The past few days have brought an unusually firm trickle of criticism of Israel from the Trump administration and its allies.
Senior White House officials are reportedly unhappy about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct in Syria, where Israel has launched a wave of airstrikes on behalf of the Druze minority there. One source even told a reporter that the Israeli leader had “acted like a madman.” This came after Israel’s shelling of a church in Gaza last week drew criticism from the right as well. And US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, normally a staunch Israel supporter, called for “harsh consequences” after Israeli settlers launched a deadly attack on a Christian Palestinian village.
This isn’t the first time that Netanyahu has irked Trump. In January 2020, the Israeli leader caught his US counterpart off guard when he suggested at a White House event that he would annex the West Bank and the Jordan Valley, contravening the peace plan that Trump was proposing. Netanyahu also angered the former “Apprentice” star when he congratulated former President Joe Biden on his election win later that year.
Still, let’s keep things in perspective. Trump remains a staunch Israel ally – his decision to join Israel in bombing Iran last month is a testament to the proximity of US-Israeli relations. What’s more, the White House has clamped down on certain pro-Palestinian voices on college campuses that they see as anti-American and anti-Israel.
And it’s not just the executive branch, either. Only six House lawmakers voted for a bill last week that would block $500 million in annual missile-defense funding to Israel; 422 voted against it. Though some might not like Netanyahu’s tactics, Republican lawmakers – and Democratic ones, too – still view Israel as a close ally.
Underneath the surface, though, there are rumblings of discontent.
A Pew Research Center survey from April found that 37% of Republicans have an unfavorable view of Israel, up 10 points from three years ago. The trend is especially pronounced among Republicans under 50, half of whom now have an unfavorable view of Israel, up 15 points over the past three years.
“Those that are new to the [MAGA] movement probably are not deeply intertwined in foreign policy and probably don’t understand why there can’t be peace [in the Middle East],” said Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist who was appointed to the State Department during Trump’s first term.
This swing is reflected among some of the darlings of MAGA media, like former Fox News host Tucker Carlson or premier podcasters Joe Rogan and Theo Von, who have questioned US support for Israel in the light of the war in Gaza. Von called Israel’s actions in Gaza, “one of the sickest things that has ever happened.”
To be sure, Democrats in general have shifted against Israel more swiftly than Republicans, with 69% of Democrats holding an unfavorable view of Israel, up 16 points between 2022 and 2025. Younger Democrats are particularly critical: 71% of those under 50 hold an unfavorable view of Israel. Many have even protested the existence of a Jewish state altogether.
“For older Americans, Israel’s survival is the priority,” GOP pollster Frank Luntz told GZERO. “For younger Americans, it’s support for the Palestinian people.”
These generational shifts – in both parties – may pose a bigger challenge for Israel than any of the current tactical disagreements or personal frictions between Trump and Bibi.
