Israel dominates the daily news in this 2026 midterm election year — almost always in a boring, fatiguing, negative light. Tens of thousands of innocents may be slaughtered, ethnically cleansed, butchered, and tortured by the world's dictators, yet an overwhelming and obsessive abhorrence is reserved for tiny, democratic Israel.

Such perverse asymmetry is strange, since, at least privately, most Americans would concede that of the 18 Middle Eastern nations, only Israel is a genuine consensual democracy.

As far as tolerance goes, in the entire region, only in Israel is it legal to criticize political or religious figures. Only there can one choose to adopt an openly gay or trans lifestyle. Only there can an apostate renounce one's religion or urge others to do the same. And only there can Christians establish a new church almost anywhere they choose.

Some of Israel's fiercest feminist critics who wear miniskirts and halter tops, some of its most severe gay opponents, and some of its more virulent trans adversaries would in all likelihood be summarily arrested in most Middle Eastern countries if they dared to speak, act, or wear clothes as they do in the West — except, of course, in democratic and free Israel.

In terms of protest, scream publicly in Tel Aviv, "I no longer believe in the Jewish faith, and I hate the current government of Israel"--and there is little chance of being arrested.

Chant the same publicly in any Muslim country in the Middle East--"I no longer believe in Islam, and I hate our current government"--and the loud critic would be either jailed or beaten by a street mob or worse.

On the Left — whether that is defined as the ossifying Democrat Party or the ascendant Democratic Socialists of America, or both — it is now a general rule that no candidate can win a primary election in a blue state if the candidate is on record supporting Israel.

In practice, no Jewish American can now be nominated on any national Democrat Party ticket.

Once extreme but now mainstream Democrat candidates, officeholders, and influencers, from Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-MI, and Ilhan Omar, D-MN, to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and podcaster Hasan Piker, call for the virtual end of Israel as we currently know it. Most Democrat candidates prefer to be seen on the stump with the antisemitic, America-trashing Piker rather than with their own Senate Minority Leader, Senator Chuck Schumer.

On campuses, left-wing students, along with foreign student visitors from the Middle East, openly cheered on the Hamas massacre of 1,200 civilians and soldiers (including 46 Americans) on October 7, 2023.

Some 80 percent of the once pro-Israel Democrats now view Israel unfavorably. Their hatred explains why once strong nationwide support for Israel has fallen from about 80 percent to 60 percent.

On the extreme Right, not a day goes without podcasters Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes, or Candace Owens charging Israel and its supporters with some nefarious conspiracies, from secretly directing U.S. policy in the Middle East and suppressing the Epstein files, to orchestrating the assassination of Charlie Kirk and having advanced knowledge of, or at least a hand in, the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Now orphaned, but once hyper-MAGA, politicos like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Joe Kent, and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie (KY-4) blame much of their own estrangement from the Trump administration and their now inert political careers on the influence of Jewish money and pro-Zionist Jews.

On examination, their accusations make no sense. But they do reveal a sudden recrudescence of a reductionist and ancient hatred.

Irrational, Unhinged Venom

Is America really a captive of Jewish influence?

Since its founding, Israel has contributed about $300 million, adjusted for inflation, to U.S. universities and nonprofits.

In contrast, the Gulf states alone have given more than $12 billion.

Our chief rival, a hostile China, has donated more than $6 billion. Yet somehow Israel is accused of buying and leveraging U.S. institutions.

Members and close associates of the Bush, Biden, and Trump families have partnered in lucrative investments with rich Gulf-state entities. Yet we hear that pro-Israel American lobbying groups like AIPAC — whose money comes exclusively from American citizens or residents — pose an existential threat to the U.S.

Since the........

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