Global News Podcast - The Global Story:Is the US falling out of love with Israel?

Episode Date: June 28, 2026

The United States has been a staunch ally of Israel for decades, and Americans used to be steadfast in their support for the country. But in recent years - and recent weeks - the special relationship between the two counties has come under fire.Several polls indicate that Americans have increasingly negative views of Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. And as the midterms approach, support for Israel is on the ballot in some races. Asma briefs Tristan on shifting US public and political opinion on Israel. And Jon Donnison discusses how fluctuating US sentiment on Israel is affecting domestic Israeli politics.The Global Story brings clarity to politics, business and foreign policy in a time of connection and disruption. For more episodes, just search 'The Global Story' wherever you get your BBC Podcasts.

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How did a boycott Jimmy become a billionaire from posting videos? On good, bad billionaire, we're going to find out how the world's most popular YouTuber, Mr. Beast, made his fortune. He's buried himself in a coffin for days. Counted to 100,000 on camera. And even recreated squid games, all in an attempt to go viral on the internet. But it all started when he gave a homeless man $10,000. So is he a philanthropist, reshaping capitalism? Or is he just the king of the attention economy? Find out on good bad billionaire. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey there, it's Asma Khalid, one of the hosts of the global story podcast from the BBC.

Our show dives deep each day on one big story that looks at where the world and America meet. And as a bonus for your feed, we're bringing you one of our very best episodes of this past week. Now, I've covered US politics for a long. a long time. And until recently, one of the certainties here in Washington was steadfast bipartisan support for Israel. But in recent years, we've seen that waiver, both on the left and to some degree on the right. With the midterms coming up in the U.S. and an election due in Israel, we look into the origins and implications of this major political shift, with the views from both Washington and Jerusalem. And by the way, if you do enjoy this episode, then I should mention that you all ought to check out

more from our latest episodes. This week, we looked at the political chaos in the UK 10 years on from Brexit. We also asked why the U.S. has cut funding to AIDS programs in South Africa. And we dug into the phenomenon of young girls obsessed with anti-aging skin care products. You can find those and a whole lot more by searching for The Global Story wherever you get your podcasts. Now on to today's show. The idea that the United States is a staunch supporter and ally of Israel has been a political truth for decades, whether you're a Republican or a Democrat. America has never flinched from its commitment to the state of Israel. America is proud to be Israel's closest ally and best friend in the world.

One thing I can say definitely will never change is the unique bond that unites the United States and Israel. Even Barack Obama, who sometimes had a tense personal relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu, was steadfast in his support for Israel, the country. While we may at times disagree, his friends sometimes will. The bond between the United States and Israel are unbreakable. But could that all be changing? If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the country.

the entire world. This is Vice President J.D. Vance, just a few days ago questioning Israeli attacks on Lebanon, which in his view could have imperiled the Middle East peace deal. Anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the President of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in. And in the New York City Democratic primary elections on Tuesday, U.S. support for Israel was on the ballot and lost. There's no question Israel has been a big issue in this race. We cannot keep paying for Netanyahu's wars with our tax dollars. Democratic voters across the country are saying this loud and clear. From the BBC, I'm Tristan Redmond in London, and today on the global story,

are there cracks in the historically rock-solid U.S. support for Israel? And how is this affecting Israelis and their upcoming elections? Here on the show, guys, we really wanted to dig into what might be behind this changing relationship between the United States and Israel. And so to do that, we're calling on our very own expert gumshoe reporter in Washington, D.C. Asma Khaled, who knows her way around the city. Later on, we're going to cross to John Donison, the BBC's John Donner. in Jerusalem. But I'm pleased to say we're going to spend a bit of time with Asma first. He's been doing some reporting on this. And Asma's going to explain to us what's behind all of this. Asma, great to have you on the show.

Well, thank you. Thank you for inviting me onto the global story to talk about this all. It's a storyline actually that I've been following over a number of years as a political correspondent. As you know, I used to be here in Washington. So, Asma, if you'll permit me, I mean, it's kind of political orthodoxy that the United States supports Israel, how have we arrived at a point where that might be changing? Well, you're correct in saying that it's certainly been conventional wisdom, that U.S. foreign policy supports Israel. That has been the case.

You can go back to the 1960s, 1970s. This was bipartisan approval across Republicans and Democrats and lawmakers. Interested recently, it's become clear to me that the center of gravity appears to be shifting, particularly among Democrats. And I will say, look, this has been a slow evolution. in some regards, and we'll get to that in a moment. But the moment this really became clear to me was when I began to see comment after comment from what I would describe as 2028 Democratic presidential hopefuls.

