The American-Israeli Relationship: Between Crisis and Common Cause

With elections in America and Israel and new governments emerging in both countries in 2009, changes in tone and substance in the bilateral relationship over the last year could have been expected. President Obama’s agenda of change, a critical factor in his election campaign, struck a resonant chord within America but touched foreign policy issues in different ways. There were strong elements of continuity to be found regarding Iraq and the surge policy finally adopted in Afghanistan, as well as other issues on the foreign policy agenda.