Report claims U.S.-Israel rift more than just a clash of personalities

[bemildred]

New report 'Crossroads: The Future of the U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership', claims 'social and political trends in United States and Israel are reshaping politics of both societies'.

It has become conventional wisdom since U.S. President Barack Obama assumed his position two-and-a-half years ago that tensions between Washington and Jerusalem were largely due to personality differences between the U.S. president and Prime Minister Netanyahu. However, a new report, published by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, claims the challenge is much bigger than the lack of the personal chemistry between the two, and can't be dismissed as merely temporary turbulence.

CSIS Deputy Director of the Middle East Program Haim Malka warned in a new report titled “Crossroads: The Future of the U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership”, that "social and political trends in the United States and Israel are reshaping the politics of both societies".
The report expressed alarm over “ the erosion of the intangible elements of support, most importantly the ideal of shared values that had been the glue of the partnership long before the strategic alliance took shape".

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He also attributed these growing differences to changes within Israeli society, saying "today Israel’s Jewish population is more nationalistic, religiously conservative, and hawkish on foreign policy and security affairs than that of even a generation ago, and it would be unrecognizable to Israel’s founders.”

http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/focus-u-s-a/report-claims-u-s-israel-rift-more-than-just-a-clash-of-personalities-1.384956

[leveymg]

1. Two failing democracies going their own ways.

Not an encouraging trend for anyone. Too many nuts with too many nuclear weapons.

[tularetom]

They're afraid the US is gonna go broke and they'll need a new sugar daddy

They may also be afraid that the stupid cheney wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have so soured the American people on foreign interventionism that they can no longer rely on our military support.

[elleng]

2. And there's this;

Koch May Test His Political Voice on National Stage.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/nyregion/koch-may-oppose-obamas-israel-stance-on-national-stage.html?hp

[Pirate Smile]

3. Their national interests often conflict in the middle east - along with how terribly Bibi & Co have

treated the Obama Administration.

Bibi is a far RW Republican.

Obama trying to deal with him is like when he tries to deal with House Republicans - and Bibi treats him just as insultingly but Congress is bought off which cuts the knees out from under of any President who tries to do anything - happened to Poppy Bush too.

[The Magistrate]

4. Some Home Truths, Sir

There are several facts here people need to take notice of.

First, since the end of the Cold War, there has been very little real over-lap between the strategic interests of the United States and the interests of Israel. Support for Israel alienates Moslems, universally and in the region, and thus threatens stable access to fuel resources for the United States. The idea some attempt to sell, that the U.S. uses Israel to maintain access to and control of oil is risible.

Second, support for Israel is, in the domestic politics of the United States, becoming deeply tinged with fundamentalist Christian fanaticism, which leads increasingly to support for Israel being identified, among the general populace, with far right lunacy. It is worth noting many of these fundamentalist Christian supporters of Israel are, in actual fact, profoundly Anti-Semitic, in that they view Jews as having murdered Christ, and believe all Jews who do not convert to Christianity during the 'coming tribulations' will be killed as followers of the Anti-Christ. Their only real interest in Israel is the degree to which its existence is a prop in support of their beliefs in the imminent return of the Christ, and its attendant apocalyptic horrors and millenial reign of Jesus directly and physically over the earth. Israeli leaders who accept support from this element are making a contemptible bargain, that brings them into disrepute by association, rather like a candidate running on a 'law and order' platform would suffer by accepting an endorsement from a local Klavern.

Third, certain elements of cultural over-lap between the United States and Israel are fading away. One of the great unspoken facts of support for Israel here has always been the shared characteristics of a frontier/settlers society: we had Indians, they have Arabs, and expansion into a hostile frontier existence defined self-image of both societies to a fair degree. Fifty years ago popular culture here presented our expansion into the western plains as a fight between good White soldiers and settlers and bad, cruel Indians who above all could never be trusted. Today, these images are pretty much reversed, and the supply of people who grew up taking the former picture as an elemental frame of their moral universe and self-image as Americans is dwindling fast.

[Pirate Smile]

5. Great post, The Magistrate.

[lib2DaBone]

6. Thanks. I never did understand what the American people gained..?

What have the American people gained from Billions given to Israel?


Gas is going back to $4 .. terrorism is growning...

[bemildred]

7. Well said, Sir.

I quite agree. I would only add the reluctance of ruling elites, on both sides, to take the necessary, cooperative steps to adapt in a timely fashion. In a world that changes as fast as our modern one does, one needs to be looking ahead, not clinging to the past, however comforting that might be.

[cprise]

9. About this part:

"Today, these images are pretty much reversed, and the supply of people who grew up taking the former picture as an elemental frame of their moral universe and self-image as Americans is dwindling fast."

From a reference of Cowboys And Indians to the more modern White Flight paradigm (encircle the cities and incarcerate many of the people therein). American paramilitaries aren't obsessed with "urban warfare" for nothing.

[Jefferson23]

8. Powerful report. I look forward to the reaction from the pro-Israel groups.

Thanks for posting.

[Violet_Crumble]

10. Which rift is this?

The one where the US, feeling so detached from Israel, is going to veto any Security Council resolution that grants full membership of the UN to Palestine? If that's a rift, I'd hate to see how ugly things get when the US gets really annoyed at something Israel does! ;)

[Jefferson23]

11. Especially with a Republican president, lol. The way Obama has been misrepresented is bizarre.

You have to purchase the entire report, it seems powerful enough to make it worth the price.

[Jefferson23]

12. The report for anyone interested:

Crossroads
The Future of the U.S.-Israel
Strategic Partnership

Introduction xv
1 foundations of the u.s.-israel partnership  1
2 d emographics and politics in israel  19
3 U .S. political dynamics  41
4 s trategic dynamics and debates  56
5 d ebates over models for cooperation 82
6 key findings and recommendations  99

http://csis.org/files/publication/110908_Malka_CrossroadsUSIsrael_Web.pdf