Matt Yglesias observes that judging by some recent Gallup data, "AIPAC is so effective primarily because Americans don't care about Palestinians." Partly, I'd say, but in the data -- which show how since 9/11 Americans have increasingly sided with Israel in the conflict over the fate of the Palestinian territories -- there's something more specific going on. Look at this:
The line for Democrats bounces around a bit, but it basically stays in the same range -- 10 years ago, 51 percent of them said they sided with the Israelis, and 57 percent do today. The big change, however, is among Republicans: In 2001, 60 percent said they sided with the Israelis, but a remarkable 80 percent do today.
So what happened? Supporting Israel, and in particular supporting the right of Israel to expand settlements in Palestinian territories as much as it likes, and also believing that the Palestinians have no legitimate claim to any kind of self-government or political rights, has moved into the conservative belief system. Before, conservatives might have a variety of opinions about Israel, or no opinion at all. But today, being a conservative means you hold this particular set of beliefs about Israel. It has become part of conservative identity.
The reasons why are complicated -- partly it's a direct consequence of the Eternal War On Terror, in which the world was divided into Us and Them, with them being Muslims; partly it's a result of the increasing evangelical Christian interest in Israel, which over time has become creepily fetishistic. But put it this way: 10 years ago, Sarah Palin didn't have an Israeli flag displayed in her office. But she does now (or did when she was governor, anyway), and every rank-and-file conservative gets the message that this is what they're supposed to believe.
