Opinion | Is the U.S.-Israel Alliance Still Strategic?

The other argument you’ll hear is that Israel is an American ally. Israel is an important strategic partner in the region and in intelligence and cooperation and other things. And so there is an American strategic interest, more of a realist take than a values-based take in maintaining a tight alliance. Do you buy that? I mean, are we benefiting from our relationship to the Middle East right now? What’s happening? Are we benefiting from this relationship? I mean, yes, I hear this argument a lot. It’s almost, it’s like a holy writ in Washington. I do question it. Yes, it’s good to have allies. It’s good to have democratic allies. I think the United States should work with allies to defend their legitimate security interests. I think what Israel has been doing is not remotely legitimate. And when I hear people bring up: Oh, we have this cooperation on technology, on tech. And my answer is: Well, for what? Obviously this is very, very good for Israel. This alliance has been very, very good for Israel. But when I look at the costs and benefits, both strategically, ethically, morally, politically, diplomatically to the U.S.-Israel relationship, I don’t think it works out in the U.S.’s favor.