I was on my way to meetings in Congress when my editor asked me to write about the state of the US-Israel relationship in the aftermath of the controversial judicial reform legislation, which weakened the ability of the Israeli Supreme Court to overrule government decisions it deems to be unreasonable.

Eyton Gilboa, an expert on US-Israel relations at The Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS), said, ”The fight over changing Israel’s justice system has caused enormous damage to relations with the United States. If Israel is not careful, it could get worse…. The government and the Knesset have not thoroughly discussed the negative implications of the overhaul on Israel’s foreign relations…. This issue does not seem to interest Levin, Rothman, and others in the Likud. But it should have been of great interest to Netanyahu.”

Living and working in America, speaking and meeting with members of Congress and their foreign policy aides, gives me a perspective on the state of the relationship, different from that of an Israeli. When I speak to Americans, especially Jewish Americans who are appalled at the government’s decision regarding reasonableness, I perceive anger at the radical messengers of change rather than the policy itself, of which most have, at best, a superficial understanding.

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