Trump was the president who gave Israel everything it needed and more. But with the series of defeats of AIPAC-backed candidates in the Democratic primaries, support for Israel has now become „toxic.”.
There is nothing more angry than a despised Israel. In just a few weeks—a blink of an eye on the timeline of the Middle East conflict—US President Donald Trump has gone from being popular in Israel with the potential to be the next prime minister to being surrounded by hatred that could make him Israel’s next Amalek.
Pro-government commentators have not spared him with their judgment. To give you a taste of the bile poured on Trump personally: Yinon Magal, the prime-time anchor on Channel 14, called the US president a „loser” and branded his sons-in-law, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, „little Jews.” According to Israeli political commentator Yaakov Bardugo, Trump and his vice president, JD Vance, are becoming modern-day Chamberlains – a reference to the British prime minister whose name is associated with Hitler’s appeasement policy in 1938.
Amit Segal, a senior political analyst at Channel 12 and Israel Hajom (owned by billionaire Miriam Adelson), said Trump had completely capitulated by allowing Iran to enrich uranium. Shimon Riklin, a host on the right-wing Channel 14, wrote on X that the US is weaker than ever and no one will want to be its ally.
These commentators are close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; some of them are his mouthpieces. And now, together, they have pulled off a textbook handbrake turn: they have turned against the president who, in his first term, recognized the annexation of the Golan Heights on behalf of the United States and Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, something his long line of predecessors had avoided.
This is the president who appointed David Friedman, a settler advocate, as ambassador and, putting aside all pretense of neutrality, used a sledgehammer to open a tunnel under the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem. As a presidential candidate, Trump accepted Miriam Adelson as the third-largest donor to his 2024 re-election campaign. Netanyahu didn’t even have to pick up the phone to communicate with the White House; he had Kushner, among many others, whispering in the president’s ear.
Trump: From loyal ally to traitor
Trump has been a vocal advocate for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and continues to be so to this day. Kushner was the mastermind behind the „Peace Council” plan and a surreal vision that would have turned Gaza into one of his many Mediterranean beach resorts. There is little dispute that Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran came after a White House briefing by Netanyahu and then-Mossad director David Barnea. That a foreign leader was allowed into the Situation Room at all was unprecedented. Never before has an American president been so influential, and never before has an Israeli prime minister been so close to the heartbeat of the American government. This is the man who is now being branded a traitor.
The real question is how deep is this rift, and how permanent is it? Trump was the president who gave Israel everything it needed for its perpetual wars. Was he destined to be the last Zionist president of the USA? Such a rift is not unique in the history of Zionism. There are many examples of Zionists turning against the great power on which they depend.
Historical pattern
When 250,000 Jewish refugees were stranded in European camps after World War II and Britain refused to lift its immigration ban, the Jewish underground movements united. Between 1945 and 1948, more than 780 British soldiers, policemen and civilians were killed in Palestine, mainly by the Irgun and the Stern (Lehi) gang. This was despite Britain’s 1917 Balfour Declaration, which broke its promise to Arab leaders to establish a Jewish national home.
The most serious atrocity was the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, the British administrative headquarters, on 22 July 1946: 28 of the 91 dead were British citizens. To this day, Israel refuses to pay homage at their graves, although it celebrates the perpetrators of the attack. This pattern is repeated in the history of Zionism. Former President Barack Obama’s farewell gift to Israel was a £38 billion military package – the largest in American history. Israeli historian Avi Shlaim wrote in the Guardian at the time: „Netanyahu repaid Obama’s generosity with ingratitude and insults.”
The true face of Zionism
Some commentators say that Zionism is now showing its true, supremacist (race theory) face. Even Mose Yaalon, Netanyahu's former defense minister, said in an interview that some factions of the religious Zionist movement profess a "Jewish supremacist ideology.". „What is Jewish supremacy? Eighty years after the Holocaust, this is Mein Kampf in reverse. We are the superior race.” – he said.
Israel's feud with Trump can perhaps only be explained by the shock that a settler colony experiences when it realizes it has lost control of its "parent." A similar shock was experienced by the Algerians Pieds-Noirs (European settlers), when after helping Charles de Gaulle to power, the French president embarked on the path of Algerian independence and self-determination.
Toxic tsunami
Whatever is brewing in Israel has a toxic effect on public opinion across the Atlantic. It is no exaggeration to say that the massacre in Gaza, the failed war with Iran, and Israel’s stubborn refusal to withdraw from Syria, southern Lebanon, and Gaza have killed an entire generation of support in the United States. According to Pew Research, a majority of adults under 50 in both the Republican and Democratic parties have a negative view of Israel and Netanyahu.
The direction of change is clear, but there is less consensus on what it means politically. In New York, home to the largest Jewish diaspora, three incumbent Democratic congressmen were unseated, and candidates supported by Zohran Mamdani won several seats. In Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, Melat Kiros, a PhD student, won a landslide victory over Diana DeGette, an establishment politician who had been in power for three decades and had received more than $1.6 million from AIPAC.
Although three candidates critical of Israel defeated those supported by AIPAC, the question is: is this a genuine pro-Palestinian turn or just a re-entry of liberal Zionists into the Democratic Party? Brad Lander, one of the winners, who previously opposed BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) and increased pension fund investments in Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems, describes himself as a liberal Zionist.
Long way
Experts like Daniel Levy, president of the US/Middle East Project, say America is at the beginning of a long process. Although the Palestinian cause has moved from the political margins to the mainstream, the boundaries of the debate remain tightly managed. The question of Palestinian resistance or self-determination remains outside the bounds of „acceptable debate.”.
For Netanyahu, or anyone who follows him, making Israel „relevant” to the American right again will not be an easy task. With a stalemate against Iran but territorial gains in Lebanon and Syria to hold onto, Netanyahu’s reaction will be to restart the war for a full occupation of Gaza. He will have to do this if he wants to keep the far right in his cabinet. But another massacre in Gaza will only increase disgust in the US on both sides of the political spectrum.
The lobby will not simply back down and will wage a fierce rearguard action. But it seems that support for Israel is now more of a forced show of force than a statement of faith – and the more this is the case, the more trouble Zionism is in.
Written by: David Hearst
