Jews are not the same as Israelis. This basic statement at times is only understood by few, leading us to treat them as one and the same. This can be extremely embarrassing if called out on. For this reason alone, the talk of Israel in the US has become more sparse—merely because of the general public's fear of messing up. Jews and Israelis are generally grouped together, though a Jew is not necessarily Israeli and an Israeli is not necessarily Jewish: a vital point to understand. Only in a perfect utopia where the public is perfectly educated can totally factual debate happen or opinion be developed.
This is not the only reason causing diminished talk of Israelis, more specifically the silence ensues when the conversation shifts to Palestinians. In addition to the natural fear of embarrassing oneself, adhering to public opinion is not always the right thing to do... but it can be the easiest. Because of this, many Reform and Conservative (and some Orthodox) rabbis have completely stopped taking positions on the Israel-Palestinian conflict after outrageous and even violent actions followed sermons on the matter. Should rabbis stop trying to involve Israeli politics in their synagogues' Jewish settings, and be obligated to give sermons related to Judaism, or should they continue giving sermons on whatever they please (be it Palestinian-Israeli conflict to rising grape juice prices) because of their right to free speech? Which is more important—the aspect of them that is American, or that of being Jewish?
I like the fact that you pointed out the difference between Americans and Israelis, but you missed a vital point in the topic; Why some Rabbis talk about Israel in the way that they do. Some Rabbis are 100% pro Israel, as if Israel has done absolutely nothing wrong. But that's just not true. Just recently for example, Israel destroyed almost 1/3 of the Gaza strip's agricultural land. They're reason? "In order to enable optimal and continuous security operations." In 2014 Israel allowed Gaza to farm just so long as it was 100m away from the border fence. These farmers played it safe by staying 200m away. Their crops were destroyed anyway, And due to the wind conditions that day it destroyed crops much further away than just the edge. Israel is trying to defend itself yes, but the way they do some things are frankly unnecessary. Rabbis should have the ability to criticize Israel, but that doesn't mean they don't care about Israel. I criticize Israel fairly often, but I still care deeply about it's existence. (Source : http://goo.gl/ZOEwVu )
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