They haven't all announced officially that they're running. But take someone like Rahm Emanuel, former mayor of Chicago. He was the chief of staff under President Barack Obama. And, you know, during the Obama administration, they directed money toward Israel's Iron Dome defense system. And recently I heard him singing a very different tune when it came to taxpayer financial assistance for Israel. Israel's in a different place today. And what I said was, and I believe, taxpayer support for purchasing weapons is over.

You will be able to purchase weapons just like any other ally with any other restrictions. That's what Germany, Japan, UK, you'll have it just like that. And Rahm Emanuel is not the only one. We've seen Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, be asked about this issue. the former transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg. It's one thing to want to make sure that Israel can shoot down missiles that are being rained down on them by the Iranians. And it's another thing to be sponsoring Netanyahu going into annex the West Bank

or going into invade Gaza, right? Increasingly, as Democrats are eyeing the White House in 2028, it appears that support for Israel is a sort of lip-mist test. And I cannot overstate how fundamentally different this is in Democratic Party politics. You know, I remember being in these cavernous halls covering the Democratic debates in 2020. And you heard someone like Bernie Sanders, who was running at the time. And many folks in the chattering political class thought of Bernie as a fringe lefty candidate, someone who wasn't, in their view, going to become the nominee. Bernie Sanders spoke about

conditioning aid to Israel. $3.8 billion is a lot of money. And we cannot give it carte blanche to the Israeli government, well, for that matter, to any government at all. We have a right to demand respect for human rights and democracy. I remember there was this debate in Atlanta in 2019, where he spoke about Israel. I am pro-Israel, but we must treat the Palestinian people as well with the respect and dignity that they deserve. So the U.S. ought to rethink its allies, rethink its alliances. So we need to be rethinking who our allies are around the world. I mean, these comments were very novel to be hearing in public amongst Democrats running to be president of the United States. Was that controversial at the time when he said that, Asma?

When he spoke about conditioning aid to Israel, I recall that later Joe Biden, who was also running and obviously became then the president of the United States, was asked about those comments and said it would be absolutely outrageous to withdraw aid from Israel on the condition that they change a specific policy. So, no, this was not the conventional attitude in the Democratic Party. If we fast forward to where we are today, when we look at candidates, possibly eyeing the presidency in 2020, at least on the Democratic side, I am hearing things in public that I have never heard in previous election cycles. But I would say, Tristan, it's not just politics, even when it comes to policy. You know, I mentioned conditioning aid to Israel. It was thought to be an out-of-the-box idea, let's say, on the Democratic side. four years ago. In April of this year, you saw a record 40 Democratic senators vote to ban arms sales to Israel. And that caught my attention. I mean, frankly, it caught a lot of

reporters' attention because you had not seen a vote like that take place on Capitol Hill before. Okay. So things are shifting now. But back in the day, Democrats and Republicans generally didn't agree on very much, but they did agree on support for Israel. But why was that an exception that there was this bipartisan support? I mean, I think it goes back in many, many decades. If you go back to the 1960s and 70s, in the minds of many Americans, Israel was seen as this tiny nation fighting for its survival. And this was a sentiment that I heard covering, you know,

someone like Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. Let me give you an example. I remember covering Kamala Harris. And she's recounted this story over the years of being a little girl and going around with a box collecting funds to plant trees in Israel. I fondly remember those Jewish National Fund boxes that we would use to collect donations to plant trees for Israel. And it's a story she shared to show her deep-rooted support for Israel. And that was commonplace and Democratic Party politics.

Years later, when I visited Israel for the first time, I saw the fruits of that effort. and the Israeli ingenuity that has truly made a desert bloom. And so that was the norm for decades. There was bipartisan consensus for this unwavering support of Israel over the years, particularly from lawmakers. When did you start to see cracks in that support for Israel? Is it as simple as when the Gaza war got underway? Or is it more complex than that?

You know, Tristan, I actually did a story looking at this very issue back in 2021 when I was at NPR. So it has been an evolution over the years. But in reporting out this story for our podcast, I called up a couple of pollsters because I wanted to actually understand when did they begin to see the shifts in American public opinion. The first major pivot point that one pollster pointed me toward was George W. Bush's administration and the years after September 11th, in which more Republicans appeared to support Israel, in part because white evangelical support for the Republican Party crew. And many evangelicals tend to have a strong support of Israel through a theological lens.

