Randi Weingarten, labor leader and liberal Zionist, is not condemning some locals’ backing for BDS. This is yet another sign that support for Israel is cracking among U.S. progressives. Joe Biden and Naftali Bennett want to keep Israel a bipartisan cause, but political forces here are against them.

Several articles by Israel supporters bewail a “surge in anti-Zionism” among Jews because of the latest Gaza attack. They want to remind American Jews of their Jewish identity: that Being Jewish means supporting Israel. That’s an important argument to have.

“Palestinians, under occupation for decades, are fighting for their homes and demanding freedom,” Kelly Cobiella says on NBC, in a sign that Israel’s new government will not be able to reverse the disaffection for its practices in the U.S. “New government — same apartheid,” says the young Jewish group IfNotNow.

Rep. Ilhan Omar’s progressive allies, in Congress and outside, rushed to her defense. Had this exchange happened just a few years ago she would have been left to twist slowly in the wind, alone. Instead, more than 50 progressive U.S. groups said clearly that “the repeated targeting of Rep. Omar is rooted in sexism, racism and anti-Muslim bigotry.”

Liberal Zionists are secretly exultant over Naftali Bennett unseating Benjamin Netanyahu, hoping it will end the politicization of Israel in U.S. politics. But Apartheid is a hard sell and Bennett will quickly be on a collision course with a lot of people in the United States who think Palestinians should have rights.

The Israel lobby is under huge pressure these days as the Democratic Party base becomes more sympathetic to Palestinians in the wake of the latest Israeli onslaught. A pro-Israel group, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, held an event on the Gaza conflict last week, and there were two surprising responses to the progressive shift.

Israel’s new president Isaac Herzog has said that left wing critics of Israel are responsible for murderous attacks on Jews. And when asked about growing American Jewish criticism of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, Herzog says it is because “American Jews have no clue about” what life is like for Israelis and have only a “superficial” and “short-sighted” understanding of the conflict.

The Democratic Party is about to become the latest “existential threat” to the Jewish state. And there’s one thing you can be sure of, Zionists won’t take U.S. defection lying down. Tom Friedman worries that things here could “blow up.”

The New York Times does an unprecedented thing for a paper that has long supported Israel: puts the faces of dozens of Palestinian children slaughtered by Israel in Gaza on its front page. “Never thought I’d see the day when Palestinian victims were pictured, named, & their stories told,” says James Zogby.

Israel lobbyists have opened a new front in their effort to characterize Palestinian solidarity as “antisemitic.” Now that two House members and leading human rights groups have said Israel practices “apartheid,” Israel’s friends want to shut down the discussion. It’s a good battle to have, as even mainstream groups say the shoe fits Israel.