These discoveries are the result of a historic collaboration between the American and Israeli private sectors, which has radically changed the global position of the Israeli energy market. Israel went from being a state struggling to meet its energy needs by importing oil and other energy sources, to a country with enormous energy output that exponentially exceeds its needs.

The completion of the development of the Tamar gas field in 2013 ushered in the natural gas revolution in Israel. It was during this year that widespread use of natural gas became a part of the electricity generation process, and large and medium-sized industrial plants began to consume local, cheap and clean natural gas instead of costly and polluting petroleum distillates.

This breakthrough enabled Israel to wean itself from historical dependence on energy imports, and it is doubtful whether it could have become a reality if not for Israel's collaboration with the American private sector.

The results of the revolution were not long in coming: According to data from the Energy Ministry, since natural gas production began at Tamar, it has saved the economy a staggering 46 billion shekels ($13 billion) in energy costs alone. This has translated into a steady reduction in the price of electricity, and if not for the use of natural gas, the price of household electricity today would be dozens of percents higher.

This has also had a tremendous environmental impact. Sulfur oxides emissions in Israel have diminished by 62% and nitrogen oxides emissions decreased by 50%. The widespread health implications aside, the reduction in pollutant emissions also has considerable economic significance, translating into a saving of some NIS 14 billion ($4 billion) in air pollution damage-related costs in Israel.

In the three years that have passed since the natural gas framework regulating the production outputs and development of Tamar, Leviathan, Tanin and Karish fields, Israel's natural gas market has experienced an unprecedented momentum: Leviathan is on the brink of commercial production, the development of Tanin and Karish is well underway, and for the first time ever, exploration missions are taking place in Israel's economic waters.

Today, the gas exploration and production sector in Israel is international in nature and is based mainly on private Israeli, Greek and American companies.
No more coal

Toward the end of 2019, when production in Leviathan goes online, the Israeli economy will have at its disposal two independent production line with a maximum annual supply of 23 BCM – more than double the current production capacity. In 2021, when the Tanin and Karish offshore fields go online, maximum production capacity will reach 30 BCM per year.

The significance is clear: through these three separate gas supply systems, the Israeli economy will enter a new era characterized by a multitude of natural gas suppliers capable of producing energy from Israeli sources in excess of the country's energy needs. Theoretically, this means Israel would be able to cease all energy imports. Instead of using polluting and expensive fuels such as coal and oil, it will be possible to use the cheap local source of clean natural gas.

Moving all energy consumers in Israel to natural gas is not feasible in a short period of time, as substantial changes of this nature cannot take place overnight, but it is possible to drastically accelerate the reducing the use of coal.

According to Energy Ministry data, in 2018 the use of polluting fuels for routine electricity generation – i.e., coal and some oil distillates – was 29%. The ministry projects that the use of these polluting fuels in 2019 will drop to 27%, and it further predicts that Israel will cease using coal between 2028 and 2030.

The regulatory measures taken so far to reduce the use of coal are certainly welcome, timely and courageous, but the parallel position, which supports maintaining a relatively slow pace of departing from coal, is based on the desire to avoid becoming dependent on a single source of energy supply. This concern, however, becomes obsolete given the future of the development of Israel's offshore gas fields.

The optimal policy should determine that the use of coal must be reduced to a minimum by the end of the year, and said use should be scaled back further until the use of coal completely halts by 2024 at the latest – prior to the Energy Ministry's official policy naming 2028-2030 at the timeframe. There is no doubt that such a decision will be the most economic and environmental for the Israeli economy.

Amir Foster is executive director of the Association of Oil and Gas Exploration Industries in Israel

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"At the time, I was no longer the ambassador," Oren tells Israel Hayom.

"I was serving as an MK, but I suggested, among other things, that the US and Israel prepare a document in which they would jointly define what would be considered a violation of the nuclear deal and agree ahead of time on how the US would respond to any violations. At the end of the list, I included a request for American recognition of the Golan Heights as sovereign Israeli territory. Netanyahu brought the matter up, but Obama laughed in his face," Oren says.

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Oren served as ambassador to the US for over four years, but his intimate knowledge of bilateral relations started long before that. He grew up in New Jersey in the 1960s, the son of a Conservative Jewish family who lived in a mostly Catholic neighborhood, where he racked up a few experiences with anti-Semitism.

"So I'm not upset about or wonder at what's happening today," he says.

He joined the Habonim Dror Zionist youth movement, which wound up changing the course of his life.

In 2012, when Oren finished his ambassadorial role, he told Israel Hayom: "When I was 15, we went to Washington with the movement, and the height of the visit was a meeting with Yitzhak Rabin, who had been IDF chief of staff in the Six-Day War and was at the time Israel's ambassador to the US. Rabin talked to us some, and I felt that it was the best moment of my life. I told myself that I wanted to represent Israel in Washington. That was my life's dream."

After Ron Dermer replaced him as ambassador in 2013, Oren continued to focus on US-Israel relations. He went on a speaking tour of the US to promote his new book, "Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East: 1776 to the Present."  The book came after a long series of studies and other published books, some of which were bestsellers in the US and Israel, and mainly focused on American history and as it relates to Israel.

Take advantage of the window of opportunity

So Oren, both as a historian and as one who has sometimes had a hand in history, has his own perspective.

