This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit danielgordis.substack.com

It’s hard to quantify (though I suppose that there are ways that sophisticated researchers could manage), but it’s clear that Israel’s press is much more engaged than ever before with the attitudes of American Jews — but also the attitudes of American voters writ large — to Israel. There’s a reason that the Israeli press is suddenly paying much closer attention to Americans — Democrats and Republicans, young and older, the Evangelicals, the Jews and more.

The reason, sadly, is that when it comes to how Israel is seen in the American electorate, things have simply never, ever been worse.

The data is clear, but it needs explaining.

Dr. Avishay Ben-Sasson-Gordis, a Senior Researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), has been researching this issue for quite some time, and recently, has done a deep dive into the Pew Center data on the subject. He’s also been writing about it a great deal for the Israeli public.

But Avishay is also (as you may have divined from his name) my son-in-law. Thus, as much as I really wanted to interview him here, I was hesitant … until he was interviewed on Echad be-Yom — Israel’s most widely listened to podcast, by far. When that appeared, I thought, “no reason they should get to hear him and we shouldn’t.”

So I asked Avishay to share with us what he spoke about on Echad be-Yom, and am grateful that he agreed.

If you would like to share our conversation about what Israelis are feeling and expressing at this unprecedented moment in our history, we invite you to subscribe today.

Avishay Ben Sasson-Gordis is a Liberalism Rekindled postdoctoral fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Ruderman Family Foundation Scholar in Residence and Senior Researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University.

His current work focuses on the democratic theory of coercive political institutions. His book project, “Not Just War”, based on his doctoral dissertation (Harvard 2023), offers a normative theory of democratic civil-military relations. In his empirical research he centered on Israeli security policy, governing institutions, and public opinion.

His research has been published in Political Science Research and Methods and in Armed Forces & Society. He’s a frequent commentator on Israeli current affairs in international and Israeli media, and my commentary has appeared in Foreign Affairs, Ha’aretz, and World Politics Review.

The link at the top of this posting will take free subscribers to an excerpted portion of today’s conversation.

For paid subscribers, the link at the top will take you to the full conversation; below, paid subscribers will also find a transcript for those who prefer to read, as always.