Israel-United States Alliance - Kevin Conne

                                        Israel-United States Alliance

A major alliance for United States in the Middle East is the alliance between the United States and Israel.  This alliance seems to be even closer with the election in the United States of Donald Trump and the takeover of Congress in the 2016 election season. However, news has surfaced that the prime minister of Israel is facing legal trouble of his own in terms of corruption and bribery. The likelihood that he will face some sort of impeachment is rather unlikely due to a multitude of reasons. The fact that he has been in power for a very long period of time and particularly in Israel is known for being somewhat of a hard line ruler. Specifically, in the past, he has shown opposition to the peace process between the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. For all of these reasons, it is quite likely that Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has more or less held the position since 1996 could likely not be reelected.  If this would happen, it would provide not only a more moderate ally for United States in Israel, but also a new hope for Palestinian-Israeli peace.

If a new prime minister of Israel is elected, this would open the door for new era of political diplomacy in the United States and Israel alliance. With Israel's not only historical close ties to the United States, but also its geographical location, they can provide the United States an extremely important ally in an otherwise hostile portion of the globe. It is because of this that I feel the United States needs to keep a particularly close watch on the situation in Israel and specifically the election. If Benjamin Netanyahu is not reelected, then the United States needs to seize the opportunity to create an even closer ally with the new prime minister. I feel that since the previous regime would have been in power for almost 20 years, the United States could easily overlook the importance of keeping a strong alliance with any Israeli administration. While there might be some destabilization in the Middle East as a result of this type of transition, it could also provide the United States and the Middle East as a whole, the ability for some stabilization, as well as provide some peace in an otherwise hostile corner of the world.

If Netanyahu loses power in Israel, this could provide a key opening for a more moderate Israeli leader to emerge. This could open the door to widespread reform in Israel on a broad range of issues. Netanyahu's hard line stance on many things, including the settlements in Gaza, Israeli-Palestinian peace and a potential two state solution. Any flexibility on any of these issues by the new prime minister of Israel could promote peace and stability in an otherwise quite corrupt and violent portion of the world. As promising as an Israeli Prime Minister who would be in favor of reforming might be, the United States must not meddle or take any action to sway the election.  It would certainly discredit and threaten our alliance if the Israeli government felt like we meddled in their election. We can however be fully ready and willing to work with a new regime that could help promote reform, once the election is over. After all, the United States knows all too well what it's like to have a foreign government influence the elections of your highest office.

            Israel once played an important role for the United States and the Middle East because it was a key ally with unbelievable intelligence of the region. Their ability and willingness to share the intelligence with the United States proved invaluable to not only the United States’ national security but also to the security of the world as a whole. Netanyahu historically seemed to have a very tense relationship with certain American presidents. While most American and Israeli intelligence officers would agree that this did not interfere with Israel's intelligence sharing towards the United States, it did inevitably create a rift between the two countries. Now the United States and Israel seem to have similar hard line leaders that do seem to get along. However, they do leave some wondering if these leaders are truly looking out for the best interests of their nation and the world as a whole, or if they are simply looking at how they can use the position to benefit themselves.