"The Trump administration is the most friendly toward Israel since the state was founded. In this administration, there isn't a single official who is problematic for Israel. Even in good administrations such as the ones of [Bill] Clinton or [George W.] Bush, there were senior officials who made trouble. But with Trump, there's no Condoleezza Rice, there's no Caspar Weinberger, and there's no James Baker," he says.

Q: From a historian's point of view, how does the current period of US-Israel relations look?

"Bilateral relations have undergone a process of evolution over the years. President [Harry] Truman is remembered as a friendly president because he recognized Israel, but he actually boycotted us during the War of Independence when we had our backs to the sea. [Dwight D.] Eisenhower was very tough on us and his secretary of state, John Foster Douglas, was a real anti-Semite. President John F. Kennedy was very critical. He was the first who met with Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, but it wasn't at the White House, it was at a hotel in New York and the meeting was a difficult one.

"The big change came in the 1980s under [Ronald] Reagan, but at the beginning, he boycotted us too, because we blew up the [Osirak] reactor in Iraq. He stopped the shipments of F-16 jets and voted with Iraq against us in the UN Security Council. Today, who could imagine a scenario like that? Under Reagan, two principles that characterize [US-Israel] relations were formed: no surprises and no outward discrepancies. If we were shouting at each other, it had to be behind closed doors and not in the open. For example, when Bush Jr. published the road map [peace plan] in 2003, Arik Sharon had received it two weeks earlier. Obama was the one who violated these principles, but the current administration has reinstated them."

Q: Is this administration is the best Israel has ever had, what will a historian who looks at this period 50 or 100 years from now see?

"A lot depends on the question of how we take advantage of the opportunity and the time we have left. We don't know if the current president has another year and a half or five and a half years in office, but in any case, it's not long. We need to take advantage of this window of opportunity to address all the important issues, like Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, the Palestinians, and so forth."

Q: Practically speaking, do you suggest taking action against Hezbollah while Trump is still in office?

"We should consider it. Hezbollah has 130,000 missiles [stored] underneath homes in 200 villages. The IDF projects a rate of fire of 2,000-4,000 missiles per day, compared to 200 to 300 per day in the Second Lebanon War. So the IDF won't have a choice but to launch an operation, and in a war, we'll need ammunition. Would a Bernie Sanders or an Elizabeth Warren administration give us ammunition? A move like that would entail heavy civilian casualties and not only on the Lebanese side of the border. Who will give us diplomatic and legal protection? Who will give us a diplomatic Iron Dome in the UN Security Council and at the International Criminal Court in The Hague? The current administration certainly will."

The challenge of bipartisan support

When he was appointed as an ambassador to the US in 2009, Oren gave up his American citizenship. Until then, like most US Jews, his family had tended to support the Democratic Party, which in the 20th century supported Jews and their state more than the conservative Republican Party did. But in recent years, Oren has personally felt, as an individual and as an emissary, that the Democrats are distancing themselves from Israel, while the Republicans are embracing it.

"In May 2010, after the Mavi Marmara flotilla, I was summoned to a meeting with all of Obama's staff at the White House. They were exerting heavy pressure to establish an international investigative committee that would probe the incident. We opposed [this], suspecting that a committee would reach foregone conclusions. During the discussion, I asked Obama's advisers if they would be willing to defend us against possible sanctions at the ICC in The Hague. I showed them a law Congress had passed in 2003, which says that if anyone tried to put American soldiers on trial, or soldiers of an American ally, the US would take steps against the nations trying to do so. I showed them the law and they answered, 'Do you really want us to boycott Norway?' I said, 'Yes,' but they laughed at me. That's how it was with Obama. The current administration doesn't laugh, it boycotts."

Q: Can relations only deteriorate after this administration?

"I don't know. There are a lot of demographic processes that indicate that the Democrats will return to power, if not in 2020 then the next time. There are Democratic candidates who are very good for Israel, but there are also others [who are not]. I don't know if a Democratic president would maintain the same policy toward Iran, or if they would return to the nuclear deal Trump pulled out of. I also don't know if American recognition of the Golan would remain in place, or the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the relocation of the US embassy in Israel. Bernie Sanders, for example, would certainly return to the nuclear deal and undo the embassy move. He is one of the leading Democrats and there are other progressive leaders like him."

Q: Is Israel losing the important asset of bipartisan support?

"We haven't lost bipartisan support, but it is being challenged when it comes to the question of what issue is being discussed. If it's loss of life (among Arabs), you see the cracks. In the time of Obama, there were instances like that … after Operation Cast Lead in 2009 and Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012 or after the Marmara flotilla. When it comes to Iran, for example, we've lost bipartisan support because the Democrats aren't with us. On the other hand, on the two-state solution, there is bipartisan support, and even AIPAC is in favor of it – but the Israeli government is not. So bipartisan support is being challenged from all directions."

Q: Are these processes that Israel can influence?

"We can't solve all the problems, but we do need to set a strategic goal of maintaining support among the progressives. That is a top priority, even if our success is partial. We need to bring as many delegations as possible [to Israel] and send as many representatives as possible there. We need to show ourselves that we're doing everything possible to preserve bipartisan support and all sectors of the Jewish people. Thus far, we haven't."

Q: How should Israel prepare for an era in which the US has lost its standing in the world?

"I would always tell Bibi that we need to thank Obama. Because before Obama, we had 40 years in the 'nest.' Mommy America protected us. He came and threw us out of the nest. He forced us to stand on our own two feet. We always knew that the crisis would come, and as a result of it, the prime minister went to China, to India, and to Africa, and our diplomatic situation has never been better. Israel isn't a kid anymore, it's older than half the states in the UN. The US will remain an important ally, but we are strong and can stand on our own two feet."

