Watch this episode without interruptions.
Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
As we approach the US’s 250 birthday, presidential historian Gil Troy states that the US-Israel relationship has been facing strains from all sides.
According to Troy, the relationship between the two states had entered “maybe a low, but… not a rupture,” arguing that crises between Israeli and American leaders have been a recurring feature of the alliance. "There hasn’t been one president who didn’t get frustrated with Israel at one moment or another,” said the presidential historian, arguing that the intensity of these disputes often reflected the depth of the relationship, not its collapse.
However, the past two weeks, he suggested, have been “terrible” for the relationship, pointing to criticism from figures on the Republican right including J.D. Vance and Tucker Carlson, while also warning about anti-Israel sentiment from Democratic candidates and elected officials. “What’s terrifying about this moment is that we never had, in both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, such hard anti-Zionists,” Troy said, distinguishing soft anti-Zionism, which he posits is conditional and can be reversed, and hard antisemitism, which comes from figures such as Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. He added that social media has allowed those voices to dominate public discussion.
Troy discussed recent developments surrounding Iran, saying Israel and the US had demonstrated major cooperative capabilities. Regarding diplomatic relations between Washington and Tehran, Troy highlighted that events were still unfolding and cautioned against definitive conclusions. “Anyone who tells me assuredly A, we won, or B, we lost, is in la-la land pushing an agenda,” he added.
Meanwhile, in what touches the structure of US support for Israel, the presidential historian said that Israel needed a better vocabulary to explain its value to Americans. He described Israel as a “DIY and ROI ally.”
DIY in that it, for the most part, fights its own wars, and ROI in that it provides a return on American investment, which goes back into American pockets. Troy also linked anti-Zionism to broader anti-American sentiment, saying that anti-Zionism draws from several strands of hostility to America. He described antisemitism as “a thought disease” and “a warning sign for every society in crisis.” Troy also discussed his two new projects connected to America’s 250th anniversary: The Essential Guide to the US-Israel Partnership, produced through the Jewish People Policy Institute, and 250 Reasons to Thank America, an e-book written with David Suissa of the Jewish Journal. Democracies, he said, “run on hope.”
“When we have despair, when we throw up our hands, we’re not willing to roll up our sleeves.” This is his mission with his 250 reasons to Thank America project, which he said he would like to distribute to every school-aged child in the US.