Blinken Says He Warned Netanyahu Israel Could Lose Young Evangelicals
The former secretary of state spoke in Washington as President Trump told 60 Minutes there is "a great dislike" for Israel among voters, putting support for Israel among younger believers back in the spotlight.
Learn more ›WASHINGTON —
Former U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday, Nov. 8, that he warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the spring of 2024 that Israel risked losing support among young Republicans and young evangelicals, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Learn more ›Blinken spoke at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America in Washington, which opened Sunday and runs through Tuesday. He shared the stage with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a discussion moderated by ABC News journalist Juju Chang.
Recounting what he told Netanyahu, Blinken said: “You are not only losing the Democratic Party, and that may be fine from your perspective. You're going to be losing young Republicans, young evangelicals.” Speaking of the war in Gaza, he said, “The target was Hamas,” adding that too many people were caught in the middle and suffered terribly.
Pompeo, who served as secretary of state before Blinken, praised Israel's help to the United States, calling Israeli intelligence “very helpful.” “We couldn't do the intelligence work we need to do without them,” he said. The two men disagreed over Iran, with Pompeo saying, “We should never give the Iranians a damn thing.”
Learn more ›The remarks came as President Donald Trump, asked in an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes about his party's results in the Nov. 3 midterm elections, pointed to the war with Iran and higher gasoline prices. “And there's a great dislike, incredibly, for Israel,” Trump said, according to the Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post. He also said, “Without us, Israel wouldn't exist.”
The Jerusalem Post reported that Trump did not cite polling to support his view. Vice President JD Vance suggested last week that Republicans would have to change their relationship with Israel to win future elections, the Times of Israel reported; Trump said of Vance's view, “I don't disagree with it.”
Learn more ›What we don't know yet: Neither Blinken nor Trump cited a survey, and neither report gave figures on how support for Israel among evangelicals of any age has changed. No response from Netanyahu's office to Blinken's account was reported.
