There are moments in history when a powerful illusion finally breaks. For decades the illusion of unwavering American devotion to Israel felt unshakeable. It governed policy, shaped public opinion and crafted a political world in which any criticism of Israel was treated as a dangerous trespass. Yet today that illusion trembles. Bit by bit, day by day, the American public is stepping away from Israel, not in anger alone but in moral exhaustion. They are watching a catastrophe that refuses to end, a catastrophe carried out with their country’s weapons and their country’s money.

Anyone who opens their eyes can see that what is happening to Palestinians cannot be described with polite vocabulary. It is genocide.

Israel’s assault on Gaza has become one of the clearest human tragedies of our century. Entire neighborhoods have been erased. Orphaned children wander through dust filled streets searching for parents who will never return. Hospitals operate in darkness without medicine or clean water. Journalists are targeted. Families die together in the same instant under collapsing concrete. Anyone who opens their eyes can see that what is happening to Palestinians cannot be described with polite vocabulary. It is deliberate destruction. It is a systematic attempt to break a people. It is genocide.

And the bombs that fall on Gaza do not come from nowhere. They do not appear with the snap of a finger. They come from American factories. They come from American military stockpiles. They come from a political system that still treats Israel as a sacred exception to all rules, all ethics and all human compassion. American weapons shred Palestinian homes even as American citizens grow more restless with each passing day. The suffering in Gaza continues to expand while the patience of the American people continues to shrink. This contradiction sits at the heart of a national awakening.

Public support for Israel has been eroding for years, but the events of the past year accelerated that decline into something far more dramatic. A younger generation is especially unwilling to accept familiar slogans or rehearsed excuses. They watch the livestreams. They read the testimonies from survivors. They see the dust covered faces of children pulled lifeless from the remains of schools. They hear Israeli officials use dehumanizing language that echoes the darkest chapters of world history. And through it all, they watch their own government supply the weapons that make these horrors possible. The distance between what the American public believes and what American leaders continue to support has widened into a gulf that grows deeper every week.

The shift in public opinion is not subtle and it is not temporary. Poll after poll shows Americans drifting away from the idea that Israel deserves unconditional support. On college campuses, students march with signs that read Not In Our Name. Faith leaders across traditions speak at vigils for Gaza. Black, Latino, Asian, Arab, and white Americans are forming broad coalitions united by one simple truth. They are tired of the cruelty. They are tired of seeing their government reward a foreign state whose actions violate every moral standard. They are tired of watching the weak crushed by a power backed by the most advanced weapons ever built.

Veterans add their voices as well, some speaking with tears in their eyes as they recall their own memories of war. They know the smell of rubble. They know the ache of watching civilians suffer. And they understand the magnitude of American responsibility. Their message is clear. The United States cannot claim innocence while its weapons reduce Gaza to dust.

The American people are moving toward justice while the American government remains chained to an old and rotting narrative.

Yet despite this rising wave of public dissent, the American political establishment remains frozen. It continues to send shipments of artillery shells, precision bombs, armored vehicles, rifles and surveillance equipment to Israel. It continues to use diplomatic force to shield Israel from accountability in international courts. It continues to speak with a cold detachment that insults the moral intelligence of its citizens. This reveals one of the greatest contradictions in modern politics. The American people are moving toward justice while the American government remains chained to an old and rotting narrative.

Over time this contradiction has become impossible to hide. Americans see their own cities crumble from poverty. They see schools that cannot afford textbooks. They see millions without access to healthcare. They see veterans suffering from untreated trauma. They see bridges fall apart, communities drown in debt and families forced to choose between food and rent. And while all of this unfolds inside their own country, they watch their government send endless streams of money and weapons to support a foreign government engaged in relentless violence.

This does not only wound the conscience of the public. It also creates a deep sense of betrayal. Many Americans feel that their own needs are dismissed while the needs of Israel are prioritized without question. They feel that the political class treats their struggles as irrelevant compared to the demands of a foreign leader. And they feel the weight of moral responsibility when they see a bomb stamped with American markings fall onto a crowded refugee camp.

The erosion of support for Israel is not only moral or economic. It is also political. Prominent voices across the country, including conservative commentators who once defended Israel without hesitation, now openly criticize the brutality on display. Progressive movements demand an end to American involvement in the killing. Centrist voters voice discomfort with the cruelty. This is not a fringe phenomenon. It is a national reckoning.

Yet while public opinion shifts, the sorrow in Gaza deepens. Bodies continue to be pulled from shattered homes. Hospitals lose power and newborn babies die in their incubators. Humanitarian workers dig mass graves. Journalists are killed simply for holding a camera. And throughout it all, Israeli officials speak with open pride about their intentions. They brag about the destruction. They celebrate the suffering of an entire population.

Gaza’s agony is not an accident. It is a project of domination. The United States, by providing the weapons that make this project possible, remains tied to every drop of blood spilled.

The world is not blind to this connection. Nations across the globe express shock at the contradictions in American rhetoric. How can a country speak endlessly about human rights while supplying the means to annihilate a trapped population. How can the United States claim to defend the innocent while refusing to condemn war crimes committed with its support. The damage to the reputation of the United States is already severe. Countries that once admired American ideals now question whether those ideals were ever sincere.

And yet, amid all this darkness, there is a growing force of hope within the American public. The people are beginning to confront the truth. They are beginning to demand an end to this genocide carried out with their weapons. They are calling for a future in which Palestinians are treated as human beings whose lives matter as much as anyone else’s. This moral shift may one day reshape the entire landscape of American foreign policy.

But for now, the weapons continue to flow, and the people of Gaza continue to suffer. Entire histories are being wiped away. Families vanish in seconds. Streets that once echoed with the laughter of children now echo with the sounds of destruction and grief.

The question now is whether the awakening of the American public will lead to genuine action or whether it will be drowned out by the machinery of the military industry and the influence of political lobbying networks. Awareness must transform into pressure. Pressure must transform into policy. And policy must align with justice.

History will remember those who supported the slaughter, those who stayed silent and those who demanded that their country stand with the oppressed.

The United States can no longer pretend that it is a neutral observer. Its role in this tragedy is woven into every bomb, every bullet, every drone strike, and every moment of suffering that unfolds in Gaza. History will remember this time with clarity. It will remember those who supported the slaughter. It will remember those who stayed silent. And it will remember those who demanded that their country step away from cruelty and stand with the oppressed.

The American people are ready for change. They are tired of complicity. They are tired of excuses. They are tired of watching innocent families die under American supplied firepower. The world waits to see whether their leaders will listen or whether they will continue fueling one of the greatest humanitarian disasters of our age.

Gaza watches this moment with a kind of desperate hope. And the future will judge whether America chose silence or whether it finally chose humanity.

– Amjad Khan is a contributing writer for The Arab American News. He is an educator, writer and academic researcher with a deep commitment to addressing the challenges facing the Muslim world. Through his work, he seeks to inspire meaningful dialogue and help chart a path toward unity, justice and peace.