It appears that gone are the days when AIPAC – the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee – could count on 90 percent of ‘yes’ votes on pro-Israel resolutions in the United States Congress – Democrats and Republicans alike. Gone are the days when those among the remaining ten percent were hardly heard from and usually kept their views to themselves.

Just look at these developments: Earlier in August, the US Senate voted down a bill introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders that, in effect, would have denied American aid to Israel should the Jewish State be found violating the human rights of the Palestinians. The vote was 72 to 11, with the others not participating in the vote. This, unfortunately, is bad news. There should have been some 90 senators voting against the Sanders bill, which would have shown strong bipartisan support for Israel. This time, however, 27 Democratic senators voted against Israel or abstained. Even those who have traditionally supported Israel, like Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, voted for the first time for a resolution blocking US arms sales to Israel to send a message to the Israeli government of disapproval for the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Also in August, 11 freshmen Democratic members of the US House of Representatives visited Israel as part of a delegation of the AIPAC-affiliated American Israel Education Foundation. There may be many reasons why the other 23 freshmen Democrats chose not to come, but a free trip to Israel is not as attractive as it used to be. And according to Ha’aretz and the Jewish Insider, some of those who did come to Israel later faced hostile reception during town hall meetings from constituents unhappy about their trip.

At their biannual........

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