NAZARETH, (PIC)
National security circles in Israel have begun to look with growing concern at the ongoing transformations within American society, in light of accelerating indicators of a decline in traditional support for it, especially among American Jews and liberal youth linked to the Democratic Party.
This concern came clearly in estimates issued by the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, one of the most prominent Israeli strategic think tanks, which clearly warned that current Israeli policies could lead to the loss of one of the most important pillars of Israeli influence inside the United States.
Unprecedented tension and real changes
Israeli researchers believe that the historical relationship between Israel and the American Jewish community is passing through an unprecedented stage of tension, after it had represented for decades a fundamental pillar of the political, media, and financial support that Israel enjoyed in Washington.
The report indicates that settlement expansion, and the rise of extremist nationalist and religious currents, in addition to the war in Gaza and the large numbers of Palestinian civilian victims it left behind, are all factors that contributed to the widening gap between Israel and broad sectors of American Jews, especially liberal youth.
The latest American studies reinforce these Israeli fears, as a broad poll conducted by the American Pew Research Center in April 2026 revealed a remarkable shift in the general mood inside the United States toward Israel.
The study showed that 60% of Americans now hold a negative view toward Israel, compared to only 53% a year ago, in an indicator of a rapid decline in its image within American society.
The study also showed that 80% of Democratic Party supporters view Israel negatively, a percentage that reflects the widening gap between it and the popular base of the party, which has historically remained one of its most important political allies in Washington.
The change was not limited to Democrats only, as the study also recorded a decline in the level of support among young Republicans, indicating a broader shift within the new American generations.
In an analytical study published by the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies under the title Israel is losing America’s youth, researchers warned of a sharp collapse in the image of Israel among young Americans, including groups that were historically considered a constant base of support for it, such as white evangelical Christians and young conservatives.
The study concluded that Israel faces a growing crisis in its ability to maintain long-term American sympathy, especially with the transformation of the Palestinian cause within American universities and media into an issue of human rights and political justice.
Other studies reveal deep changes even within the American Jewish community itself, as a poll published by the American Jewish Agency at the beginning of the ongoing year 2026 showed that only one third of American Jews now define themselves as Zionists, despite the continued support of a large majority of them for the existence of Israel as a Jewish state.
The poll recorded a rise in the percentage of young Jews who describe themselves as anti-Zionist, in an indicator of the decline of the traditional emotional and political connection to Israel among the new generations.
A deeper crisis
These transformations indicate that Israel is no longer facing only an image crisis linked to the war in Gaza, but rather a deeper crisis related to the change of political and cultural values within American society itself, especially among youth and liberal currents that have become more sensitive toward issues of human rights, occupation, and wars.
Observers believe that these variables do not necessarily mean the collapse of the American-Israeli alliance in the near future, as Israel still enjoys strong support within the Republican Party and conservative evangelical circles, in addition to the continuation of deep military and strategic cooperation between Washington and Tel Aviv.
But the Israel’s concern is represented in the possibility of losing the traditional American partisan consensus around supporting it, and its gradual transformation into a controversial issue within American politics, which Israeli strategic institutions consider a long-term threat affecting one of the most important pillars of Israeli national security since the establishment of the state.
While Israel looked for decades at American Jews as a guaranteed political line of defense inside the United States, current transformations indicate that this historical asset has begun to erode in an accelerating manner, in a development that may redraw the nature of the American Israeli relationship during the coming years.
American political analysts believe that the Palestinian cause is gradually transforming within the Democratic Party from a foreign policy file to an internal issue linked to political identity, human rights, and social justice, especially among young generations.
These analysts say that the rise of progressive figures within the party, such as the wing associated with Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, reflects a deeper change in the American political mood toward Israel.
Some Democratic strategists warn that ignoring this shift may place the party before an escalating internal crisis, as the well-known Democratic analyst James Carville believes that the escalation of anti-Israel discourse within some progressive circles may turn into an electoral burden on the Democratic Party, at a time when internal divisions are increasing over the future of the relationship with Israel.
In contrast, other analysts believe that Israel will not lose American support completely, but it may lose its traditional position as an issue that enjoys an American national consensus.
According to this reading, the future of the relationship between Washington and Tel Aviv will head toward more partisan politicization, so that support for Israel becomes more linked to the Republican Party and conservatives, while it gradually declines within Democratic and youth circles.
