Israeli supporters of Donald Trump wave US and Israeli flags to support his candidacy for the presidential outside the US embassy in Jerusalem on October 27, 2020. Photo: Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90

i24 News – A majority of US citizens support conditioning defense assistance to Israel, a poll conducted at around the same time as the latest round of fighting between Israel and Gazan armed groups has shown.

Respondents were asked if they would back legislation that “would stop Israel from spending US taxpayer dollars on: the military detention of Palestinian children; the seizure or destruction of Palestinian property and homes; or, support for Israel’s annexation of Palestinian territory.”

The polling conducted by Data for Progress, a progressive polling firm, showed that 55 percent of US citizens were in favor of such moves, while 29 percent opposed it.

The widening gap between Democratic and Republican voters was shown with 72 percent of Democrats, 57 percent of independents, and 36% of Republicans supporting the idea.

Once considered a bipartisan and unquestionable policy position in the US, the notion of caveating financial support for Israel has grown in prominence in recent years, buoyed in part by the progressive wing of the Democratic party.

A bill pushed in April by Representative Betty McCollum, a Democrat from Minnesota, that garnered 27 Democratic cosponsors in the US House of Representatives, is the basis for the question contained in the polling.

J Street and Americans for Peace Now support McCollum‘s bill.