Despite the bleak prospects about the attitude of the Democratic Party toward Israel, Oren wants to mention one moment during the Obama administration in which they did rush to Israel's aid.

"It was 6 p.m. in Washington, 1 a.m. in Israel. I was on my way to the White House for the annual Hanukkah party," he recalls.

In Israel, it was a time of mourning. Half a day earlier, 44 firefighters, prison guards, and police had been burned alive in the worst wildfire in Israel's history. Oren and the Jewish leadership were invited to the annual White House Hanukkah party.

"I went in and my phone rang. The prime minister was on the line and said, 'Michael, we have a problem. I need you to see what the US can do. We don't have the tools to get the fire under control and we need as much flame retardant and firefighting aircraft as possible, as quickly as possible.' I told him I would speak to the president."

When Obama was available, Oren explained the situation briefly and asked for America to do everything it could.

"Obama replied, 'Give Israel everything it asks for.' We opened an emergency room in the White House and we were there most of the night to handle the crisis. Representatives of the National Security Council and Homeland Security were there with us. A few hours later, eight American firefighting aircraft that had been scrambled from US bases in Europe landed in Israel, carrying cargoes of flame retardant."

"By the way, Obama himself took off that same night for a flash visit to Afghanistan. The first call he made when he landed was to see if Israel had gotten everything it asked for. That's how it is. Even with Obama, the picture is always complicated."

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With that race, in one fell swoop, Adams managed to put Israel on the map.

But above all, the hosting of the race gave new meaning to concepts that are usually discussed at length at various academic conferences on how to improve Israel's standing, concepts such as "Israel advocacy," "branding," and "the winning the hearts and minds."

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As far as Adams is concerned, Israel advocates are doing it all wrong. He believes people don't want to be told what to think; people lose you as soon as you start preaching to them.

"You know, 85% percent of the world doesn't really care about Israel, and isn't particularly political. So we have the extremists, who hate us; we have of course our followers, who love us; but as for the massive numbers of people in the middle, if we show off this normal Israel to them they would get a favorable impression of the country," Adams said in an interview with Israel Hayom.

Adams brought the Giro d'Italia to Israel in part because he is a cycling enthusiast himself; and he has even assembled the first professional cycling team in Israel, The Israel Cycling Academy, which recently won a race similar to the Giro in Hungary.

He believes that by showing Israel to the world through the lens of the Giro, and through other major spectacles, he can transform Israel's image abroad.

That is why he has been heavily involved in other major projects to showcase Israel around the world: He took part in funding Beresheet, the first Israeli spacecraft to the moon, and although it crashed, it still managed to reach the moon bearing an Israeli flag; he runs a special fellowship program to promote Israeli research; and just recently, he turned the Eurovision Song Contest, hosted in Israel this year, into an epic production.

He hopes that by engaging in these nonstop efforts he can brand Israel as a normal country and make people curious about it, and ultimately to disabuse them of the negative perceptions they have been fed by the media.

"I don't believe that hasbara [Israel advocacy] by itself is effective, it doesn't reach the massive majority of people who don't really care about us. In the case of the Giro, we reached almost a billion television viewers and sports fans and they got to see Israel for four days, including three days of helicopter footage showing the beauty of the country," Adams said.

Adams was an advocate for Israel for many years before he made aliyah in late 2015. He is a well-known figure in the business community and heads Iberville Developments, the real estate empire founded by his parents. He was appointed as CEO and president of the company more than 20 years ago, when he was just 35, and has run it with great success ever since.

His father, Marcel, was taken into a Nazi forced-labor camp in Romania during World War II but managed to escape in 1944 and reach British-controlled Palestine. After Israel declared statehood, he fought in the War of Independence and later moved to Canada.

It was there that Marcel met his future wife, Annie, who had also made a similar journey from Romania to then-British Mandate of Palestine and then finally to Canada (at one point, she was even held in a British internment camp in Cyprus).

The company Marcel and Annie founded owns and manages countless shopping centers, office buildings, and houses, but the real home for their son Sylvan has always been in Israel. Upon making aliyah he even had the title "Self-appointed ambassador-at-large for the State of Israel" printed on his business card.

Q: What does it mean being an ambassador-at-large for Israel? Does it include being an ambassador in your native country's capital, Ottawa?

"Of course. It means representing Israel, period. The reason I call myself an ambassador is because all of my projects relate to the promotion of Israel. When I made aliyah, I decided that the next chapter of my life would be devoted to the promotion of Israel, the promotion of what I call 'normal Israel,' the Israel that we experience as residents every day: the open, the tolerant, fiercely democratic, diverse, free, and – importantly – the safe country that Israel is, and to project that message on the world stage in a massive way with projects that reach massive numbers of people.

"The usual news about Israel is very monochromatic and frankly gives a very distorted picture of what the country is all about. It is not a true portrait if all you talk about is rockets in Gaza and things like that. People have this impression that Israel is not a safe country. I am referring to the regular folk that is not that tuned in and don't have a dog in the fight but if asked, they would have a slightly negative impression of Israel and certainly don't understand that it is a diverse country and a free and open and tolerant country. The Giro is a great example that proves the case. It lifts the morale of the entire country, it unifies us and brings us together … nobody wants to miss a party, we are the most enthusiastic and energetic people I have ever seen."

