Netanyahu spent the last decade turning Israel into a partisan issue. Most egregiously, he gave a speech to Congress against the president on behalf of the opposition party. Breaking the bipartisan pro-Israel consensus in the United States was a major strategic error.https://twitter.com/ShibleyTelhami/status/991642975674527744 …
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The sudden drop in Dem sympathies in the past 2 years is striking. What's driving that? Clearly knee-jerk, but I can't imagine it's Trump.
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I think Netanyahu's very public embrace of Trump and long-held disdain for the Democratic Party plays a part in it, at minimum emboldening pro-Palestinian activists and the like who feel like they have an opening.
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Perhaps, but I still think supporting Palestinians, at least when you go beyond the vaguest of generalities, remains politically toxic. Paradoxically more so in blue states than red ones.
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That said, if I were a Democratic politician I think the easiest option on Israel would remain "mindlessly parroting whatever Ha'aretz says"
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My read on the situation is that we're unlikely to see a shift in Democratic policy on Israel with this generation of leadership, but after that, all bets are off.
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That said, things can change quickly. Israel's former ally, South Africa, was backed to the hilt by the USA and UK for most of the 80s, but by '89, were thrown under the bus. Of course, there was no powerful South African lobby, so YMMV.
End of conversation
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