Thread by @bhweingarten

A recent Pew poll indicates a staggering divergence in views on #Israel vs the Arabs of Palestine between Republicans and Democrats in America. Increasingly, Israel is becoming a one-party, Republican, issue. How and why did this happen? THREAD city-journal.org/html/israel-pa…

The largely Democratic American Jewish political establishment argues the Trump admin through its #Jerusalem capital recognition/embassy move decisions and beyond are cynically acting as staunchly pro-#Israel, "politicizing" the issue. Pew says otherwise city-journal.org/html/israel-pa…

According to the Pew poll on American views on #Israel vs. Arabs of Palestine, not just conservatives, but every group of American voters surveyed supports Israel over the Palestinians by a wide margin—with the single exception of “liberal Democrats.” city-journal.org/html/israel-pa…

Could it be that liberal Democrats have grown more Arabist, consistent with the growing anti-Zionist nature of the progressive movement? Does the growth in the % of progressives in the Democratic Party explain the declining Democratic support for #Israel? city-journal.org/html/israel-pa…

Pew's numbers show it's increasingly leftist Ds that shifted on #Israel. In '01, 29% of Ds identified as libs; by '17, 48%. In '01, 48% of libs sympathized w Israel—11% higher than “Conservative/Moderate" Ds at time—and 29% more sympathetic than libs today city-journal.org/html/israel-pa…

Divergence between Ds and Rs on #Israel DID NOT begin under Trump. Pew’s polling data show that Ds and Rs were largely aligned on Israel until around '08, when divergence began and rapidly widened, correlating w/ Obama's hostility towards the Jewish state city-journal.org/html/israel-pa…

Obama demonstrated his hostility to #Israel through among other things his:
-“Pre-1967 borders” comment
-Invocation of the “dual loyalty” canard over Jewish opposition to #IranDeal
-Siding w/ BDS
-Using US tax $ to oust Bibi
-De facto support for UNSC2234 city-journal.org/html/israel-pa…

O also helped #Israel's worst enemies via:
-#IranDeal
-Spiking probe into #Hezbollah schemes
-Refusing to enforce #Iran sanctions enabling #Turkey-Iran gas4gold trade
-Supporting Arab Spring to benefit of jihadis
-Drawing equivalence bt jihadists/Israelis city-journal.org/html/israel-pa…

GOP has natural affinity for #Israel on religious & secular grounds, from Zionism of many conservative Christians, to shared morals/values/principles, to respect for a Jewish nation standing strong in a sea of Islamic supremacism, to natl interest grounds city-journal.org/html/israel-pa…

But it's not so much that Rs have seized on issue of #Israel as that Ds have ceded it. Ds are content to trade small % of pro-Israel D Jewish votes for Muslim votes, which means supporting policies deemed favorable toward Muslims on many issues city-journal.org/html/israel-pa…

Consider Democrats' treatment of #Israel vs the Arabs of Palestine issue in context of fact that today Muslims in America are disproportionately liberal, and in step with the Democratic Party city-journal.org/html/israel-pa…

The political logic makes sense—American Muslims are where the votes will be for Ds. US Muslim pop is expected to double by 2050 to over 2% of US pop. Jewish population is expected to decline from 1.8% to 1.4% over same period city-journal.org/html/israel-pa…

Growing portion of declining Jewish pop (relatively) is Orthodox, who are a staunchly pro-#Israel minority/vote overwhelmingly R. Vast majority of Jews, who have fewer children on average, are less likely to prioritize Israel issue, and overwhelmingly Ds city-journal.org/html/israel-pa…

Muslim votes will be a growth industry for Ds, while Jewish votes will be worth less and less. When you combine the ideological/political trends, it becomes clear that being pro-#Israel has become partisan not due to Trump but by the Left’s own words/deeds city-journal.org/html/israel-pa…