The confrontation between the United States and Iran surrounding the Strait of Hormuz has entered a more dangerous phase than before. The American move, which initially focused on targeting maritime and military infrastructure in the area of Bandar Abbas and applying concentrated pressure on Tehran, has expanded following the Iranian response against vessels, U.S. military bases, and the Gulf states. Washington seeks to combine cumulative military pressure with maintaining an open diplomatic channel; to deny Iran the ability to turn...
The U.S. House of Representatives voted yesterday to reject an amendment that would immediately end $3.3 billion in promised annual foreign military funding to Israel. Approximately half of the Democratic Party—a plurality of the party’s members—voted in favor of the measure. Although the proposal to end the aid failed due to opposition from the Republican Party and the other half of the Democrats, the significant share of members who supported it reflects the deep rift in the Democratic Party’s relationship with Israel. This...
The current U.S. administration is advancing a major deal, valued at over $700 million, to sell F110 engines to Turkey for its KAAN aircraft project. Despite the administration’s attempts to bypass congressional barriers, this move is not an isolated event; rather, it is a strategic accelerator intended to pave the way for Ankara’s full return to the F-35 program. While Washington’s rationale seeks to preserve Turkey as an anchor within NATO, in practice, it creates a serious dilemma and presents a weighty,...
The Democratic Party’s 2026 congressional primaries have become a major contest between its mainstream and progressive wings, with U.S. policy toward Israel and the role of AIPAC emerging as defining fault lines. Progressives — buoyed by high-profile upsets in New York, New Jersey, California, and Colorado — have made opposition to the U.S.-Israel alliance a de- facto litmus test. Their victories are concentrated in deep-blue districts and the higher-stakes question is whether their anti-Israel positioning proves to be an asset...
In 2026, Israel is militarily stronger than it was in 2023. Yet despite its military achievements, as well as its economic resilience and the endurance demonstrated by the home front in the face of security threats, it finds itself at one of the lowest strategic points in its history. Israel is caught in what can be described as a “strategic limbo” — a prolonged state of stagnation in which impressive tactical military achievements, along with unprecedented military cooperation with the United States, are not translated into a...
Until now, American support for Israel has often been understood through a party lens: Democrats were becoming more critical, while Republicans remained reliably supportive. That framework is no longer sufficient. Older pro-Israel assumptions are weakening not only among Democrats, but also within parts of the Republican coalition. Views of Israel are increasingly shaped by religion, generation, nationalism, and competing ideas about America’s role in the world. Israel therefore needs a more segmented approach to American Christians...
The Israeli strike in Beirut following Hezbollah’s rocket fire on northern Israel, and the subsequent round of exchanges between Israel and Iran, illustrate both the complexity of the American effort to curb escalation and Israel’s challenge of separating the Lebanese arena from Iran. The Trump administration sought to advance a renewed agreement between Israel and Lebanon, strengthen the Lebanese government, restrict Hezbollah’s freedom of action, and preserve maneuver space regarding Tehran. However, it failed to prevent an...
Israel’s international standing has suffered severe damage in the wake of the Gaza war. This decline is evident across most areas of national life—the economy, academia, culture, the security of Jewish communities in the diaspora, and most essentially – the basic legitimacy of the State of Israel and its right to defend itself. Attempts to isolate Israel are not new. They are rooted in disagreements over the appropriate resolution of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, ideological opposition to Israel’s existence, and internal...
The visit of United States President Donald Trump to Beijing took place against the backdrop of intensifying great-power competition and the war in Iran. Trump sought to present concrete diplomatic and economic achievements and to demonstrate that the United States continues to manage its competition with China from a position of initiative. For its part, Beijing aimed to stabilize relations with Washington and shape a framework that would reflect recognition of its status as an equal great power, while setting clear boundaries...
The Jewish community of the United States is a valuable national security asset of the State of Israel. Over the years, including during the Gaza war, American Jews have helped to secure essential diplomatic and military support for Israel in the United States and have raised much-needed funds for Israeli civil society and nonprofit organizations. The capacity of American Jews to provide such support in the future, however, is called into question by a range of developments, including a weakening of American Jewish communal...
Introduction
Donald Trump’s return to the U.S. presidency has consolidated a shift in American foreign policy toward unilateralism, economic coercion, and transactional diplomacy. At the core of Trump’s “America First” policy is the belief that the international order long led by the United States has been turned against it, driven by deindustrialization and the disruptive effects of globalization. Instead, Trump seeks to restore American economic primacy, which he views as having been exploited by economic rivals such as China,...
Israel’s dire standing in the United States is evident in polls showing negative attitudes among key constituencies, including younger Republicans, Evangelical Christians, and Democrats of all ages. The mounting hostility toward Israel is compounded by increasingly critical media coverage, particularly of Israel’s role in the war in Iran, moves in the US Congress to condition aid to Israel, and growing scrutiny of the pro-Israel lobby’s activities. If current trends continue—driven in part by Israel’s actions and policies, alongside...
