Memories, even incredibly vivid ones, fade with time. And so, it was inevitable that, for younger Americans, the Holocaust would come to seem less exceptional, and the image of plucky democratic Israel making the desert bloom and miraculously surviving in 1948, 1967, and 1973 would be replaced by the picture of a semi-colonial power with its boot on the necks of the Palestinians. Since the Democrats, by and large, are the party of youth, the change is most apparent with them.
But Netanyahu has made this situation far worse than it needed to be. Historically, the Israeli government of the day has always worked to maintain a positive relationship with both American parties in order to protect its interests both in the present and the future. Netanyahu rejected that approach; by treating Barack Obama with contempt, rejecting American peace initiatives, openly aligning his party with reactionaries in the GOP, and attempting to force America into a war with Iran that is against our national interests, he has won the enmity of the Democratic Party. From Israel’s perspective, that’s fine as long as Trump is president. But what happens when he leaves office?
The Democratic nominee in 2020 is going to be more pro-Palestinian than any American president in my memory; it is only a question of degree. If he or she wins, look for the US to re-engage with Iran and use its economic and military aid package to apply pressure on Israel to move forward with the peace process.