And so you began to see support for Israel along more partisan lines. Yes, okay. So what happens next then? So then let's fast forward to the days of the Obama administration. President Barack Obama, quite bluntly, did not have a smooth relationship with the Israeli prime minister, who was at the time also Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu was vocally opposed to what I would describe as Obama's signature foreign policy idea. That was the Iran nuclear deal. And isn't so strange how everything in the past seems to be now recurring in our current moment of politics.

But the reason this is particularly significant, pollsters told me, is that there was a moment in 2015. When Netanyahu came at the invitation of some Republicans in Congress and addressed a joint session of Congress, which is a big deal for a foreign leader to come and address lawmakers. My friends, I've come here today because as Prime Minister of Israel, I feel a profound obligation to speak to you about an issue that could well threaten the survival of my country. The Obama administration was really miffed by this. They saw it as a move to undercut his authority, and in particular because Netanyahu blasted the Iran nuclear deal.

Now we're being told, that the only alternative to this bad deal is war. That's just not true. The alternative to this bad deal is a much better deal. He did not want this to go through, and that really annoyed a number of Democrats. I think over 50 Democrats boycotted the speech altogether and didn't show up. And what I heard was that that was a major point of division,

Because what you began to see was some people viewing Netanyahu's decision as a particularly partisan issue. It was an involvement in U.S. domestic politics. And so you saw some Republicans really, really supporting Netanyahu. In fact, one pollster told me that he did a poll at the time in which he found that Netanyahu was as popular among Republicans as Ronald Reagan, which is for some context. Ronald Reagan has always been an enormously popular Republican president. Democrats, their views towards Israel began to. decline. Yeah, essentially the sequence of events was Obama and Netanyahu had a tense relationship.

That led to Netanyahu coming to Washington addressing Congress without the say-so of the White House. And that essentially being seen as a thumbing of the nose to the democratic side of Congress and therefore creating the beginnings of a kind of a rift in a party political sense. Is that right? Yeah, and it deteriorated and it has been deteriorated. deteriorating since then. You know, I mentioned that I did a story about the relationship and attitudes towards Israel in U.S. public opinion in 2021, looking at how the violence in Gaza, because there was also violence in Gaza, around that time point, was marking a shift in the American political debate around Israel. So it's in that context then that October 7 happens and then the Gaza intervention.

In some ways, though, it's counterintuitive, isn't it? Because October 7th was a hugely traumatic moment for Israel and people in the United States who had been long-time supporters of Israel rallied around Israel in support, didn't they? But did that sentiment not last? What I can say, Tristan, is that as the war continued in Gaza and as the death toll in Gaza grew, we saw public opinion amongst Americans move away, it appears, from Israel. And this is not just one poll. You can look at survey after survey from reputable polling outfits that have been tracking this attitude over time. So they have some metric of comparison, a place like, say, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs or Gallup or the Pew Research Center.

And to give you a sense of the scope of what we've begun to see, a Pew poll from March of this year found that six in ten Americans have a very or somewhat unfavorable view of Israel that was up seven percentage points since last year and nearly 20 points since 2022. So a real dramatic difference over the last couple of years, it appears. And do we have any sense from those numbers, the division between Republicans and Democrats in that level of support, in that decline of support for Israel? There's definitely a partisan divide. If you look at, you know, this pew pole that I cite or other polls as well that have looked at Democratic and Republican attitudes, you'll see that more voters who identify as Democrat or Democratic leaning do seem to have an

unfavorable view of Israel. When you look at Republicans, a majority of Republicans do continue to have a more favorable view of Israel, though I will say some of the polling suggests that unfavorable attitudes in the last year have ticked up amongst Republicans. particularly among younger Republicans. All right. So it would seem that the wavering on Israel is primarily happening on the Democratic side. But there are a lot of prominent Republicans as well, like Tucker Carlson, who are also expressing some wavering support on Israel.

So what's going on in the Republican camp? The most recent war that the United States conducted with Israel and Iran, but also you could argue even last year's 12-day war, have exposed some cracks in the Trump. traditional unquestioning support for Israel that we had amongst amongst some younger Republicans, but you also, you know, you mentioned popular podcasting personalities like Tucker Carlson or Megan Kelly. I do think that even I, as I look back on like, I'm pro-Israel.