Q: Are you going to bring the Giro back to Israel?

"We brought it for the first time in 101 years; we managed to take it out of Europe for the first time and bring it to Israel. So what I like to say is that it won't take 101 years to bring it back."

Q: What is your next big project in Israel?

"What I'd like to do is set up a fund, an endowment, that would provide funding to bring these kinds of events [here] on a regular basis. I would like to have a fund that is proactive and out seeking major events to bring them to Israel. And I am certainly prepared to invest heavily myself in this fund. I think the government should invest with us, but I think it should be predominantly private funds that contribute to this because I think we need to stand up for our country and provide resources for our country. The Giro is proof of this concept, Eurovision is proof of this concept that shows Israel in a very positive way. We proved that we reached a massive majority who don't care about us, those who are not interested in lecturing. Of course, I am not suggesting that we shouldn't continue to argue for our rights and our righteousness, but I think that if we want to reach masses of people we have to do this a little differently, and hasbara will not work. We need to reach people in a non-lecturing, non-polemical way and show the reality of normal Israel, show it to people. My experience with first-time visitors to Israel is that they are almost universally impressed and surprised. They say, 'We didn't know this.'"

Q: You made aliyah in late 2015 and by September you will have already seen two Israeli elections. This makes you an official Israeli. What can you tell Israelis, as a Canadian, about how to take things in perspective, in light of Israel's ongoing political drama?

"Canada is also a parliamentary democracy, but Canada is a British parliamentary democracy. And Israel has gone to proportional representation, which is a much more democratic system. Israel has one of the most democratic systems in the world. There is a counterplay: The more democracy you have, the less order you have and the more chaos you have, because every vote counts, unlike in Canada, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau got a dominant majority for his party with only 39% of the vote. In Israel, Likud and Blue and White got about 27% each, and they have to go shopping for coalition parties. It's a very democratic system and the result of democracy is that you have a little bit more chaos. So it's interesting; we are living in interesting times."

Q: Do you miss the calm of Canadian politics?

"No country thinks it has calm politics. In Canada, although Trudeau has a constant majority, there is constant opposition and criticism, and every country faces political debates, which seems to be important to that specific country. And the only difference is that in Israel, we live in a much tougher neighborhood and the consequences are very serious. With all of that, Israel has a thriving economy, [which is] the envy of Canada, to tell you the truth. Where Canada will grow at 1% this year, Israel will grow at 3.5%, so Israel has caught up with all of the Western countries. Every place in the world has something to complain about; we are no different. In Israel, people complain about the weather. I never understood this. You know, every day is perfect, but no, Israelis say, 'It's too hot' in the summer, 'It's too cold' in the winter, 'We had rain today', 'We had wind.' And I don't know why the weather is even a subject of conversation in Israel. Come to Canada in February and tell me about the weather in Israel."

Q: So Canada and Israel share the same mission?

"I would say they share the same small country status. Because you know, Canada is at the end of the day a small country, a small player on the world stage. Israel is a much bigger player on the world stage, even though we are a small country. Because of the region that we live in and because of our history and because we are Jews, we make noise. We tend to make noise."

Q: A lot of people don't think of Canada's Jews as part of the general narrative of Israeli Zionism, unlike American Jews, who are at least recognized as having taken part in the Zionist movement's history. How would you change that?

"First of all, I think it's a wrong impression, in the sense that the Canadian Jewish community is much more traditional than the American [one]. We have much less issues with assimilation. Canadian Jews tend to be very Zionistic, and very traditional and family oriented. So I think we are a little more folksy and we certainly identify with Israel, and Canada is the fourth largest Jewish community in the world and very supportive of Israel. The US is 25% of the world's economy, and the US has a high proportion of Jews, relatively speaking. [About] 2% of the population is Jewish in the US. In Canada, it is about 1% of the population. It's a different dynamic."

Adams has a message for Israelis: Patience and the pursuit of victory are worth it. He believes Canada and Israel have been successful precisely because they had their share of failures and because they have long been considered underdogs. One of his goals is to make Israel an Olympic powerhouse, just like Canada.

"When we win medals, like every other country, we are very very proud. We [Israel] have won 9 cumulative medals … I have made a declaration that I would like us to win nine medals in a single Olympic game and this is something I am going to work on. In Canada, when we hosted the Montreal Olympics in 1976, we won zero medals. In the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010, we set the record for the number of gold medals ever won by a country. So it shows that it's possible to build it up if you deploy the resources in the right places. And I know that Israelis are winners. All we have to do is set up the right infrastructure and the right structures and offer the right opportunities to our athletes and we can score on the world stage, and it will accomplish my two goals: to show Israelis in the most positive light on the world stage, which brings us better feeling from the outside; and of course to engender national pride from within Israel and to unify the country."

Q: What is the single most important piece of advice you would offer Israelis, having lived in both continents? Should Israelis be optimistic?

"In fact, I experience this all the time. Israelis, when they hear me talk and say all these wonderful things about Israel, they say, 'Sylvan, I love to be around you, you are so positive.' And here is what I found about Israelis: They don't realize that we have the same problems as any modern prosperous Western nation. We have the same problems of politics, of unaffordable housing, of trying to improve the economy; all of these things happen in every single country. But sometimes, Israelis, they actually believe these problems only exist in Israel, and they are hypercritical of everything. I would say: Step back, look at how far we have come in 71 short years."

