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Analysis Relations between Israel and the United States are at their most tense in decades

Relations between Israel and the United States are going through their most tense moment in decades: after a year of conflict in Gaza, which a part of the American electorate opposes, Washington watches with increasing concern as its main How is the ally? Tensions have escalated toward direct confrontation with Iran a month before presidential elections.

When the Islamic group Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostage in Israel on October 7, 2023, US President Joe Biden’s biggest fear was that his country would have to defend Israel in a major regional war. Will be forced to. 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 were killed, he was dealing with the war in Ukraine and his Strategic priority was to focus on competing with China

Analyst Barbara Slavin, an expert on the Middle East, believes that the biggest mistake of the Biden government is the lack of determination to “force” Israel into a ceasefire, something that could have been achieved, for example, by weapons. With the condition of sending. During the war in Gaza, the United States has sent several arms packages to Israel, including the latest $20 billion package announced in August. However, on one occasion in May, it stopped the shipping of 3,500 bombs, concerned about their possible use in densely populated areas in Gaza.

The 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 are facing 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 sponsored the Abraham Accords from the White House, which allowed Israel to reconcile with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.

The winner of these future elections will inherit a relationship with Israel that is undergoing 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, an expert in the region, points out that despite the ups and downs of bilateral relations, the United States will always support Israel, especially against the common enemy, Iran. “The relationship between the US and Israel is institutional and part of the fabric of both countries,” Ibish says. (efe)