The geopolitical environment in which Israel is fated to live is a cauldron of boiling chaos, but Israeli officials are not reassured that the United States will have their backs covered in coming regional crises. The Israelis see the Obama administration’s “pivot to Asia” as a mere cover story for abandoning them to the Middle East’s tough security environment. Defense Minister Ya’alon even went as far as to publicly assess that President Obama’s “image in the world is feebleness.”[5] The Israelis see the United States creating political-military security vacuums in the region that are beginning to be filled by major outside powers. Russia is doing this by doggedly defending the Syrian regime with adroit diplomacy and by forging new security ties with Egypt; China is doing so by upping its military cooperation with Saudi Arabia.[6] In short, as the Israelis see regional tensions and violence multiplying and intensifying all around them, they see their American counterparts running for the door.

 

Richard L. Russell is the author of Sharpening Strategic Intelligence: Why the CIA Gets It Wrong and What Needs to Be Done to Get It Right (Cambridge University Press).