It is just not possible for two people, let alone two countries, to have identical interests. That’s why all relationships have varying degrees of tension. We don’t see the world identically.
America has no vital strategic interests in the Middle East aside from assurance of an oil supply if needed.
If America shifts away from Israel, the Jewish state could form an alliance with Russia. Many Israelis have come from Russia in the past three decades.
Shmuel Rosner writes for the New York Times:
Israel depends on an America that asserts itself abroad. Israel needs bipartisan support. It needs stable, predictable American foreign policy. It desires candidates who sing Israel’s praises as often and as loudly as they can. Mr. Trump, who looks poised to capture the Republican Party’s nomination, offers Israel none of those. Mr. Netanyahu has every reason to be concerned and disappointed by what the American political system has produced this election cycle…
Israel’s government hoped a new president would restore a more traditional definition of friendship — one based on mutual trust and support. But if the choice comes down to Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Trump, that’s unlikely. From a President Clinton, Israel’s hawkish government would come under more of the same pressure it received from the Obama administration. From a President Trump … anything is possible.
The rocky relations of the Obama era have damaged the American-Israeli alliance and eroded Israel’s standing in Washington and around the world. Four — or eight — more years of bickering could cause even more lasting damage to the one foreign relationship that is truly critical to Israel’s future.
