A new survey from the Chicago Council finds that most Americans oppose sending U.S. forces to defend Israel if it comes under attack. If Israel is attacked by Iran, 56% oppose U.S. intervention to defend them. If Israel is attacked by any of its immediate neighbors, 55% oppose sending U.S. troops to defend them in that scenario. Now that these scenarios are not so hypothetical, most Americans aren’t interested in having the U.S. military come to the rescue.
Support for U.S. intervention to defend Israel has declined significantly since 2021. Three years ago, 53% of the public supported direct intervention, and now that figure is 41%. Support among Democrats has dropped 6 points to 35%. Support has dropped among independents by 14 points, and among Republicans it has dropped 17. Most Republicans still favor intervention.
Unfortunately, no one in the administration seems to know or care that most of the country doesn’t want the U.S. to rush to Israel’s defense. The Biden administration has been sending more ships, jets, and military personnel to the Middle East in the wake of the Israeli government’s latest reckless and provocative attacks. If Iran and its proxies launch their reprisals in the coming days, American deployed on the ground and at sea throughout the region will be at much greater risk and the U.S. will even closer to the major war that every administration official keeps claiming not to want.
The Biden administration is wrong to send additional forces into the region, it is wrong to continue offering to shield Israel from the consequences of its own actions, and it is wrong to keep sending the Israeli government the weapons it uses to prolong the war. The administration ought to be jerking on the reins as hard as they can, but instead they are letting Netanyahu run wild and do whatever he likes while pledging to protect him from the inevitable retaliation. Biden is putting on a clinic of how not to manage a client relationship.
It is understandable that most Americans don’t want U.S. soldiers and sailors to be put in harm’s way to shield a government that is slaughtering civilians, deliberately starving millions of people, and trying to stoke an even bigger regional conflict. They can see that no U.S. interests are served by getting deeply involved in more conflicts in the Middle East, and I suspect that many Americans are beginning to realize that Israel is a dangerous liability for the United States rather than an important ally that needs to be defended.