Israel’s courts and entrench his rule, shocked American Jews raised to see democracy as a Jewish value. The very state created as a bulwark against oppression began to resemble today’s authoritarian Hungary, Turkey, or even Russia.

AMERICAN JEWS, like Israelis, were traumatized by the Hamas atrocities of October 7, and in the immediate aftermath, attachment to Israel spiked. But as the war dragged on, skepticism set in.

A May survey by the Jewish Voters Resource Center of 800 registered Jewish voters found that nearly two-thirds believe Netanyahu renewed the Gaza campaign for political reasons rather than security, and almost three-fourths (72%) believe doing so makes hostage deaths more likely.

Kamala Harris, mocked in Israel, is popular with most, while Trump – lionized in Israel – is despised: only a quarter (26%) approve of his presidency, and majorities call him dangerous and even antisemitic. Yet Netanyahu has allied with Trump’s MAGA Right.

The wider American context intensifies the danger. Pew data show that younger Americans in particular are souring on Israel. Among those under 30, just 38% say Israel’s reasons for fighting Hamas are valid, and only 24% express favorability toward the Israeli government – compared with more than half among those over 50.

Support for US military aid to Israel among the youngest adults is a mere 16%, compared with 3.5 times as many among seniors (56%). Within the Jewish community, the same generational rift is evident: young Jews are less attached to Israel, less concerned about antisemitism, and more open to criticism of Zionism itself.

That last point may be the most decisive. Groups such as IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace have mobilized Jewish youth, who explicitly reject the conflation of Judaism and Zionism.

Tzedek Chicago, a progressive synagogue, has even adopted anti-Zionism as a core value. In August 2025, over 1,000 rabbis – including many from traditionally pro-Israel denominations – signed a public letter calling for increased aid to Gaza.

Politically, Zohran Mamdani’s successful run for the Democratic mayoral nomination in New York, despite his support for BDS and refusal to endorse Israel as a Jewish state, drew significant support from young Jewish voters. What was once a fringe position is entering the mainstream of Jewish communal life.

THE CONSEQUENCES are easy to foresee. If American Jews disengage, Israel loses its most effective advocates in Washington.

The bipartisan consensus unravels. Democrats, who receive a huge disproportion of their donations from Jews, are already drifting away, and may eventually refuse to supply weapons or shield Israel at the United Nations.

Israel’s export-dependent economy would be vulnerable to sanctions and boycotts. The security doctrine that assumes America will always replenish the arsenal collapses. Israel would find itself isolated and exposed.

This is devastating, when much of Israeli power rests on US support. In the early decades of the state, Washington’s tilt toward Israel was not inevitable. The Cold War could easily have nudged it toward Arab regimes.

What tipped the balance was the activism of American Jews: their lobbying, their fundraising, their cultural influence, and their insistence that supporting Israel was consistent with America’s democratic values. To squander that inheritance now is an act of strategic madness.

Yet, that is precisely what Netanyahu’s government is doing. By continuing a devastating that was once an imperative but has become a fiasco – and that almost the whole world, most Israelis and Israel own security establishment at this point oppose – and by eroding democracy, empowering extremists, and aligning with Trump’s America rather than America as a whole, Israel is alienating the very people who secured its lifeline.

To fix this, Israel must end the war and recommit to democratic norms. It must curb the power of the ultra-Orthodox parties and integrate the self-ghettoized community into a modern economy.

It must seek disengagement from Palestinians rather than endless domination. It must preserve bipartisan support in Washington and cease to alienate Europe, collectively its largest trading partner.

Most of all, Israel’s leaders must understand that American Jews are not to be taken for granted. They are not distant relatives to be ignored or even scolded.

My own assessment is that if Netanyahu and his coalition remain in power, which is sadly conceivable, this rupture will become irreparable.

Young American Jews will continue to turn away, the bipartisan consensus will unravel, and Israel will drift toward isolation. At that point, its very survival will be in danger. Israel still has time to avert this fate, but that time is running out.