Adams took an active role in the Israel Hayom Forum for US-Israel Relations held on June 27, in Jerusalem, along with senior Israeli and American figures, with the keynote speaker being former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. He says the current US administration should be admired for what it has done for the Jewish state.

"President Donald Trump has been a blessing for Israel. He is the only president who has delivered on America's commitments to Israel: moving the embassy and proclaiming Jerusalem as the capital. The US is Israel's most important ally, it's the most important power in the world. It is 25% of the world's economy. It is the world's moral power and policeman which ensures that wrongs and abuses don't take place. As for Nikki Haley, we couldn't have a better spokesperson, I am only sorry that she left her post early but I am sure she will have a long career in politics and we can have no better friend than the US [when it is] led by people like her. I want to thank her for her strong moral support and for using the language of morality, and being faithful to history. We didn't just show up in 1948 and history didn't start in 1967. We have a 3,000-year connection to this land."

Adams also has praise for the Adelson family, which is the primary shareholder of the company that owns Israel Hayom.

"I want to congratulate and commend [Israel Hayom publisher] Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson, because they are also doing fantastic work, including setting up the forum and bringing Haley, and course Taglit-Birthright [a program that brings Jewish youth from around the world on 10-day tours of Israel]. The Adelsons support that program so beautifully, I believe they are the largest donors and this does tremendous good work. I really commend the leadership of Miriam and Sheldon Adelson and all of the good work that they are doing."

Q: Pierre Trudeau, the father of the current prime minister, Justin Trudeau, was known as a maverick. Do you think his son will show the same bravery by moving the embassy to Jerusalem?

"I am not sure that Trudeau will be brave enough to do it for a very simple reason: demographics. There are more Muslim voters by far in Canada; Canada is a country of immigration, it accepts more immigrants per capita than any country in the world, accepting almost 1% of its population every year, so I believe it is a question of appealing to different constituencies. Trudeau is currently afraid to rock the boat … but I think in the long term all countries will move their embassies and the reality of Israel's capital being in Jerusalem will ultimately prevail."

The post 'Israelis are winners' appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

During the meeting, he said the two countries have a "special relationship" similar to what America had with its ally the United Kingdom.

Never before had the White House described its partnership with Israel in such clear terms, as a country that shared the same set of values, a common heritage, and a similar seminal ethos. 

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But when Kennedy talked about the special relationship, he meant more than just values and ideology. 

By 1962, the relationship had grown closer because Kennedy saw Israel as a security asset that could help advance vital US interests in the Middle East. 

Just four months prior to his meeting with Meir, he decided to cross the Rubicon by allowing Israel to procure Hawk surface-to-air missiles.

This was the first time the US let Israel buy such advanced weapon systems, underscoring Kennedy's assessment that the special relationship was of strategic value, and not just a reflection of common values.  

August 1962 was a watershed moment that finally put an end to two separate tracks in the US-Israel relationship: the value-based track and the security-based track. 

The discord that often accompanied this bifurcated relationship began to wane by the late 1950s and ultimately disappeared when the two sides signed the Hawk deal. 

A mini America in the desert

The competing tracks were also very much present in the months prior to the state's founding as the Truman administration grappled with the question of whether to support the UN Partition Plan and whether it should recognize a Jewish state after the plan was approved. 

In this major intra-administration clash, there was President Harry Truman on one side and almost everyone else in his administration on the other side.

The opposition among US government agencies stemmed from a strategic assessment that expressed support for a new Jewish state would threaten core US interests in the region. 

Pentagon and State Department officials said any gesture that would be interpreted as supportive of Jewish independence or recognition of the new state would deal a major blow to America's standing in the Arab world.

With the Cold War clouding the skies of the Middle East, American bureaucrats saw Arab states as natural partners in the effort to check Soviet influence in this crucial part of the world. 

The idea was that a pro-Arab policy would help marshal support and ease the task of containing Moscow, as well as ensure an uninterrupted flow of cheap oil from the Middle East to Western Europe.

As a result, the bureaucrats adopted a more confrontational view toward the tiny Jewish population in Palestine and its statehood efforts. 

But they were countered by others in the administration who offered a different approach, who adopted the "special relationship" mantra, and who tirelessly courted the president, arguing that supporting the Jewish entity was in line with US values and with America's mission. 

This sentiment was shared by a cross-section of American society. 

Thus, even as officials in Washington tried to have the US adopt a policy based on narrow US interests and strategic paradigms, over at Main Street, a special relationship was in the making. 

Ordinary Americans believed there should be a special relationship with Israel because they saw the Jewish community in pre-state Israel as a small version of the American experiment, with a similar history and ideology. 

They were captivated by the state-in-the-making's pioneering spirit and its determination to fight for survival and meet any challenge, very much like America's determination to conquer new frontiers, move westwards and fulfill its manifest destiny despite the many challenges that lay ahead. 

A central theme of this yearning for a special relationship was the perception of the Zionist enterprise as an island of entrepreneurialism, progress, modernization and democracy in an authoritarian region that was stuck in the past. 

The ethos of the frontier, as well as the burning desire to tap the human potential and spread to the vast expanses in the West had a striking resemblance to the Zionist ethos of making the desert bloom. 

Moreover, the campaign to build a national home for a persecuted minority and resurrect Jewish statehood resonated with many Americans because it was a distilled version of their own national ethos and experience.

