End the 'Special Relationship' Between America and Israel. It Led to the Atrocities in Gaza - U.S. News - Haaretz.com
There is no explicit agreement outlining just what makes the U.S.-Israel relationship different from all others. The two countries' leaders have long referred to, and relied on, its traditional strength and implied uniqueness while making political and strategic decisions.
The origins of the view that the U.S. and Israel had, and ought to have, especially close ties date back to the founding of Israel, with President Truman's recognition of the nascent state. The relationship properly coalesced in the 1960s under the Kennedy administration, when U.S. support began to be seen as essential to Israel's survival and Israel as an important Cold War ally for the U.S., based on shared values and largely congruent strategic objectives. Over time, the relationship was codified into free trade and defense agreements as the U.S. designated Israel as a major non-NATO ally and supported it with massive military aid.
But this "special relationship" is no longer in the interest of either country. What is more, it is a concept that has led to unspeakable suffering and harm in Gaza, the West Bank and beyond, and it is time to put an end to it.
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What made the ties between Israel and the U.S. really "special" were their more unspoken, or intangible, characteristics, most importantly that Israel and the United States would be willing to go to great lengths to have each other's back.
This meant more than merely defending one another against military attack or assuming that the adversaries of one of the nations was automatically the adversary of the other. It also meant, for example, that the U.S. was reluctant to criticize Israel when it took actions in violation of international law or that inflamed the international community. During past Israeli incursions into Gaza or neighboring countries, the U.S. would give Israel a grace period to achieve its objectives, even if its tactics were excessive, illegal or odious to the world at large.
The "do what you must but get it over with quickly" factor was the really unusual element of the agreement, coordinated with America's repeated willingness to use its clout in the UN and other multilateral institutions to veto or block initiatives that targeted Israel, or brought it to account.
President Donald Trump meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, alongside CIA Director John Ratcliffe, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Sara Netanyahu, Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer on July 7, 2025Credit: Alex Brandon,AP
Alongside the slack that the U.S. cut Israel, framed as acting in America's national interest, the idea of shared values and deep cultural ties added a strength and even a luster to the relationship. Israel was "the only democracy in the Middle East." The U.S. Jewish population was almost as big as Israel's, together home to more than four out of five of the world's Jews. Israel's historical ties to the origins of Christianity and to Muslim holy sites also helped foster the element of "specialness."
While many cultural ties remain strong and while the affinity between many Americans and many Israelis remain undeniable, so much has changed in recent years that it should lead to a serious reassessment of the relationship.
Israel is no longer the fledgling nation that it was. The Cold War is over. The U.S. has thought better of making the 'war on terror' the central organizing principle of its national security policy. Other stable friends and partners have emerged as key to Middle East stability.
A tank and an Israeli APC enter Israel from Gaza, July 28, 2025Credit: Amir Cohen/ REUTERS
No longer the David of the region seeking to protect itself against neighboring Goliaths, Israel is widely acknowledged to be the most powerful country in its neighborhood…and is seen by many as a bully and a destabilizing force. Sharply declining support for Israel within the U.S., particularly among generations now coming to political power, reflect this new reality.
At least as importantly, the two countries have diverged on crucial issues of values. While Israel was never fully a democracy for Arabs living within the occupied territories, laws passed during the Netanyahu administration have further undercut Israel's pretense of being a democracy, from its attack on the rule of law and the judiciary to the relegation of Palestinian citizens to second-class status.
Further, the serial abuses of human rights in the West Bank and systematic seizures of Palestinian land are in clear violation of international law and any reasonable standard of human decency.
And all that is before we get to the horror of the current war in Gaza.
Palestinian children sit near cooking pots of food from a charity kitchen in Gaza City, July 25, 2025Credit: Dawoud Abu Alkas/ REUTERS
While U.S. support for Israel in the wake of the brutal Hamas terrorist attack and hostage-taking on October 7, 2023 was natural and fully justifiable, it is undeniable that the norms and nature of the so-called "special relationship" have contributed to the serial Israeli atrocities that have followed.
There is little doubt that had the Netanyahu government not expected and received the public and material support given by both the Biden and Trump administrations, it would not have conducted the sweeping, brutal and sustained campaign against the people of Gaza over the past nearly two years. Had the U.S. under either administration responded to the slaughter and the monstrous treatment of the Palestinians in ways consistent with our national interests, international law, the way we treat virtually all other countries or our own espoused values, we would in fact, have actively worked to stop Israel.
Tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the Japanese neighborhood of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, July 28, 2025Credit: AFP/-
As a consequence, both nations' reputations have been irreparably damaged. But those costs are vastly transcended by the human consequences of the genocide launched and conducted by the Netanyahu government, supported by U.S. weapons, financial assistance and diplomatic cover.
The "special relationship" is now a public conspiracy to commit war crimes.
It is a stain that can never be washed away. Every day, it is exacerbated by the premeditated use of starvation as a weapon against the people of Gaza, and by U.S. defenses of further potential crimes against humanity, such as the threatened Israeli ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
It is unlikely that the Trump administration will reverse its blind, reflexive support of the Netanyahu government's abuses. That only creates a more compelling case for the next U.S. administration to undertake a wholesale reevaluation of America's relationship with Israel.
Like other relationships, it should be conditioned going forward on whether Israel's actions advance U.S. interests and are consistent with international law. U.S. aid and support must be contingent on this compliance. The U.S. must be willing to use all the tools available to it to stop Israel from committing further war crimes or undermining regional peace and stability. Should it be contingent on whether Israel supports a two-state solution and works to advance full statehood for the Palestinian people? In my view, based on the preceding criteria, the answer is yes.
Activists hold portraits of Israeli hostages held in Gaza by Hamas during a protest calling for their release and an end to the war outside the U.S. embassy branch office in Tel Aviv this monthCredit: AFP/MENAHEM KAHANA
Similarly, Israelis need to realize that they do not benefit from the blind support of the government of the United States, that it provides license to vicious extremists within Israeli politics and society to take actions that are neither in Israel's interests nor consistent with Jewish values.
If only leaders in Washington had summoned the courage and decency to stop supporting Netanyahu, to halt all aid to Israel and to work harder to stop the carnage, not only would tens of thousands of innocent lives have been spared, but Israel might have repivoted towards democracy and would not have to endure the decades ahead as an international pariah, which is now its inevitable, and fully-deserved, fate.
David Rothkopf is a former senior U.S. government official and the author of ten books on foreign policy and politics. He is also a podcast host and CEO of The DSR Podcast Network and author of the 'Need to Know' substack. X: @djrothkopf