The American population is inexorably becoming more progressive, despite the rearguard actions of the January Six Confederates, the reactionary Supreme Court, GOP gerrymandering, the religious right, and dead-enders clinging on to white-privilege. Many contend this is the result of youth being more open-minded than the older generation, secularization, or the simple demographic browning of America. This is a trend we all welcome.
But for Israel, the opposite seems to be true. A report from vox.com exactly one year ago identified a reverse trend we see now. An excerpt follows:
“…73 percent of Jewish Israelis between ages 18 and 24 identify as right-wing, compared with only 46 percent of Jewish Israelis over 65. Young Jewish Israelis are showing up to rallies and polling stations for the extremist politicians whose November [2022] electoral victory ushered in Israel’s farthest right-wing government ever.” Source: Why Israel’s younger voters are more conservative than ever – Vox
In Israel, the liberals are the ones fighting the rearguard action.
When two democracies relying on their constituents are demographically trending in polar directions the result in policy coordination resembles Doctor Dolittle’s fabled Pushmi-Pullyu, pictured above. At flashpoints like the Gaza Strip conflict or Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, this is problematic. Which way does a Pushmi-Pullyu run when attacked by a predator?
The answer is not for the US government to become more right-wing, but for the Israeli government to become more progressive. But the demographic trends are in opposite directions. The simple disciplinary tactic of “rewarding good behavior, punishing bad behavior” might be a sound US policy start. Total US foreign assistance to Israel (adjusted for inflation) circa 1947–2022 was $319.7B. See chart: How much aid does the US give to Israel? (usafacts.org)
The return for the American tax-payer investment does not seem rewarding, particularly now in a US Presidential election year.
Worse, vitriol, animus, and recriminations make discussions of a two-state solution impossible for the near future as casualties and PTSD increase within the two populations.
As long as the two demographics keep trending in opposite directions, US-Israeli relations will continue to behave like a political Pushmi-Pullyu.