A year that made it clear: U.S. ironclad support for Israel no longer assured

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WASHINGTON – As the Jewish New Year approaches, Israel finds itself in familiar territory in Washington with bipartisan support for the U.S.-Israel relationship and Israel’s security. Still, blanket support in both the Senate and the House isn’t as assured as before, and it certainly won’t be guaranteed in the future.

The year 5781 began as the U.S. presidential election was entering its home stretch. Donald Trump touted Israel’s normalization agreements with a clutch of Arab states as one more example of how he was the most pro-Israel president in history. The Republicans also contrasted Trump’s record as president with the Democrats’ progressive wing advocating a rethink of U.S.-Israel ties.

Joe Biden, meanwhile, didn’t prioritize Israel in his campaign, though his tone was consistent with the party’s mainstream on support for Israel and the two-state solution. Nonetheless, the Democrats said that giving their close ally a blank check wasn’t necessarily the best thing for anyone involved.

Jewish voters played a key role in Biden’s decisive victory, turning out more for him than they did for Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. This confirmed a variety of surveys in recent years – very few voters head to the polls with Israel a main plank in their mind. But polling still shows that Jewish voters consider Israel a threshold issue: A candidate offering support suffices for a plurality of American Jews.

Upon taking office, the Biden administration’s approach suggested a course correction regarding America’s role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One reason was to signal that then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wouldn’t enjoy the same privileges he had under Trump, but also the administration saw little opportunity to make progress in resolving the conflict.

Former U.S. officials and policy experts widely decried this strategy, calling it benign neglect at best and active enabling at worst. Tensions in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza soon escalated into outright violence, sparked by Israel’s planned evictions of Palestinian families in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and the resulting clashes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, amid the planned Flag March by right-wingers in Jerusalem.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, center, a key member of the progress Democrats more likely to criticize Israel.Gabrielle Crockett / Reuters

Criticism by Democrats

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Democratic lawmakers throughout the party unleashed a very rare spate of condemnations of Israeli policy. Democrats harshly criticized Israel’s actions in Sheikh Jarrah, with many of them chiding the administration for not properly holding their ally accountable.

Some of these lawmakers urged U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to put pressure on Israel to prevent the evictions. A hefty 25 of these lawmakers called the plans a clear violation of both international and U.S. law.

These efforts came soon after Rep. Betty McCollum, a Democrat from Minnesota, introduced legislation specifying various actions that Israel may not use U.S. funding for. The bill, which has 30 co-sponsors, is the most thorough piece of legislation aimed at recrafting the U.S. role in abetting the occupation.

While the administration was focused on ending the Gaza air war via its preferred method of “quiet effective diplomacy,” Democratic lawmakers and progressive groups urged Biden to do more to quell the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Also, significant attention was focused on the party’s supposed widening divide over U.S.-Israel ties – a rift seen on both social media and the House floor. It wasn’t just rhetoric; as the Gaza fighting raged, progressive lawmakers attempted to block already-approved arms sales to Israel.

While a kind of silent Democratic majority strove to combat claims of a party divided over Israel, lawmakers acknowledged that Israel in recent years had shifted toward policies that don’t jibe with the party’s mainstream.

Israeli officials didn’t worry about the disparagement from the party’s progressives, but they did pay close attention to criticism by traditionally stalwart allies on Capitol Hill, namely Sen. Robert Menendez and Rep. Jerrold Nadler.

The administration, meanwhile, downplayed concerns of criticism from congressional Democrats despite the party’s razor-thin majority. When the Gaza fighting finally ended, the administration largely credited quiet effective diplomacy while implicitly rejecting progressives’ criticism that it didn’t do enough.

It also appointed longtime banker and political official Tom Nides as ambassador following pressure to appoint an ambassador to deal with the conflict. Nides, who still needs confirmation by Congress, was chosen due to his experience as a manager in both the public and private sectors, and his ability to navigate complex diplomatic and bureaucratic settings.

A demonstrator waving a Palestinian flag at the Gaza border fence last month.Mahmud Hams / AFP

Netanyahu’s shadow

Republicans haven’t shunned a further politicization of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through nontraditional efforts such as fast-tracking bills and tacking on amendments to unrelated pieces of legislation. They have also tried to paint the lawmakers most critical of Israel as antisemitic, directly linking criticism of Israel with anti-Jewish hatred.

Israel and its allies in Washington have since striven to restore bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, particularly since the Naftali Bennett-Yair Lapid government took over in June. Some Democrats want to see how this government approaches the Palestinians, adding that any alternative to the status quo embodied by Netanyahu is an improvement. Others say Israel’s focus on unrelated issues of mutual concern is merely an ill-advised half measure aimed at endearing itself.

Also, the Israeli government’s stark reaction to Ben & Jerry’s decision to stop selling ice cream in Israeli settlements – and its subsequent urging of U.S. states to enact anti-BDS laws against parent company Unilever – didn’t help allay suspicions about whether the new government was taking a fresh approach.

Following Bennett’s recent visit to Washington, both the United States and Israel are keen to demonstrate that bilateral ties are stronger than ever. This is particularly important for both countries as Washington launches its final efforts to reenter the Iranian nuclear deal. Both countries hope to present a united front on both Iran and the Palestinians.

Biden is now tasked with improving U.S.-Palestinian ties and ensuring that Bennett’s government doesn’t take any unilateral actions on the Palestinians. Washington, however, understands the governing coalition’s precarious position and doesn’t want to give Netanyahu a chance to gain political capital.

As we enter 5782, Israel must recognize that it’s not business as usual in Washington. The status quo can’t hold forever, and the parties are trending toward polar opposites on the U.S.-Israel relationship. There is growing awareness that Israel’s policy on the Palestinians is directly empowered by the U.S.-Israel relationship. As long as there is no improvement on the ground, the debate’s focus in the United States will continue to shift.