Americans saw the formation of the Israeli nation as a path that their own nation took; likewise, Israel's tale of a nation formed from the ingathering of the exiles could have just as well been America's own story, as far as many were concerned.

Of course, the deep religiosity of many Americans, and their love of the Old Testament and the Holy Land, was also a major factor in shaping this view. This affinity captured the imagination of many Christians in America, and especially evangelicals, who as early as the 19th century called for the US to help revive Jewish statehood in the Holy Land. 

The pastor of George Bush, a relative of the two presidents, the preachers Thomas De Witt Talmage and many others, including Anna and Horatio Spafford who established the American Colony in Jerusalem, campaigned tirelessly to revive Jewish independence in the land of Israel. 

Bumps in the road

The two approaches to Jewish statehood in the Truman administration came to a head on the eve of independence. 

Truman's close adviser Clark Clifford was the unofficial leader of the camp that advocated a special relationship. Although he was not Jewish, he sympathized with the struggle of the Jewish community in Palestine. 

He considered the establishment of a Jewish home to be a payment of an old historical debt to the Jews after the tragedy of the Holocaust and the ineffective efforts of the Truman-Roosevelt administration to help save the Jews. 

Clifford was also concerned that Truman's rival in the 1948 presidential election, New York Governor Thomas Dewey, would win because of his popularity with Jewish voters. 

Thus, the adviser concluded that a presidential decision to recognize Israel would help his boss in the race and get him the lion's share of the Jewish vote. Hence, the ideological and political considerations fused into one dimension and convinced Truman that he should side with those in his administration calling for immediate recognition. 

Despite being under heavy pressure to remain neutral, Truman made a quick decision and only 11 minutes passed between Israel declaring independence and America recognizing the Jewish state. That was a victory for those who advocated a special relationship, but it was a short-lived victory, because over the ensuing decade, what governed US policy toward Jerusalem was its national and strategic interests, not the values and ideology it shared with the Jewish state. 

Those in the administration who were sidelined during the debate over recognition of Israel, ultimately carried the day during the rest of the Truman presidency and into the 1950s and early 1960s. 

Their view, that the US should focus on creating an Arab coalition against the Soviets, ultimately prevailed. 

Thus, Israel found itself in the backseat and estranged from its ally, which was too focused on regional defense (culminating with the US forging of the Baghdad Pact with Arab nations). 

A stick with no carrot

During the first decade of the relationship, Israel was not viewed as a strategic partner. Moreover, President Dwight D. Eisenhower twice froze aid packages: in 1953, to pressure Israel to stop its construction of the national water carrier because it was in demilitarized land on the border with Syria; and in 1956, to force Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion to withdraw Israeli troops from Sinai after the Suez Crisis.

In both cases, Israeli allies in Congress, among the American people and in the Jewish community, could not stop these punitive steps and failed to win over with their arguments that Israel and the US should have a special relationship. 

As far as the White House was concerned, Israel had become a strategic liability. 

On top of that, these were the years when America was obsessed with countering communism, with Senator Joseph McCarthy's witch hunt and the House Un-American Activities Committee's endless efforts to expose communists.

In light of this climate, the Jewish community chose to scale back its efforts to create a special relationship, lest it trigger a backlash within the administration. 

Israel was left in the lurch, despite proving itself to be a de facto strategic asset when it provided the CIA with the transcript of Nikita Khrushchev's secret speech in 1956.

The dramatic turning point that finally convinced the Eisenhower administration that it should embrace Israel was the eruption of the turbulence in the region in 1958. 

The crisis, which saw Jordan almost fall into Moscow's orbit, was a seminal moment for US foreign policy because for the first time it cast Israel as a strategic asset that was willing to take risks to protect Western interests in the Middle East. 

At the height of the crisis, the US used Israeli airspace for three days after a revolution in Iraq. Eisenhower used the Israeli air corridor to help stabilize Iraq's neighbor Jordan, making sure the pro-American Hashemite family that ruled the kingdom would survive rather than be toppled like the Hashemite family in Iraq. 

Thus, thanks to Israel, the US supplied Jordan with strategic supplies and saved it from becoming a Soviet bastion. 

During that operation, Israel was the only country in the region that let Western planes pass through its airspace, and this was not lost on Eisenhower. 

It was also not lost on Moscow, which issued a strong rebuke against Israel. 

The crisis did not change actual policies and Israel did not get immediate rewards for helping the US, but the perceptual change was clearly felt in Washington. This transformation paved the way for the Kennedy administration's decision to sell Israel Hawk missiles, ending a longstanding taboo on selling arms to the Jewish state. 

The beginning of a beautiful friendship

Eisenhower continued to heed the advice of his pro-Arab advisers even after the 1958 crisis and refused to sell Israel Hawk missiles, but his attitude toward Ben-Gurion was much more positive due to the fact that Israel's stature in Washington had changed dramatically. 

A UN National Security Council memo from August 1958, two months after the operation, made it clear: "If we choose to combat radical Arab nationalism and to hold Persian Gulf oil by force if necessary, then a logical corollary would be to support Israel as the only pro-West power left in the Near East ."

Eisenhower also joined this assessment and in a discussion he held on this matter, he proposed making Israel the head of the spear in this new regional strategy, whose goal was to "decapitate the head of the [Egyptian] snake."

This perceptual shift in the relationship is what led four years later to the Hawk deal and to the sale of much more sophisticated weapon systems later on. 

