Daniel Pipes ponders the question "Who Supports Israel?" and why. He says the rules have changed, especially in the U.S. and Great Britain.
Ethnicity and religion certainly play a role in shaping attitudes but ideas matter more. One telling symbol of this was in 1998, when The Nation magazine called on a leftist Jew (Andrew N. Rubin) to savage a book by a conservative Muslim (Fouad Ajami) for being too friendly to Israel.Posted by Alan at September 5, 2003 09:25 PMIn many other countries, notes Charlotte West, Israel also finds its most solid support among conservatives; Australia, Canada, France, Italy come to mind.
This is new. Twenty years ago, liberal or conservative outlooks had little bearing on one's views of Israel or other Middle East issues. During the Cold War, Middle Eastern problems stood largely outside the great debate of that era - policy toward the Soviet Union - so views of the Arab-Israeli conflict, Iraq, militant Islam and other topics were formed in isolation from larger principles.
Today, all that has changed. The Middle East has replaced the Soviet Union as the touchstone of politics and ideology. With increasing clarity, conservatives stand on one side of its issues and liberals on the other.
via DanielPipes.com