US needs to ‘reconsider’ ties as Israel no longer serves its interests: Ex-US official
A senior former US national security official believes Washington needs to re-evaluate its relations with Israel as American support for the occupying regime no longer serves strategic US interests.
In a new book titled, “Grand Delusion: The Rise and Fall of American Ambition in the Middle East,” Steven Simon, former National Security Council senior director for the Middle East and North Africa, argues that the administration of US President Joe Biden needs to “reconsider” its relationship with Tel Aviv.
Simon resembles the current status of the US-Israel relationship to “empty-nest syndrome,” suggesting that the US finds it difficult to let go of its long-standing support for Israel.
Underlining the US reluctance to press the reset button regarding its ties with Israel, Simon says, “It’s empty-nest syndrome. The chicks fly the coop, they hang out with the wrong people… if you’re a parent, that’s really vexing and it’s hard to learn to let go.”
The former security official argues that the US policy in the West Asia region has remained largely unchanged across different administrations and “needs to be reconsidered.”
Simon also says the division between Washington and Tel Aviv over the so-called judicial overhaul and the rise of an extremist far-right cabinet in Israel has reinforced the view that relations between the two sides are at a “tipping point.”
Stressing that the US has gradually lost influence over the past decades, he says, “What we’re looking at now goes back to the 1930s at least. Now the chickens are coming home to roost in a fairly big way.”
Simon argues in his new book that the US should focus on its domestic concerns while redefining its stance in West Asia.
Pointing to future Washington-Tel Aviv relations, Simon predicts a growing divide between Israel and the Democratic Party in the US, saying Israel would lose the bipartisan support it has enjoyed over the years.
Ties between the two long-time allies seem to have gone into a nosedive since the hardline coalition cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office in the occupied territories last year.
Washington has recently expressed unease with several of Tel Aviv’s policies, including its plan to radically overhaul the regime’s judicial system and expand illegal settlements across the occupied territories.
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