The Hawk deal closed the gap between the two competing attitudes toward Israel and created a symbiosis between those who harbored a more value-based approach and those who saw Israel through the strategic lens only. 

From then on, it was impossible to go back to the dark days of the 1950s. 

With the help of public opinion 

Despite the strategic shift in relations and the considerable sway Israel's supporters had in Washington (including through lobbying groups), the two countries have had their share of crises.

In 1963, the "nuclear crisis" erupted after President Kennedy insisted that Israel allow inspectors access to the Dimona reactor.

Another crisis took place during Richard Nixon's presidency, when the administration tried to promote its regional peace plan based on an almost complete Israeli withdrawal from Sinai and the West Bank. 

Nixon's successor Gerald Ford also locked horns with the Israeli government and declared a potential "reassessment" in his policies toward Jerusalem because Israel refused to make more territorial concessions as part of its interim deal with Egypt. 

President George H.W. Bush also clashed with Israel, twice. In 1992, he refused to grant Israel loan guarantees because he wanted an Israeli settlement freeze in return. 

A year earlier, Bush and then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir had a feud over the peace process. 

President Barack Obama's presidency was also full of bilateral crises owing to his determination to move forward in the peace process and his accommodating approach to Iran and pro-Islamist movements in the region. 

But for all the crises and disagreements, the foundation of the relationship has remained rock solid because it has always been based on security interests and shared values. 

And all through the crises, never did America revert back to its hostile approach from the 1950s. 

Moreover, in many cases, it was Congress that has stood by Israel's side and made sure the president would not take punitive steps against Israel. 

This was the case after Ford threatened a reassessment and after President Jimmy Carter tried to impose a peace plan on Israel. 

The Golden Age

Even though in recent years support for Israel has eroded among liberals in the Democratic Party, support for Israel among the general public has remained steady. 

Moreover, the bold moves on the part of the Trump administration show that the two nations are now in a golden age in their relationship. 

The extraordinary personal bond between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is very much like the chemistry between Lyndon B. Johnson and Prime Minister Levi Eshkol in the 1960s. 

Thus, in light of this deep appreciation and empathy, it is safe to assume that the administration's much-anticipated peace plan will not create a major rift between the two sides. 

The Israel-US alliance has a promising and stable future.   

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"Good evening Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and Mrs. [Sara] Netanyahu, and President [Reuven] Rivlin. Good evening to my former colleague, the outstanding Ambassador Nikki Haley, and to my good friends, our wonderful US Ambassador David Friedman and his wife Tammy. Good evening to our dear Miriam and Sheldon Adelson. Good evening to all of the honored guests at this beautiful event in Jerusalem, the capital of our closest ally, the State of Israel.

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"My job has its challenges and frustrations. But it also provides many blessings. I have the opportunity to work with such incredible people. People who don't just want to make the world a better and safer place, but also people who have courage. People who have a clear vision for a safe and prosperous future.

"One of those people is President Donald J. Trump. He needs no introduction to this audience. No one in this room needs me to list the historic and bold and, most of all, courageous things President Trump has done for the State of Israel and the Jewish people. I have been honored to work for President Trump for more than 22 years, and throughout all those years, he has shown the same tremendous courage.

"Another of those people is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. You don't need me to tell you about the sacrifices he has made for the people and the State of Israel, and the courage he has shown in defending Israel.

"And of course, I count among those people Miriam and Sheldon [Adelson], tremendous givers of tzedakah [charity], performers of chesed [good deeds], always watching out for Israel, the Jewish people, and things near and dear to our hearts. Miriam and Sheldon – thank you for all you have done for the Jewish people and the State of Israel. You are true heroes.

"Over these past two and a half years, along with my colleagues on the US peace team – Jared Kushner and David Friedman, I have been on an incredible journey. We brought a fresh set of eyes and open ears. We watched, and listened, and studied, and learned, and we challenged what we thought we knew. Our teachers were many. They were government officials and diplomats – Israeli, Palestinian, Arab, and international. They were ordinary Israelis and Palestinians. They were people who suffered in this conflict. Christians, Muslims and Jews; religious and secular; children and adults. With them, we experienced many emotional and heart-wrenching moments. The Israel-Palestinian conflict has borne countless tragedies and much grief.

"We also saw so much promise and so much potential. We saw this among Israeli soldiers who tirelessly fight every day to defend the State of Israel, from the many, ever-evolving threats to the State of Israel. We saw it among Palestinians living under the brutal rule of Hamas in Gaza.

"We saw it among Palestinians who live in refugee camps, who have been used as pawns in a political game, and who should have been able to start new lives decades ago. We saw it among ordinary Israelis and Palestinians.

"Among many of them, we found the same values, hopes and a healthy and unsurprising degree of skepticism about the prospects for peace.

"On our journey, we also found much that was less encouraging. In some places, we found bitterness and cynicism.

"We found some holding on tight to old resentments, refusing to let them go.

"We found some who told themselves the same stories that they learned decades ago as children, over and over again, so many times, and so loudly, that they were unable or unwilling to listen.

"And among certain officials, we heard demands that are simply not achievable and that are unworkable.

"We met with optimists and pessimists, the curious and the naysayers. We met those willing to look forward and see what might be, and those who insisted on dwelling in the past.

"The optimists, the curious, and the courageous are willing to engage, to discuss, to see if a realistic solution to the conflict exists.

"The pessimists and the naysayers have a tougher time trying to envision something different.

