…Introduction by Jonas E. Alexis, VT Editor

There is no doubt that Americans are now waking up from their dogmatic slumber. We are now living in an era where Israel is widely viewed as a menace to much of the world. Why? Is it because people are anti-Semite?

No. It is because the regime doesn’t care whether innocent people live or die, and diabolical figures like Benjamin Netanyahu want to drink the blood of innocent Palestinians in the Middle East. The Jerusalem Post has recently put out an article saying that “Antisemitism has reached the ‘influencers’ – Listen.” What is the gist of the article?

Well, phrases like “Israel is an inherently racist entity” are anti-Semitic![1] What we are seeing here is that the Jerusalem Post is telling us that the prevailing definition of the word anti-Semitism itself has no metaphysical foundation whatever. Things are actually changing, and attempting to silence people by throwing bombs like “anti-Semitism” is losing political power.

Most Americans oppose unrestricted aid to Israel: Poll



By Ali Harb in Washington

Most Americans and a significant majority of Democrats oppose unrestricted military aid to Israel if it continues to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank, a new poll shows.

The study, released by the Arab American Institute (AAI) on Thursday, underscored a clear partisan divide over Israel-Palestine, with Republicans showing more support for Israeli policies across multiple questions.

Fifty-one percent of overall respondents agreed with the statement: “The United States should not provide unrestricted financial and military assistance to the Israeli government if it continues to violate US policy on settlement expansion in the West Bank.”

That support rises to 62 percent amongst Democrats and 75 percent from respondents who identify ideologically as liberal.

The opposite statement: “The United States should always provide unrestricted financial and military assistance to the Israeli government,” polled at 28 percent overall and only had the support of a plurality, not a majority, of Republicans, with 42 percent.

Shift in public opinion

The data is based on the answers of 1,011 people with a 3.1 percent margin of error. The poll, conducted on 20 May on the day a ceasefire was announced in Gaza, comes at a time when many progressive Democrats in Congress are questioning Washington’s unconditional support to Israel.

Last month, Congresswoman Betty McCollum introduced a bill that would ensure that US military assistance to Israel is not used to fund abuses against Palestinians, including the imprisonment of children and home demolitions. Washington provides $3.8bn in annual aid to Israel with no strings attached.

Earlier this month, Congress members, led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, tried to block a $735m arms sale to Israel during its latest offensive on Gaza.

“When you hear people on the progressive side of the Democratic Party speaking about these issues like restricting aid, you’re hearing them represent where the base of the Democratic Party is right now,” AAI president James Zogby said at a virtual event revealing the study on Thursday.

The poll showed that 52 percent of Democratic respondents agree with the lawmakers trying to hold the $735m sale, rather than President Joe Biden who approved it. A 43-percent plurality of all respondents also support efforts to block the deal.

One question on the poll asks: “Do you agree or disagree that Israelis and Palestinians are equal people entitled to equal rights?”

Even there, a discrepancy across different ideologies appears in the responses: 87 percent of liberal respondents said yes, but the number drops to 66 percent with conservatives. A solid 73-percent majority backs the statement overall.

The AAI study highlights an ongoing shift in public opinion towards Israel amongst Democrats. A Gallup poll in March showed that a majority of Democrats favour applying more US pressure on Israel to resolve the conflict.

Policy gap

Despite increased Democratic willingness to criticise Israel, Biden has continued his predecessors’ nearly unquestioning support for the Israeli government.

During Israel’s latest offensive, the US administration kept emphasising what it called “Israel’s right to defend itself” and blocked a statement from the UN Security Council calling for an immediate ceasefire.

US officials say Washington was focused on “quiet” diplomacy to end the fighting.

Meanwhile, Biden has categorically ruled out the possibility of conditioning American assistance to Israel, labelling the idea as “bizarre” in 2020 when he was still a candidate.

Even in Congress, progressives calling for using assistance to Israel as leverage to end Israeli violations against Palestinians remain a small – albeit vocal – minority within the Democratic caucus.

At the virtual discussion introducing the poll on Friday, Peter Beinart, a prominent editor and commentator who writes regularly about the conflict, underscored the “very large divide” between policymakers and average Americans.

