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Briefing|Trump’s Plan to End the War in Gaza
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/briefing/trumps-plan-to-end-the-war-in-gaza.html
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President Trump presented a plan yesterday to end the war in Gaza that checks every box on Israel’s wish list. Return hostages living and dead; disarm and dismantle Hamas; allow Israel to maintain a military presence on the strip’s perimeter. If Hamas rejects the deal, Trump vowed as he stood next to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, “Israel would have my full backing to finish the job of destroying the threat of Hamas.”
It’s hard to imagine Hamas signing on to Trump’s plan — its leaders have previously dismissed most of its terms, and have little incentive to agree now. But the president’s lopsided approach was jarring given how much American public opinion has shifted since the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel that sparked this war. The New York Times published a new poll yesterday showing that a majority of Americans now oppose sending more economic and military aid to Israel. For the first time since The Times began polling on this issue in 1998, more U.S. voters sympathize with Palestinians than with Israelis.
Today’s newsletter looks more closely at the poll and at Trump’s plan for what he called “eternal peace in the Middle East.”
Dramatic decline. The Times/Siena poll documented a turnabout in public sentiment. At the end of 2023, nearly half of Americans sympathized more with Israelis and 20 percent more with Palestinians. Now, 34 percent sympathize more with Israelis, 35 percent more with Palestinians and 31 percent equally with both. “I actually was pretty pro-Israel the last few years,” one voter told our pollsters. “It just doesn’t feel like a level playing field anymore.” There’s also this:
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Generational change. Millennial and Gen Z Americans already back Israel less than Gen X and baby boomers do. But now Israel has lost ground with older generations, too. Majorities of every age cohort, including 54 percent of people over 65, said Israel should stop its military campaign to prevent further civilian casualties even if hostages remain in captivity. Those between 45 and 64 years old were split on whether the U.S. should continue funding Israel’s military, 47 percent in favor and 45 percent opposed. My colleagues who specialize in opinion polls described the shift as “unusually large” given how polarized we are.
International isolation. The drop in American support comes as Israel’s allies France, Britain and Canada have defied its wishes and recognized a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly. Most members there boycotted Netanyahu’s speech. The Eurovision Song Contest and European soccer’s governing body are also under pressure from broadcasters and athletes to ban Israel from their competitions.
