Support for Israel has been a staple of evangelical political beliefs for many years. The trend of unwavering support for the Jewish nation, however, is not holding true among younger evangelicals. Young people have almost always leaned more politically liberal, and the shift away from support for Israel is the latest facet of the widening split between millennial and generation z evangelicals and their older co-religionists.

Young evangelicals are far more likely to be sympathetic with the Palestinian cause and criticize Israel for such instances as Israel’s fatal shooting of Palestinian protestors forcibly attempting to cross the border fence in Gaza. Young evangelicals are also less likely to reference Bible verses that center on Jerusalem when they speak of Israeli-Palestinian issues.

The majority of evangelicals between the ages of 18 and 34, the generation known as millennials, still support Israel and favor the United States’ involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The percentage of evangelicals who support Israel, however, has dropped noticeably from its high levels in older generations.

This drop in support has caught the attention of a number of people, from megachurch pastors to Israeli officials. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has referred to evangelical Christians as Israel’s best friends and has met privately with evangelical leaders to discuss efforts to improve support for Israel among younger evangelicals. To this end, Christian organizations are leading trips to the Holy Land in the hopes that seeing the reality of Israel’s situation will increase evangelical sympathy for Israel and remove the apathy and easy judgement that comes from living so far removed from the daily realities of living in Israel. Palestinian organizations, however, are looking to drive the wedge between young evangelicals and Israel deeper and increase millennial criticism of Israel.

While Israel continues to court the American evangelical population, the Jewish state is also looking to find allies in the evangelical populations in other countries. Guatemala, for example, has an evangelical Christian president, and the Latin American country is in the process of moving its embassy to Jerusalem. There are currently 10 other countries with strong evangelical populations looking to move their embassies to Israel’s controversial capital city.

Given how political views tend to change as people age, it is unclear if the drop in evangelical support for Israel with climb as young evangelicals get older or if it will remain lower than with previous generations. Only time will tell.