The U.S. alliance with Israel faces pressures from both the progressive left and populist right following Democrats’ big midterm election wins over President Donald Trump and Republicans.
That could prompt a reset or realignment the U.S.-Israel relationship.
Support for Israel has eroded among Democrats, culminating with the election of pro-Palestinian progressives such as Abdul El-Sayed in the Michigan U.S. Senate race.
El-Sayed and other critics of Israel want to see an end to U.S. military aid and diplomatic support for Israel.
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t pay my taxes to buy another country a bomb or a tank,” El-Sayed told CBS’ 60 Minutes.
“That’s Israel, that’s Egypt, that’s Saudi Arabia, that’s Pakistan. My interest is making sure that our kids get good schools, that we have functional roads, that we’re paying for things like healthcare and childcare,” he said.
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed speaks at an election night event, early Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, in Detroit, as his wife Sarah Jukaku watches. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Julia Demaree Nikhinson
El-Sayed contends Israel has committed genocide in the war in Gaza with Hamas after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks.
According to the United Nations citing Palestinian figures, more than 75,500 Palestinians have died in the Gaza War since October 2023. That includes civilians and Hamas and other fighters
Other casualty figures vary.
On the Israeli side, more than 2,000 civilians and Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers died in the conflict.
Many Democrats agree with El-Sayed when it comes to cutting off U.S. aid and support for Israel.
Eighty percent of Democrats in Michigan, 72% in Virginia and 78% in New Hampshire contend that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza during the war, in which Hamas continued to hold Israeli hostages taken on Oct. 7, according to a pre-election poll by Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) Policy Project, a Palestinian advocacy group.
The same poll shows three-quarters of Democrats in Michigan, Nevada and New Mexico said they want a 2028 presidential candidate who would cut off U.S. aid to Israel.
Israel and Netanyahu deny they committed genocide in the war with Hamas in Gaza.
U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, has been a leading critic of Israel’s war in Gaza and crackdowns in the West Bank after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., speaks during a panel at Crooked Con at the Walter E Washington Convention Center, in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Nathan Howard
Van Hollen also wants more stipulations on U.S. military support for Israel and more pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli hardliners regarding the treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank where there have been restrictions since the 2023 Hamas attacks and clashes between Israeli settlers and Palestinians.
“Unconditional taxpayer support of the government of Israel is something nobody should sign up for in my view,” Van Hollen told the Washington Sun earlier this year.
Van Hollen, El-Sayed and other Democrats also oppose the U.S./Israel war with Iran and plan on pushing against funding the conflict when they take the helm in Congress in January.
Activists opposed to U.S. support for Israel point to the 2024 election results when Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris and their angst over the Biden administration’s support for Israel after Oct. 7.
“Support for Israel has proven to be electoral poison in two consecutive national elections, for Biden and Trump alike. Democrats must now prove they’ve learned that lesson and deliver on the mandate voters gave them,” IMEU said in a post-election statement.
But there are concerns raised by centrists and Democrats more friendly toward Israel
“I’m very concerned though about some folks who are less opposed to Israel’s policies and that’s very much and appropriately up for debate, and in fact opposed to its existence,” former U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNBC Monday.
A pigeon flies past a Likud Party campaign billboard featuring U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with a Hebrew message reading, “We have one opportunity to win,” in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Oded Balilty
Still, a post election poll by J Street, a liberal Jewish advocacy group, found 72% of Jewish voters supported Democrats in midterm elections versus 24% for Republicans.
Jewish voters have long favored Democrats, including for issues such as abortion rights.
The same J Street poll found 76% of Jewish voters disapprove of President Donald Trump.
Conversely, Trump is popular in Israel, for his support during the Gaza War and moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem during his first term.
A Pew Research Center poll last year showed 69% of Israelis have confidence in Trump. Another survey earlier this year by the Jewish People Project found 73% of Israelis gave Trump favorable ratings.
Trump told CBS News Sunday that there is a “great dislike, incredibly for Israel.”
The U.S. president also said the strikes on Iran’s nuclear bases in 2025 and this year’s war have been essential to Israel’s existence.
“Israel would not exist except for Donald Trump,” Trump told CBS’ 60 Minutes. Trump argues the war was needed to keep Iran from developing and using nuclear weapons.
But on the morning of Election Day, Trump told Fox News he was going to end a $3.8 billion annual military aid outlay to Israel at the end of the year that was part of a deal that runs through 2028.
Trump told Fox News that Netanyahu agreed to the change, that Israel doesn’t need that allotment and it gives a “talking point” to El-Sayed and other left-wing critics.
Since the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948 after World War II, the U.S. has provided $330 billion in aid, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
That’s most of any country.
After Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, the U.S. provided $21.7 billion in military and intelligence aid to Israel for the war in Gaza, according to Brown University’s Watson School of International Affairs.
A float with a “Free Palestine” banner rides in the 57th annual NYC Pride March on Sunday, June 28, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Charles Sykes
Trump said the U.S. would continue to support Israel as needed. There have also been moves to integrate Israeli defense firms into Pentagon programs.
United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative would launch new and enhanced joint ventures between the countries’ militaries and defense sectors in areas such as drones, artificial intelligence and cyber technology.
That faces pushback from Israel’s critics and could be a tension point when Democrats take control of Congress in January.
Last December, Netanyahu announced a new $100 billion Israeli effort to bolster its domestic defense industry. That comes as a number of European countries have also taken steps or looked to curtailing security pacts with Israel over the Gaza War.
The U.S./Israel alliance also faces resistance on the right.
Conservative commentators such as Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson have soured on U.S. support for Israel.
Like on the left, there are right-wing activists who have gone beyond criticism of Israel and delved into antisemitism.
Also, U.S. President J.D. Vance said one of the major takeaways from the GOP’s midterm losses is that voters want to “change our relationship with Israel.”
Vance listed Israel a top issue in the election along with opposition to the Iran war, which increased gasoline, continued high cost of living overall and putting “America First.”
That could set up debates regarding Israel within GOP ranks for the 2028 presidential race.
Vice President JD Vance speaks during a National Veterans’ Small Business Week event, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, at JPMorgan Chase in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Jacquelyn Martin
“Yes support’s changing, in both parties and at different speeds. What Washington can actually do is a smaller question,” said Uriel Zehavi, managing director at Mitzpe Institute, a research and education group.
He said Trump can veto potential arms embargoes and other anti-Israel measures through the rest of his term.
Zehavi said other measures won’t be able to garner enough votes to make it through Congress.
But there could be actions taken to hold up specific U.S. defense outlays to Israel and more local efforts to divest pension funds from ties to Israel.
Providence, Rhode Island approved a divestment measure in the November elections related to countries with “human rights violations, including genocide, war crimes, occupation, or apartheid.”
“Voters there passed a divestment measure about 75% to 25%,” he said. “It’s the biggest American city yet to do it.”