“On some issues, you could say that actually Republican public opinion is to the left of where Democrats in Congress are… Republicans are roughly split on the question of conditioning aid; Democrats are not roughly split on the issue of conditioning aid; the vast majority of Democrats in Congress still oppose conditioning aid,” he said.

Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP), said she was “heartened” by the data, which shows that Americans understand the complexity of the issue and “the humanity of both sides”.

But she lamented that the shift in public opinion has not moved most politicians in Washington to pursue a balanced approach to Israel-Palestine.

Despite recent victories for progressive candidates like Jamaal Bowman and Bernie Sanders’ ability to outraise all of his opponents during the Democratic presidential primary last year, Friedman said, the perception that criticising Israel can be costly politically remains.

“Those perceptions become reality; if politicians believe they cannot move on this, regardless of what the grassroots says, regardless of what their constituents want, then they don’t,” Friedman said.

[1] “Antisemitism has reached the ‘influencers’ – Listen,” Jerusalem Post, May 28, 2021.

ATTENTION READERS

We See The World From All Sides and Want YOU To Be Fully Informed
In fact, intentional disinformation is a disgraceful scourge in media today. So to assuage any possible errant incorrect information posted herein, we strongly encourage you to seek corroboration from other non-VT sources before forming an educated opinion.

About VT - Policies & Disclosures - Comment Policy
Due to the nature of uncensored content posted by VT's fully independent international writers, VT cannot guarantee absolute validity. All content is owned by the author exclusively. Expressed opinions are NOT necessarily the views of VT, other authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, or technicians. Some content may be satirical in nature. All images are the full responsibility of the article author and NOT VT.

6 COMMENTS

  1. So long as the powerful Zionist lobbies continue to rule the roost, nothing will ever change on the ground. The US will always be a fall guy and loser for all the dirty schemes of Israel and the Zionist Lobby for the simple reason the buck stops at the US President’s table.

    If President Biden really has some common sense and a backbone; for a start, he will remove the US Embassy from Jerusalem, and stop the free meal ticket of the yearly 3+ Billion US Dollars to Israel. He owes at least this to his fellow citizens whose tax money is being splurged for a long, long, time for the criminal and illegal state of Israel.

  2. Christian Zionists are the dumbest of the dumb on this planet. They are the clueless, mindless zombies following their masters’ buddings. Ignorant, meek lambs ready for slaughter for the sake of evil Zionists. Truly pathetic!

  3. …..But she lamented that the shift in public opinion has not moved most politicians in Washington to pursue a balanced approach to Israel-Palestine….

    I think she is dreaming and is living on a different planet. How can somebody in the US still believe that elected officials represent their constituencies? They represent the masters of the universe that fund their electoral machines. The voters are just plain zombified idiots. Christian Zionists are funded by the same masters in order to fulfill their prophecies in the Middle East!

    The US is a Plutocracy and not a democracy (J. Carter).

  4. Yes, Sir. I once thought I’d ‘been-around’ until realizing I hadn’t even left yet.
    A ‘friend’ of fifty-years recently hung-up after reporting that he didn’t like what I’d said about IsRealHell.
    My ex-friend’s Scofield-Bible version of ‘Christ’ has naught to do with kindness; the opposite, actually.
    “What color is your rapture-suit?” is dumber than a box of rocks. ZY0 ‘useful-idiots’.

  5. Sorry, Jonas, 50 million so-called Christian Zionists would beg to differ. They are the heart and soul of the Republican Party. Trump and Pompeo almost gave them WWIII, the war they all pray for. It’s because of them that no version of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action will ever pass Congress. It’s because of them that Israel will never be held to account for its crimes against humanity. It’s because of them that Trump still has a chance of being re-elected president in 2024.

    • Republicans in Congress just showed today that even though they are a minority they still control everything. Many of them embrace the political concept that God divided the world between the elected and the unelected, that is, between the chosen few and everyone else deserving of eternal damnation. The First Amendment to the US Constitution specifically prohibits this sort of national theocracy. May Heaven preserve us all from the wrath of the dominionists and the chosenites.

Comments are closed.