Israel's standing in the United States has deteriorated sharply across both major political parties, according to Prof. Yossi Shain, an international relations expert and former Yisrael Beytenu member of Knesset. In an interview with 103FM on Monday, Shain warned that opposition to Israel has become politically advantageous in American campaigns. "Being anti-Israel in the US today is a hot commodity; it is worthwhile and rewarding, and not just anti-Israel, but anti-AIPAC," he said.
The shift marks a fundamental change in how American politicians calculate the costs and benefits of supporting the Israeli government. "The entire idea around the world that Israel projects strength and that the Israeli lobby projects strength, and that it is not worth messing with it, is an idea that has collapsed in the US," Shain said. "Today, people are running for the Senate on hostility toward Israel, and that is what wins votes and victory."
A Bipartisan Collapse
Shain described the erosion as systemic and long-term. "We are in a long process of collapse," he said, quoting David Hess, who headed the American Jewish Committee, as comparing US Jewry and Israel's standing to "a building in Florida that collapsed on its residents." The metaphor captures the sudden, structural nature of the shift — not a gradual decline but a foundational failure.
The breakdown isn't limited to progressive Democrats. "On the Republican side, there is no willingness, from their perspective, for Israel to drag the US into another war," Shain said. He added that Israel has become "a toxic brand" even among Republicans, a development that worries senators who've traditionally supported Israel. "People forget what this means, and it is not only with Tucker Carlson and others, you can see it spreading. I speak with the offices of senators who are supporters of Israel, and they are worried about this."
The Gaza War's Political Toll
Shain attributed part of the shift to the campaign that began after the war in Gaza, centered on accusations of genocide. "On the one hand, there is the campaign that began immediately after the war in Gaza, about genocide, which has penetrated very deeply both intellectually and politically," he said. "On the other hand, it has penetrated to the point that even in the American education system, when you examine how the issue of genocide is taught, it is identified as an Israeli genocide."
The professor also criticized the Israeli government's approach to the Democratic Party. "The State of Israel and the Israeli government simply betrayed the Democratic Party. Biden saved us, from their perspective, and we all went in the direction of Trump," Shain said. That alignment hasn't delivered the expected results. "The perception that Trump is not delivering is also filtering down to voters," he noted. "If in the past they said Trump wanted to reach the midterm elections, and therefore did not want to escalate because it did not win him points, right now there is concern that the lack of a decision is also costing him points among his supporters."
Iran and Unfulfilled Promises
On Iran policy, Shain said there won't be an agreement between the US and Iran — a development Israel might actually welcome. "Israel would be praying for an agreement. At present, there will be no agreement, and future administrations will also not be bound by an agreement as they were in previous years, partly because of the issue of power," he said. He described a failed strategy in which Israel convinced the Trump administration to take aggressive action against Iran without following through. "The situation with Iran was that it had to be done within days. He asked us after we convinced him that we would bring down the regime and everything would collapse. Unfortunately, after our phenomenal victory with the Americans, we thought we would take another step forward, and America did not complete it."
A Leadership Crisis
Shain's conclusion was stark. "If Israel does not replace its leadership with one perceived in America as sane, Israel does not have supporters even in the White House today," he said. "It is impossible to understand the scale of the fiasco. We are telling stories because we are in an election campaign, but this is something deep."
Why This Matters:
The erosion of bipartisan support for Israel in the United States represents a fundamental shift in the political landscape that has underwritten Israeli policy for decades. If opposition to Israel becomes electorally rewarding — not just among progressive Democrats but across the political spectrum — the diplomatic and military assumptions that have guided Israeli decision-making no longer hold. The penetration of genocide accusations into American educational curricula suggests a generational shift that won't reverse with a single election cycle. For Palestinians living under occupation, the question is whether this political shift will translate into meaningful pressure for a diplomatic resolution — or whether it will remain rhetorical while the status quo continues. The gap between American public sentiment and policy enforcement remains wide, but the foundation that once made that gap sustainable is cracking.