The Israel Test

Support for Israel, or opposition to it, is shaping American political identities

For half a century, American foreign policy operated under an informal rule: politics was supposed to stop at the water’s edge. Democrats and Republicans fought bitterly over taxes, abortion, immigration, and guns, but support for a handful of allies and security commitments was expected to rise above partisan warfare.

Few issues symbolized that bipartisan consensus more than Israel. Through Democratic and Republican administrations alike, support for Israel became one of the last places where Washington still spoke a common foreign policy language.

Israeli and American flags projected onto the wall of the Old City, Jerusalem

That consensus is breaking down, and Israel is where you can see it most clearly. The change isn’t simply that Israel has become more controversial. It has become a test of political identity in a way that Ukraine, NATO, or almost any other foreign policy issue has not.