Countries are not friends: Israel developed an excessive emotional and political dependence on the United States. It was a long, multistage process, in which both facts and fiction played a role. It was a process that made Israelis forget basic truisms about relations between countries. It was a process that made Israelis assume that the foundations of the relationship with the U.S. are stable and unchangeable. As if – since ever and forever, no change should be expected in the strong ties between the two countries.
A brief historical examination shows that this is an unfounded assumption. Israeli-U.S. relations began with important support for the establishment of the state, followed by an immediate cooling of relations, a cautious warming in the 1960s, crises and achievements in the 1970s, the beginning of a romance in the 1980s, a dramatic takeoff in the 1990s and 2000s, and then the beginning of a descent to normalcy.
To understand why Israel imagines its relations with the U.S. in such a distorted way, one must go back to two presidents: Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. They provided Israel with 16 consecutive years of unusual friendship. Sixteen years that accustomed an entire generation of Israelis to assuming that the abnormal is the normal. Barack Obama was the president who began the climb down the ladder. He cooled relations with Israel.
To understand why Israel imagines its relations with the U.S. in such a distorted way, one must go back to two presidents: Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. They provided Israel with 16 consecutive years of unusual friendship.
Trump’s cozy first term fooled Israelis into thinking that Obama was the outlier. He was not. Trump was convenient for Israel, in part, because there were few things that challenged the relationship in his first term. Now, when there are challenges, Israelis discover that Trump does Trump. He ignored the rest of the world when moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. He now ignores Israel in the same manner when he wants to do other things. Such as having an understanding with the Houthis in Yemen. Such as selling the Saudis the means to have nuclear power plants.
It’s not because Trump is against Israel – it’s because he is for America. He is a friend, as long as the friendship does not interfere with his plans. He is a friend, but also the leader of another country. He is a friend, but “friend” in geopolitics speak isn’t a “friend” in everyday speak. Confusing these two meanings of “friendship” could be disappointing, and even dangerous.
American passports are better than Israeli ones: Israelis holding foreign passports have an advantage over Israelis who do not have foreign passports. One can be angry about this situation, one can regret it, one can grumble, but that is the situation. The Israeli passport is a passport that fills the heart with pride, with a sense of belonging, but its value in the passport market is not as high as the value of, say, a Swiss passport. Of course, there are passports that are worse than the Israeli one. But there are many better ones – passports that allow easier and more convenient entry into many more countries, as well as residence in them, and also spare their owners the tense moment when the hotel clerk looks up at the guest, and the guest has to ask himself whether the clerk has a problem with the fact that the person standing before him comes from this place, you know, that has such baggage.
It was difficult to see an American passport holder being released from Hamas captivity while Israeli passport holders stay behind. Difficult – but not new. On the Air France flight that was hijacked to Uganda in the mid-1970s, there were Jews and non-Jews, Israelis and foreigners. The Israelis and Jews remained in captivity – until they were rescued in a heroic operation. The foreigners, and those assumed foreigners thanks to a foreign passport, were released. Ninette Moreno had several passports: Moroccan, Spanish, Belgian, French, Canadian. She was released. Drawings she made of the place where the hostages were being held helped plan the rescue operation.
So one can be frustrated with the fact that an Israeli passport has a value that is not equal to the value of another passport — but frustration will not change this reality. Nothing will change this reality. Not in the short, foreseeable term, not as long as Israel is a country in a conflict with its neighbors, which has an impact on the attitude towards it and its citizens in the rest of the world. Of course, the Israeli passport also has quite a few advantages. Israel is a country that usually excels in caring for citizens who are in distress in remote places. But an Israeli passport doesn’t include the guaranteed backing of the mighty U.S. government.
Something I wrote in Hebrew
When reports on a Trump-Netanyahu rift multiplied, I recommended Israelis do this: The right advice is to grow up. Stop pinning a child’s eyes on the American president in the hope that he will save Israel. Grow up — and remember how relations are conducted between a somewhat narcissistic great power and a country that is, at best, a small regional power. Grow up — and know that when faced with the U.S. in the dilemma between what is good for America and what is good for Israel, it will choose America. Grow up — and shape a realistic security, economic, and political policy, in a world where it is impossible to always rely on America to save us.
A week’s numbers
International studies often include interesting facts about one own’s country:
A reader’s response
Misha A. writes: “Shmuel, can you explain how Israel intends to eliminate Hamas?” My answer: Sadly, the answer is no. That’s why most Israelis expect the war to continue for more than another year.
Shmuel Rosner is senior political editor. For more analysis of Israeli and international politics, visit Rosner’s Domain at jewishjournal.com/rosnersdomain.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.