Virtually every American political leader has defended the Israeli strikes on Gaza, most notably President Obama. And fans of the Israeli bombing and missile campaign can draw satisfaction from the results of a CNN poll, which indicates that 57 percent of Americans support the Israeli strikes, versus 25 percent who say they are not justified.

Those of us in the minority, inclined to point to things like Israel’s blockade and virtual occupation of Gaza, or that it broke the most recent ceasefire by assassinating a Hamas leader, might refer to some interesting internals in the poll. For instance, 36 percent of Democrats (versus 41 percent) said the Israeli strikes were not justified. This sentiment is held in contradiction, even defiance, of Obama’s own expressed views, which apparently are more in line with what one might expect from a GOP politician.

This is a sign that the vocal defiance of the “All of Jerusalem belongs to Israel” resolution, forced through at the Democratic National Convention, was not a mere one-off; it rests on a solid base of sentiment. As Alana Goodman argues in the above linked article, the days of “bipartisan” support for whatever the heck Israel wants are numbered.