Opinion

Why it matters that some Democrats voted against aid for Israel

Americans have increasingly turned against Israel’s war in Gaza. For the first time since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, a majority of Americans said in March that they disapproved of Israel’s military actions. Opposition to the war is most pronounced among Democrats, with 75 percent disapproving.

President Biden appears to share some of these misgivings; he has criticized Israel’s bombing campaign as “indiscriminate.” Reports of his conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu show a president at his wit’s end, irritated and even angry at his counterpart’s intransigence. But his criticisms have been made mostly in private settings, and there have been no major changes in policy. Biden has refused to put conditions on military aid to Israel. The Democratic Party leadership has largely followed suit.