About a month ago, as JD Vance was fresh off a trip to Israel, a young man at the University of Mississippi asked him why the US still supported the Jewish state. Wearing a Make America Great Again hat, the man accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing in Gaza,” then drew applause when he added, “Not only does their religion not agree with ours, but also openly supports the prosecution of ours.
An American vice president of a different era may have rebutted the age-old canard that Judaism supports the “prosecution” of Christianity, or at least noted that the US is a multifaith democracy where Jews are equal citizens, before reiterating that Israel is and has long been a staunch ally. Vance did none of that. Instead, he stressed that Israel was not “controlling” President Donald Trump and boasted that Trump achieved the Gaza ceasefire by “being willing to apply leverage” on Israel. He added, “What I am not okay with is any country coming before the interests of American citizens.”
Weeks earlier, Vance’s predecessor, Kamala Harris, was asked by an ABC reporter whether Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. The Democrats’ 2024 presidential nominee answered that she deferred to the courts. But she cited the high civilian death toll in Gaza before saying, “We should all step back and ask this question and be honest about it, yeah.”
Harris came close to becoming president last year. Vance may well take the White House in 2028. And they are not alone. Two months ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Trump Israel’s “greatest friend.” But as the Democratic Party becomes increasingly critical of Israel, the Republican Party becomes increasingly isolationist, and antisemitism spreads on the American left and right, it’s becoming more and more plausible that the next US president will not be pro-Israel — at least as the term has long been understood. (Read More)
