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here isn’t much that the right and left agree on, but no one can deny that since Donald Trump took office, Binyamin Netanyahu’s relationship with the Republican Party has strengthened significantly, at the expense of his ties with Democrats.

Tellingly, a recent Pew Institute study that surveyed 10,500 respondents indicates that while 64% of Americans have a positive opinion of the Israeli public, the majority — 51% — have a negative view of the Israeli government. Moreover, 84% of those who defined themselves as conservative think President Trump is balanced in his treatment of Israelis and Palestinians, while 66% of self-defined liberals think he’s biased toward Israel.

The interesting point that emerges from this study is the wide gap between age groups. While Republicans aged 65 and over had a high rate (76%) of respondents with a positive view of the Israeli government, only 40% of young Republicans shared that sentiment. When grouping Republicans and Democrats together, only in the 65-and-over group was there a majority with a favorable opinion of the Israeli government.

It’s hard to come to far-reaching conclusions based on a single survey, but it does raise a point worth considering, for today as well as the future. The fact that so many young people — certainly Democrats, but also Republicans — see the Israeli government (but not the people) in a negative light, should elicit some soul-searching on the part of the powers that be.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 758)