For many years, I explained wherever I could the importance of the hallowed principle of bipartisanship, which has been a cornerstone of Israel’s relations with the US for many years. I consistently said that turning our backs on Democrats is a mistake that will hurt Israel’s interests, and insisted that President Donald Trump is unpredictable.
Alas, I have no joy at having been proved right, only sorrow that my country made a huge mistake, as well as hope that it is not too late to repair the damage. How? By treating both sides of the American partisan divide equally and never displaying a preference for any candidate, to any office, from either party.
The American political system
Many Israelis are unaware of two characteristics of the American political system. First, unlike parliamentary democracies such as Israel and Britain, where the government is chosen from within the legislature and so the majority of legislators automatically support the executive, America has a different system.
Elections to both houses of Congress are separate from elections for president and are held regionally. It is in regions, and not in some central political structure or in the environs of the party boss, that the candidate must persuade of being worthy. Second, every law, including the allocation of money, requires agreement between both Houses of Congress. Only then is a joint version brought to the president for approval.
The informed reader will comment that the three players whose agreement is required – the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives – are in Republican hands. However, in the past 50 years, that has been the situation less than a third of the time.
Moreover, during that half-century, Republican presidents ruled for more years, while there were more years with Democratic majorities in both Houses. Thus, power was more or less equally divided.
Even if at a particular time the division of power is not balanced, as the situation is now, it is likely to change in the 2026 elections. Therefore, it is self-evident why a country like Israel, which depends on the military, financial, and diplomatic support of another country, cannot turn its back on half the decision-makers in the benefactor state.
Changes under Netanyahu
Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who should know better, this principle dissipated. One glaring example was the 2012 visit of Mitt Romney, who ran against president Barack Obama.
Shortly after Obama began negotiating an upgraded security agreement with Israel, Romney enjoyed an unprecedented welcome in Israel, which was viewed as an attempt to influence the elections. Obama was elected to a second term, the 10-year agreement was signed in 2016, and we can but hope that when it is up for renewal in 2026, Trump will not disappoint.
There is no need to describe the attitude toward president Joe Biden, who joined the Senate in 1975 and for decades consistently proved himself to be a steady and efficient supporter of Israel.
Can anyone imagine that Biden, or Kamala Harris, who replaced him as the Democratic candidate, would reach an agreement with the Houthis that would allow continued missile attacks on Israel? Would they change the approach to Iran without consulting Israel, at least informing us? After placing our bets on the Republicans, visibly favoring Trump, to whom will we turn to help us balance the administration’s policies?
True, recently within the Democratic Party, there has been troubling criticism of Israel which was inconceivable before, despite most American Jews being Democrats. At the same time, there are antisemitic elements within the Republican Party, and the party shows isolationist tendencies.
Under Trump, America has taken steps to limit its involvement in the world and opened the door to its rivals, notably China and Russia. History will judge which of these intra-party phenomena threatens Israel more.
Until then, in these days of painful disillusionment from other conceptions that have proven false, such as “Hamas is deterred,” Israel must stop preferring Republicans while scorning Democrats, and should return to its traditional fostering of bipartisan support.
The writer was Israel’s first ambassador to the Baltic states after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, ambassador to South Africa, and congressional liaison officer at the embassy in Washington. She is a graduate of Israel’s National Defense College.