The shift in U.S. public opinion is real and can’t be denied. Though polls still show a plurality of Americans are still on the side of the Jewish state and that the alliance with Washington has never been stronger, the decline in overall support has been precipitous. Since the Hamas-led Palestinian Arab terror attack on Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, growing numbers of Americans, especially among the young, have decided that the Israelis are the perpetual bad guys in the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians. The joint U.S.-Israeli efforts to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon may have only accelerated this trend and the accompanying surge in antisemitism that has made itself felt in public discourse, as well as on college campuses and in the streets of American cities.
Predictably, this has led to a continual stream of articles from a variety of sources in the secular press and the Jewish world purporting to explain why this has happened. Some come from outlets that are intrinsically hostile to Israel and celebrate the collapse of what was once considered a bipartisan pro-Israel consensus. Others speak of this change with regret and claim to be motivated by a desire to make Israel popular again.

Internalizing myths about the Jews
But almost all of them are wrong. The mistake is not in recognizing that a problem exists. Rather, it is in imagining that there is much that the State of Israel or its U.S. supporters can do about it.

As with most discussions of antisemitism, which is what the increase in anti-Zionism truly is, the error is in assuming that the critiques of Israel are rooted in what it does or doesn’t do. Israel’s leaders and government are as flawed as those of any other country. But the shift in public opinion is a product of changes in American society, not the mistakes or even the alleged crimes committed by Israelis.