By Jewish News Syndicate,Jonathan D Salant

Copyright thejc

Nearly two in five Americans say that Washington is providing too much support for Israel as its war with Hamas edges closer to the two-year mark, according to a survey. Israel is increasingly viewed along party lines in the US, with a “strong and growing partisan factor” in how Americans views the country’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas, according to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, which conducted the polling. Overall, 37 per cent of respondents polled this July said that Washington is providing too much support and military aid to Israel, up from 30 per cent who took this view in 2024. One in four (26 per cent) respondents said that the US strikes the right balance, up from 22 per cent last year, while the proportion of people that said Washington is not providing enough aid and support halved, from 20 per cent to 10 per cent. Commenting on the findings, Marshall Wittmann, a spokesman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, said: “Polls fluctuate, but the reality is that Israel is fighting a just and moral war against a barbaric enemy that savagely attacked the Jewish state on October 7 and continues to hold 48 hostages. “It is entirely consistent with American interests and values to stand with a democratic ally as it battles Hamas and other Iranian terrorist proxies.” The growing dissatisfaction with the support for Israel the US is providing was driven by Democrats and independents, while the number of Republicans who say that the country has struck the right balance has increased. More than half of Democrats (53 per cent) said that the United States supports Israel too much, jumping from 40 per cent last year. Some 42 per cent of Independents agreed, up from 34 per cent. While last year, a quarter of Republicans (23 per cent) said that the US had struck the right balance in its support of the Jewish state, that figure has more than doubled to 47 per cent since Donald Trump replaced Joe Biden in the White House. “The Jewish state has had no better friend in the White House than President Donald Trump,” Sam Markstein, a spokesman for the Republican Jewish Coalition, said. “His trailblazing leadership has strengthened the US-Israel relationship to historic highs, most notably the recent precision strikes to obliterate Iran’s nuclear weapons program in Operation Midnight Hammer.” Where Gaza was concerned, six in 10 Democrats said that the US is not sending enough aid, up from 44 per cent who expressed that view last year. The percentage of Independents who said that there wasn’t enough aid getting through also rose, from 31 per cent to 43 per cent. Among Republicans, 34 per cent said the right amount of aid was being sent, while one in 10 (11 per cent) said there was too little aid going to Gaza. A slight majority of Americans – 51% – continue to support a two-state solution in the Middle East, including 63 per cent of Democrats and 53 per cent of Independents. The majority of Republicans (58 per cent) stood in opposition to an independent Palestinian state alongside the existing Jewish one, while 35 per cent were in favour of it.