The GOP’s Transactional Recast of the US–Israel Relationship
The “special relationship” between Israel and the US, a concept coined by President Kennedy during a conversation with Israel’s then Foreign Minister Golda Meir in 1962, stemmed from a combination of shared values, common interests, and domestic politics, all of which are today eroding at an unprecedented rate.
In the political sphere, the erosion began when Israel, under Netanyahu’s leadership, abandoned the bipartisan approach that had characterized Israeli governments and their diplomacy until then.
Since then, Israeli discourse has tended to view the Republican Party as Israel’s main base of support in the United States and to criticize the Democratic Party. However, the reality highlights how mistaken this perception is and indeed is the opposite of reality.
The Democratic Party, like the pre-Trump Republican Party, saw the State of Israel as a valuable partner in membership in the club of liberal democracies. This alliance of values is what has guided the policies of all American administrations toward Israel for decades. Alongside a deep commitment to maintaining Israel’s security, there has always been an expectation of preserving our moral superiority over our enemies.
The Democratic Party has never opposed basic security assistance to Israel nor taken steps that would harm its security. In recent years, there has been a growing recognition inside the Democratic Party that the Netanyahu government’s use of security assistance as a “blank check” for purposes unrelated to Israel’s security and harmful to American interests and values cannot continue. But even when criticism was voiced, or actions perceived as critical were taken, they were always accompanied by a clear distinction between supporting Israel’s genuine security needs and opposing policies of annexation, maintaining the occupation, or violating international humanitarian law, which not only do not strengthen Israel’s security but in fact harm it.
On the other hand, in the Republican Party of the Trump and MAGA era, interests rather than values dictate relationships, as was articulated in the last National Security Strategy, which abandoned Europe. When transactional interests are the main criterion, Israel has no inherent advantage over much richer and larger countries.
While democratic administrations have placed Israel’s needs at the top of their priorities, for Trump, for Vice President J.D. Vance, and for many other Republicans, Israel is part of a regional framework where each country – Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, or the United Arab Emirates – is measured by what it can give the United States or its leader.
Priority is given to whoever brings more money, influence, and prestige, and Israel is hence required to compete for its place against wealthy and powerful players like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey.
Therefore, for the first time in its history, there is a real possibility of Israel losing its qualitative military edge in the region. The emerging deal to sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, which may be accompanied by a defense alliance like the one signed between the United States and Qatar following the failed Israeli assassination attempt in Doha, is a recent example.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman received a royal welcome in Washington —befitting someone who brings power and money — and the same treatment is being offered to other authoritarian regimes such as Qatar and Turkey.
The American decision, approved by the Security Council, which includes a “path to a Palestinian state,” is very positive in itself, but the American motivation behind it is not concern for the status of Israel nor the Palestinians, but rather the desire to strengthen the United States’ position in the Gulf states, Turkey, and others. This is also the reason behind the moves toward internationalizing the control of the Gaza Strip, in which Israel is more of an observer than a participant.
In the reality shaped by the Trump administration, Israel is becoming just another country with which the United States has interests, losing the “special relationship” that defined the ties between the two countries.
Netanyahu is more interested in himself than the State of Israel, and he is applauding letters from Trump asking President Herzog to pardon him, but he is losing the special US relationship with Israel based on common values that the Republican Party no longer considers itself bound by.
This is unlike most of the Democratic Party (except for some “Squad” members) and its top presidential candidates, who are committed to the same value-based alliance that has characterized relations between the states until now, even if they are critical of the continued occupation and the settlements.
In the more distant future, in the post-Trump era, the situation will significantly deteriorate when the Republican Party is led by the current Vice President, Vance, who is very closely allied with the anti-Semitic Tucker Carlson.
To restore the special relationship, Israel needs to rid itself of Netanyahu’s (and his associate Ron Dermer’s) approach that prioritizes Republicans and return to liberal democratic values that will allow us to connect with the Democratic Party and with the original foundation of Zionism – the values of our Declaration of Independence.