Former U.S. Officials Describe “Fraying of Shared Values” Between U.S. and Israel

In an article entitled “Can the U.S.-Israel Bond Be Saved?” (New York Times, Feb. 14, 2017), two former U.S. officials involved in Middle East policy report that Israel’s continuing occupation of the West Bank and retreat from a two-state solution endanger the “shared values” of the two countries.

Steven Simon, who served as the National Security Council’s senior director for the Middle East and North Africa, and Aaron David Miller, a former State Department Middle East analyst and negotiator, write: “… what concerns us most is the fraying of shared values that set it apart from other bilateral bonds. Without them, interests alone won’t be enough to maintain its character.”

They note that, “The two countries are an awkward, strategic fit. America is Israel’s ultimate security guarantor, but Israel can’t come close to reciprocating.” Without shared values, in their view, the alliance has a very weak rationale.

They write: “The Israeli government and the powerful settler movement are poised to exploit the (Trump) administr¬ation’s perceived pro-Netanyahu stance by-expanding settlements and neighborhoods in the West Bank and Jerusalem. The Palestinian national movement will no doubt respond with terror and incitement to violence, undermining its own legitimate case. Given the asymmetry of power, Israel’s response will probably be harsher and increasingly seen as anti-democratic or worse.”

Asking what things are likely to look like in eight years, Simon and Miller speculate: “American support for an increasingly right-wing Israeli policy will mean that Israel will have built more settle¬ments; diplomacy aimed at a two-state solution will be stillborn or abandoned …”

The authors conclude: “If these things come to pass, the erosion of shared values will quicken. The process is already under way because of a number of trends in the U.S., particularly among Jews; indiff¬erence to Israel among many voters … the likely leftward turn of the Bernie Sanders generation, the perceptions of an increasingly unpopular alliance between Israel and the Trump administration. Taken altogether, they point to the very real possibility of growing distance between Washington and Jerusalem.” •