I say I'm a pro-Israel. And I've been asking myself lately, like how, how? Like, why exactly am I pro-Israel? We've seen also a couple of Republican lawmakers, so be outspoken about this as well. I think this, Tristan, seems to tie back more to their hesitancy about U.S. intervention in foreign wars. We know that there is a part of the Republican base that is extremely skeptical of U.S. intervention abroad. And they feel the United States and their view was dragged into this recent war with Iran and that they don't think that that was to the benefit of the United States. You know, I will say, I think the cracks right now that we're seeing the Republican Party,

well, maybe small, and yes, there are still substantial evangelical support amongst Republicans for Israel and amongst other Republicans as well, these cracks do appear to be real. Because, look, politicians, they are political operatives, and this is all happening in the context of an upcoming midterm election cycle here in the United States. And so they've made the calculation that it's okay to be. be critical of Israel in public, to some degree, as we've heard from President Trump and J.D. Vance recently. But still, the majority opinion, as we've seen in public opinion surveys, but also the majority opinion amongst Republicans on Capitol Hill is to continue the traditional support we

have seen from the United States towards Israel. Okay. Well, I mean, that's the view from D.C. But as you all know, friends, we do America and the world. We do indeed. We have called up the BBC's John Donison, correspondent in Jerusalem, to find out how all of this looks from Israel. He's widely recognised as one of the greatest footballers in history. He's won the prestigious Ballandour Award five times. He's the all-time leading goal scorer in professional football.

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So my name's John Donison. I'm a correspondent based in Jerusalem at the moment. I used to be based here permanently for four years. And I've been coming back to Jerusalem periodically since the war in Gaza started. So John, presumably you've seen how public opinion may or may not have shifted in Israel over the years. The question on my mind is whether Israelis are aware that attitudes about Israel in the United States, presumably their closest ally, have soured so much in the last couple of years. I think they are aware because I think the Israeli media scrutinizes the relationship with the United States,

which, as you say, is their most important ally very, very closely. So the polls that you would have seen in the U.S. have also been reported here. So they're aware of that. And certainly in recent weeks, there's been a lot of coverage about how Israel's relationship with America is under strain. John, what do attitudes look like in Israel towards the United States at this moment? I mean, I used to cover the White House. And the only time I've been to Israel has been on one of these like presidential junkets. And so there's lots of signage up that shows how close the U.S. and Israel are as allies. I don't know that that signage is regularly shown around town. But there's a lot of signage up. But there's lots of signage up that shows how close the U.S. and Israel are as allies. I don't know that that signage is regularly shown around town. but there was a sense of warmth. What are you seeing now? Well, look, I don't want to overplay this because I do think Israel remains America's most important ally in the Middle East, a huge amount of money, a huge amount of weapons goes from the United States to Israel. But when you look at some of the polling just in the last few weeks,

and I know we shouldn't rely too much on an individual poll, but there was one on Channel 12 television here this week saying 71 percent of Israelis don't trust. President Trump to look out for them in the Iran deal and just 11% believe that Israel won that war. And those figures, that 71% figure, was down 10% apparently on the same question when it was asked just a week before. So the Iran conflict has really put a lot of political pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu. He has elections coming up in a few months' time. he's doing badly in the polls, and people are saying, look, you got us into this war,

and the war aims that you set out to achieve haven't been achieved. And at the same time, you've put a strain on this relationship with the United States, which is so important for Israel. John, we have to be careful about a poll taking in isolation, but there is a little bit more urgency around polling numbers in an election year. It's an election year in the United States with the midterms, but also in Israel, there's a general election, late in Israel. There's a general election later this year, how might the evolving sentiment around Israel and the United States influence that election in Israel? It's interesting because in the past, Prime Minister Netanyahu has used his close relationship with President Trump as an electoral asset, saying, you know, only he has this

strong relationship with the most powerful man in the world. This time, though, I think there's going to be a bit of a shift. We're hearing it reported here that his campaign team are stepping back from that approach and they're going to say, look, Prime Minister Netanyahu is the only potential Prime Minister strong enough to stand up to President Trump. So that's a subtle but quite important shift. So in the past, when we've had elections, we've seen big posters of Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump up on billboards around Israel. I'm not sure we're going to see that this time. Can you extrapolate a little bit on how the deal we've seen announced here by the United States and Iran to try to end the war has complicated

that electoral dynamic for Netanyahu. Well, it's complicated it because there's no doubt Israel was told about this deal. They were not consulted. President Trump clearly really wanted this deal to go ahead. Prime Minister Netanyahu and plenty of Israelis don't think there should have been a ceasefire yet with Iran. And they certainly don't think there should have been a ceasefire in Lebanon. Now, of course, the Iranians have insisted that Lebanon, where Israel has been clashing with Hezbollah, an Iranian-back group, Israel has occupied a large chunk of southern Lebanon. The Iranians have insisted that has to be part of any ceasefire deal. And, you know, there was a risk right up until the weekend, really, and frankly, the risk is still there, that the fighting in

