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Cracks in American Jewish community's support for Israel

The constant attacks by the Israeli government against the US administration are slowly weakening the US Jewish community's traditional support for Israel, especially among the younger generation.
A Jewish peace activist (R) watches a rally by Palestine Americans and their supporters during their protest march against the ongoing conflict in Gaza on August 16, 2014 in Los Angeles.  Israel secured supplies of ammunition from the Pentagon last month without the approval of the White House or the State Department. President Barack Obama's administration, caught off guard as it tried to restrain Israel's campaign in Gaza, has since tightened controls on arms shipments to Israel.      AFP PHOTO/Mark RALST

The public quarreling between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama continues to break new records, as Netanyahu persists in shooting poisoned arrows at Israel’s greatest ally. My colleague Ben Caspit so aptly wrote Oct. 7 in Al-Monitor, “Netanyahu gambles on Israel’s future and here, in his country, they applaud him.”

The Israeli public — whether it applauds Netanyahu or feels distinctly uncomfortable about his needling of the Americans — believes that Netanyahu and Obama do not much like one another. In fact, mutual loathing and contempt would more precisely describe their feelings. Israelis are convinced, however, that the relationship between the superpower and its Israeli ally is firm and steadfast, resting on common interests and unaffected by the messy relationship between the two men. So what, they ask, if Netanyahu needled Obama about his “American values”?

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