American Jews face a Democratic Party rethinking unconditional Israel support

(RNS) — American Jews woke up to a stark new reality Wednesday: Decades of unequivocal support for Israel is no longer a key plank of the Democratic Party.

That reality was plain when almost half of Democrats in the House of Representatives (103 out of 212) voted Wednesday (July 15) to cut all $3.3 billion in military and humanitarian aid to Israel from a foreign affairs spending bill. The measure failed and only one Republican supported it — Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who sponsored the amendment to the bill.

But it underscored an emerging reality, that unconditional support for Israel’s actions in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon are no longer deemed acceptable by as many as half of elected Democrats.

Ian Lustick, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Pennsylvania and a consultant to past administrations on Israel, likened the result of the vote to a balloon popping.

“There’s a principle in physics and politics of constrained volatility,” Lustick said. “If there’s a tremendous amount of discontent that’s constrained over time because people are afraid or prevented from expressing it, it comes out explosively and fast, and that’s what…