Congress’s Israel Support Is Out of Touch With Voters
Polling of US voters shows growing sympathy for Palestinians. But this week, the Senate couldn't even bring itself to pass a modest measure to investigate whether Israel is using US aid to violate human rights.
Pro-Palestine protesters interrupt an October 31 Senate hearing where US secretary of defense Lloyd Austin and US secretary of state Antony Blinken were testifying. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)
In 2024, the United States of America is still a pro-Israel country, albeit one where a large and growing segment of the public sympathizes with the Palestinian cause — particularly young people, Democrats, and progressives.
In the US Congress, meanwhile, support for Israel is near-lockstep and unconditional, and support for Palestinians is a minority position, almost to the point of being fringe.
If you need convincing, just look at the latest Senate vote on Israel’s nearly unprecedented destruction of Gaza. Last month, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) put forward a modest measure that would invoke an existing US law that requires the State Department to look into whether or not a country getting US aid is following the laws of war, and apply it to Israel. Sanders’s measure finally came up for a vote earlier this week.
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