Southern Lebanon could derail the whole Iran deal. So essentially, the Americans over the past week have been saying to the Israelis, look, you need to rein it in in southern Lebanon because they didn't want that to derail the deal. So Prime Minister Netanyahu is in a difficult spot. He doesn't want to upset President Trump any more than he already has, but at the same time, pulling out those forces from southern Lebanon would be perceived by many here as a sign of weakness. Would it be politically unpopular, you're saying, John, at this point to do that? politically unpopular to do that, yeah. Yeah, so there's a political tightrope he's walking, but at the same time, it looks like there's also a security tight rope that he's walking,

because on the one hand, he has one security imperative, which is, he says, to protect Israel from a security threat from Lebanon, from Hezbollah. But then there is also another security imperative, which is to maintain good relations with the United States, which is a strong military backer. That's a difficult choice to have to make, isn't it? Benjamin Netanyahu. What's the main priority there? Well, I think the main priority is to walk that tightrope and certainly to keep relations good with America. At the same time, I just do not think the Israelis are going to pull out of southern Lebanon at the moment, not just months before an election. So I think we're going to get to a sort of those forces will remain there and they will be under pressure not to see the situation there escalate. But at the same time, while you have Israeli

troops occupying Lebanese territory, it's very easy to see flare-ups. They could quickly escalate. And obviously, we've got 60 days to negotiate the rest of this Iran deal. That's not a lot of time. I still think there's plenty that could go wrong. John, beyond the halls of power in Israel, beyond, say, the Netanyahu government, I'm curious how how the United States, States and how President Trump are viewed broadly. You know, we've heard Trump and his team consistently say that they have done more for Israel than anybody else would have. You've heard them allude to the fact that, in their view, Israel would have been destroyed without their support. And as you said, yourself, John, I mean, there's a lot that Trump has done over the years in terms of his relationship with Netanyahu,

but also, I would say, towards the nation of Israel. In his first term, he moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. He recognized the Golan Heights is Israeli territory. He's lifted sanctions on West Bank settlers. And so I am curious, is Donald Trump himself still popular? Do you have a sense of how he's viewed beyond just, let's say, the leadership in Israel? Yeah. And it's important to say that those polls I mentioned earlier, that's 71%. That didn't trust President Trump to look out for them in the Iran deal. So it's not talking about the broader views of President Trump. And I do think generally, the majority of Israelis regard President Trump as good for Israel. Certainly, they think he's better for Israel than his predecessor, Joe Biden, or before that, Barack Obama. President Trump is also a

polarizing figure in Israel, like he is everywhere around the world. So I think it's quite difficult to kind of generalize too much about, you know, how Israel feels about President Trump, I guess. Is this a particularly perilous moment for Benjamin Netanyahu, John? Yeah, it is. It is because the majority view in Israel is that the war in Iran has not worked out as planned. And that is going to be used in the upcoming elections against him. He's facing criticism not just from the opposition, but from members of his own cabinet about how this has been handled. And at the moment, the polls show he's losing support. He would lose an election, I think, if one was held tomorrow.

And then at the same time, he's also facing corruption charges in Israel. He's on trial for that at the moment, charges that he denies. So there's a lot of stake for him at the moment. Well, John, thank you for joining us. John, thanks so much. It's a pleasure. That was the BBC's John Donelson speaking to us from Jerusalem. And before that, you heard our own Asma Khalid.

And that's it from us for today. As you know, on the global story, we bring you one story in depth where the world in America meet. For the very latest news headlines, check out our sister pod, the Ronaldino to our Ronaldo, the barbecue sauce to our brisket, the global news pod wherever you listen. Our email, as always, the global story at BBC.com. Don't be strangers. Today's episode was produced by Viv Jones. It was edited by Bridget Harney.

Our studio manager was Ricardo McCarthy. Our digital producers are Charlie Firth and Matt Pipp. Interest. Our senior news editor is China Collins, and I'm Tristan Redmond. Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back again tomorrow. Cheerio. He's widely recognized as one of the greatest footballers in history. He's won the prestigious Ballandor Award five times. He's the all-time leading goal scorer in professional football. And according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he's the first active footballer in history to achieve billionaire status. Guess who we're talking about yet? That's right. Good, Bad Billionaire is exploring the life and fortune of football. Paul icon, Cristiano Ronaldo. That's a good bad billionaire from the BBC World Service.

Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.