According to The Economist, the answer is that Israel funds a lobby group (AIPAC) in Washington with a budget of nearly $50m and a staff of 200 – allegedly more powerful than the National Rifle Association:
“Thank God we have AIPAC, the greatest supporter and friend we have in the whole world,” says Ehud Olmert, Israel’s prime minister. The lobby, which is the centrepiece of a co-ordinated body that includes pressure groups, think-tanks and fund-raising operations, produces voting statistics on congressmen that are carefully scrutinised by political donors. It also organises regular trips to Israel for congressmen and their staffs. (The Washington Post reports that Roy Blunt, the House majority whip, has been on four.)
The other factor is the evangelical Christians, representing 25% of the American electorate:
White evangelicals are significantly more pro-Israeli than Americans in general; more than half of them say they strongly sympathise with Israel. (A third of the Americans who claim sympathy with Israel say that this stems from their religious beliefs.) Two in five Americans believe that Israel was given to the Jewish people by God, and one in three say that the creation of the state of Israel was a step towards the Second Coming.
Finally, the Americans probably see themselves in the same boat as Israel – the 9/11 attacks and the rocket attacks of Hizbullah are both seen as “terrorist” attacks on “democracy”.
