گروه های متنفذ

Despite numerous and frequent ups and downs in the U.S.–Israeli relations during the past six decades, the U.S. has remained as the main ally and supporter of Israel throughout this long period. It can be argued that the relations between the two countries have continued so closely and intimately that their mutual interests have manifested themselves in the form of a “special relationship.” All the U.S. presidents since 1948, both republican and democrat, inclusive of President Barack Obama, have undertaken comprehensive commitments towards Israel's security, turning Israel into a strategic asset for the U.S. and giving their strategic relations almost a permanent character. While it is generally argued that powerful Jewish lobby in the U.S. has played a critical role in this regard, the importance of mutual interests, common values and attitudes, similarity in governance structures, institutions, and mechanisms, similar outlooks to foreign and domestic issues and policies, as well as Israel's peculiar nuclear policy, can hardly be underestimated. This article, while studying the special relationship between the U.S. and Israel in the past, tries to analyze the Middle East policy of the Obama administration in light of this special relationship and assess its impact on the future relations between the two countries.