United States-Israeli Relations And Security In The Middle East, 2008-2015

ABSTRACT

The historical ties between the United States and Israel is a crucial factor in determining the

United States Middle East policy. The policy thrust of successive American leaders in the

Middle East has been to preserve the state of Israel and help it to maintain military and

economic advantage over her neighbors. However, the relationship between the present

American Administration and her Israel counterpart has been strained over disagreements on

the best strategy to adopt in confronting the challenges facing Israel in the region. Therefore,

this study explored the American-Israeli relations as it affects the overall security in the

Middle East between 2008 and 2015 in the context of the following questions: (1). Is the

strained relationship between United States and Israeli Governments the cause of the

instability in the Middle East? (2). Is the Obama administration’s Middle East policy

undermining the security of Israel? The data from this study was collected largely from

secondary sources. Qualitative/descriptive method of data analysis was used. The paper

argued that the myriad of crisis that engulfed the Middle East from 2008-2015 can be

attributed to the strained relationship between the United States and Israel. The study

recommended that parliament in both countries should work closely to resolve areas of

differences between the two countries in the overall interest of Israel in particular and

Middle East in general.