"Israel has become a toxic brand": US expert issues sharp warning | Listen

Professor Yossi Shain (Yisrael Beiteinu), an expert on international relations, discussed Israel's changing status in the United States in a conversation with Ron Koffman and Aryeh Eldad on 103fm, and warned of a deep erosion in support for it — both among Democrats and Republicans.

Regarding the change in attitude toward Israel in the American political arena, Shain said: "Being anti-Israel today in the US is a hot commodity, profitable and rewarding, and not just anti-Israel, but anti-AIPAC. The whole idea in the world that Israel projects power and that the Israeli lobby projects power and it is not worth messing with it, is an idea that has collapsed in the US. Today in the Senate, people run on hostility toward Israel, and that is what gains votes and victory."

Later, Shain also addressed the relationship between Israel and the Democratic Party and the status of the Jewish community in the United States: "We are in a long process of collapse. David Harris, who headed the American Jewish Committee, recently said that US Jewry and Israel's status are like a building in Florida that collapsed on its occupants. One can start arguing about what causes what and how, but there is no doubt that two important points should be mentioned regarding Israel's contribution. The State of Israel and the Israeli government simply betrayed the Democratic Party. Biden saved us, from their perspective, and we all went toward Trump."

Shain also addressed the possibility of an agreement between the United States and Iran and Israeli expectations from the American administration: "I have no doubt that there will be no such agreement between Iran and the US; Israel would pray for an agreement." At the moment, there will be no agreement, and future administrations will also not be committed to an agreement as they were in previous years, partly due to the issue of power. Therefore, there was no international political discourse because we relied on Trump to do the work for us, after he committed to "pulling the chestnuts out of the fire."

"Unfortunately, Israel has become a toxic brand, it is no longer just a question of politics"

Regarding the conduct toward Iran and the expectation that the United States would complete the move, Shain said: "The business was in Iran, that it needed to go within days — he asked us after we convinced him that we would topple the regime and everything would collapse. Unfortunately, after our phenomenal victory with the Americans, we thought we would take a step forward, and America did not complete it. When America did not complete it, we are constantly eroding its status in the system and its willingness. On the Republican side, there is no desire for Israel to drag the US into a war again."

According to him, the erosion in support for Israel is no longer limited to the Democratic camp alone: "Unfortunately, Israel has become a toxic brand, it is no longer just a question of politics at the moment, but it is also related to it. Also in the sense that we have become toxic to Republicans, people forget what it is, and not just with Tucker Carlson and others — you see the penetration. I talk to the offices of senators who are supporters of Israel and are afraid of this business. Also, the perception that Trump is not delivering the goods is one that is trickling down to voters."

"At the moment, there is a fear that the lack of decisiveness is losing points even among Trump's supporters"

Shain also addressed the political considerations surrounding Trump and the change in positions among his supporters: "If in the past they said that Trump wants to reach the midterms and therefore does not want to escalate because it does not give points — at the moment, there is a fear that the lack of decisiveness is losing points even among his supporters," Professor Shain explained. "On one hand, there is the campaign that started immediately after the war in Gaza, about genocide, which has trickled down very deeply both on an intellectual and political level. On the other hand, it has trickled down to the level that even in the American education system, when you check how the subject of genocide is taught, it is identified as Israel's genocide."

In conclusion, Shain warned against the continued deterioration of Israel's status in Washington: "If Israel does not replace the leadership with a sane one, as it is perceived in America, Israel has no supporters even in the White House today. It is impossible to understand the magnitude of the fiasco; we are telling stories because we are in an election cycle, but it is something deep."