Analysis | The relationship between Israel and the United States is going through its most tense moment in decades
The relationship between Israel and the United States is going through its most tense moment in decades: after a year marked by the conflict in Gaza, which a part of the American electorate opposes, Washington sees with growing concern how its main ally in the Middle East increases tension towards a direct confrontation with Iran one month before the presidential elections.
One of the biggest fears that US President Joe Biden had when the Islamist group Hamas killed 1,200 people in Israel and took 250 hostages on October 7, 2023 was that his country would be pushed to defend Israel in a major war. regional. Biden did not want to involve the United States further in the Middle East: he had already paid the price in August 2021 for the withdrawal from Afghanistan, where 13 American soldiers died, he was dealing with the war in Ukraine and his strategic priority was to focus on the competition with China.
Analyst Barbara Slavin, an expert on the Middle East, considers that the Biden Government’s biggest mistake has been the lack of determination to “force” Israel to a ceasefire, something that could have been achieved, for example, by conditioning the sending of armament. During the war in Gaza, the United States has sent several weapons packages to Israel, including a latest $20 billion package announced in August. However, on one occasion in May, it stopped shipping 3,500 bombs, concerned about their possible use in densely populated areas in Gaza.
A regional war could also have a major impact on the November 5 US elections, where Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and former Republican President Donald Trump face each other. Harris has shown a policy of support for Israel similar to Biden’s, but with greater sensitivity to Palestinian suffering. For his part, Trump supports Israel almost unconditionally and from the White House sponsored the Abraham Accords, which allowed Israel’s reconciliation with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.
The winner of these future elections will inherit a relationship with Israel that is going through unprecedented challenges since the Yom Kippur war half a century ago (1973), the last large-scale conflict between Israel and a coalition of Arab countries. However, academic Hussein Ibish, a specialist in the region, explains that despite the ups and downs of the bilateral relationship, the United States will always support Israel, especially against the common enemy, Iran. “The relationship between the US and Israel is institutionalized and is part of the fabric of both nations,” Ibish maintains. (EFE)
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