A new April Pew poll shows that 60% of American adults hold an unfavorable view of Israel, a 20-point increase since 2022 — including 80% of Democrats and 57% of Republicans ages 18 to 49 — data that former Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth argued in a Guardian op-ed published June 30 reflects a generational shift transforming the US-Israel relationship.
Roth wrote that the shift is visible in Democratic Party politics as well. He pointed to the recent New York City Democratic primary, where he wrote that support for Israel has become “the kiss of death.” Roth cited candidate Zohran Mamdani, who called the pro-Israel lobby group Aipac “monsters,” and wrote that victorious candidates “openly recognized Israel’s genocide and apartheid.”
A Gallup poll from February — previously reported by MSI — showed a similar trend, with 41% of Americans sympathizing more with Palestinians and 36% more with Israelis, the first time Palestinian sympathy has led Israeli sympathy in Gallup’s polling.
Roth traced the erosion of support to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. He wrote that extreme deference to Israel was visible even as it committed what he characterized as genocide, and criticized former President Joe Biden for continuing military aid while organizing an aid pier that Roth described as expensive and ineffective as starvation worsened. Roth wrote that President Donald Trump showed more backbone than Biden, seeing Netanyahu as a “regional bully” and insisting on a ceasefire.
On Iran, Roth argued that the war accelerated the fraying of US-Israel ties. He wrote that Netanyahu “bamboozled the naive Trump” into the conflict with promises of regime change and no plan B, leaving Trump desperate for a deal with Tehran.
Roth wrote that Netanyahu, who must face an election by late October, is deeply unpopular due to the wars and long-pending corruption charges against him. But Roth argued that even if Netanyahu is replaced, Israel’s pariah status will continue if its policies remain unchanged. He wrote that unconditional US support has enabled Israeli impunity, and that ending that support would force Israel to face “a reckoning with reality.”