"And then there is the third group – those with hate in their heart, who will never change. And they have no vision and they will remain in place.

"Over these past two-plus years, we have welcomed constructive criticism. Every serious person who understands this conflict knows there are very significant challenges to achieving a lasting and comprehensive peace.

"We have learned a great deal from those who have shared their rational doubts, their very real concerns, and their respectful questions. We have embraced their wisdom, their expertise, and their ideas. We have benefited from spirited debate with our friends from across the political spectrum; American, Israeli, and Palestinian; Jordanian, Egyptian, and European.

"They have been willing to use their hard-won experience and wisdom to inform [us of their] bold choices, not to avoid hard decisions.

"Ours is not a journey of self-delusion. There is no magic wand that President Trump or Prime Minister Netanyahu, or President Abbas can wave to resolve this conflict. There is no easy answer as to how to balance the absolute imperative of protecting Israel's security – a principle on which the United States will never compromise – with Palestinian aspirations.

"There is no quick fix for the people of Gaza, who suffer under the de facto rule of a corrupt, violent, and incompetent Hamas authority who have refused to yield to international pleas to put Gaza's people first.

"To make a difference here, we have to have the courage to be honest with ourselves and others seeking a solution to the conflict. We have to have the courage to put aside slogans and jargon and to deal with reality. That approach has upset people, it makes people uncomfortable. But it is the only way to make progress.

"My colleagues and I have been accused of being undiplomatic at times. But I would note that our critics are very rarely diplomatic in their messages to us. We can't improve lives without being truthful. We can't improve lives by making false promises or signing up for unrealistic and unworkable solutions.

"President Trump told the truth when he recognized the reality that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Nikki told the truth when she called out hate and bias against Israel at the United Nations. And President Trump tells the truth when he says the United States will never compromise on Israel's security.

"Yesterday's peace plans have been unable to create a path to a brighter and more prosperous future while addressing the many challenges [that we need] to overcome.

"Silence and rejection from the Palestinian Authority has led to nothing good for the Palestinian people. Terrorism by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad has led to nothing but continued suffering and misery for the Palestinians of Gaza.

"I have just returned from Bahrain, where hundreds attended an exciting US-Bahraini Peace to Prosperity workshop. It is a shame that the Palestinian Authority chose not to attend and tried to convince others not to attend. They distorted our message and attempted to undermine our progress. But they did not succeed.

"Not for the first time, they missed a real opportunity. By drawing the curtain around themselves, and turning their back on friends and partners from across the world, they missed the opportunity to see what is on the other side of that curtain.

"And what is on the other side? A brighter future for Palestinians and for the entire region drafted by people willing to say that the status quo is not good enough. An alternative path with the potential to unlock a prosperous future for the Palestinian people if they choose to follow it. An exciting economic vision, with real projects and programs, with the potential to unleash sustainable, private sector-driven growth. A new life for the next generation of Palestinians.

"As my colleague, Jared Kushner, said in Bahrain, the people who attended the workshop didn't shy away from problems because they were said to be too hard. They weren't discouraged by the conventional wisdom about the fate of the Palestinians. They didn't give up after hearing in meeting after meeting the same broken record of negativity about why progress cannot be made.

"Instead, global leaders and experts on investment came from all across the world to show that there is an interest, appetite, and willingness by the global community to help the Palestinians in the right context – the context of a realistic peace deal; if the parties can achieve one.

"Can we untangle this mess? Can we create something that both Israelis and Palestinians can live with safely, securely and prosperously?

"Part of our method on this path to answer these questions has been to confront deception, on the one hand, wishful thinking on the other hand, and to speak hard truths.

"We might get there if people recognize that vague terms such as 'international law,' 'UN Resolutions' and 'internationally recognized parameters' are not always clear cut, are interpreted differently by different parties in good faith and do not provide an executable solution to end this conflict.

"We might get there if people stop pretending settlements, or what I prefer to call neighborhoods and cities, are the reason for the lack of peace.

"We might get there if other countries, not just the United States and Israel, call out the PA's vile 'pay to slay' policy and push the PA to end this abhorrent practice.

"We might get there if others stop pretending this conflict is the core conflict in the Middle East. It's not.

"The United States and President Trump are committed to fighting for a better future – for Palestinians, for Israelis, and for the entire Middle East.

"We embrace this challenge.

"We also embrace doubts, realistic concerns, and rational questions.

"The conflict is sad, tragic and complex on so many levels.

"There are no guaranteed results. Success can only be achieved, if at all, with direct negotiations between the parties, not by bypassing negotiations, not by more UN resolutions, not by international conferences that create bullet points of peace terms that cannot be implemented.

"Tonight let us celebrate the value so many of you have shown, and the value to which we should all aspire – courage. The courage to tell the truth, the courage to stand by our friends and allies, the courage to imagine and hope and work toward a better future, while also recognizing the reality.

"Let us stand strong, work and pray for a better future for the entire region. Let us take the experience that we had in Bahrain – with Israelis and Arabs, Jews, Muslims, Christians and others who discussed big ideas. Let us take the prayers from the synagogue in Bahrain that had no Torah, but a beautiful minyan for the first time ever, and see if we can make progress for Israel and its neighbors, including the Palestinians, work and live together as good neighbors and to defend themselves together against the very real threats that they all face.

"Thank you!"

The post 'To make a difference we have to have the courage to be honest about the conflict' appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

"Welcome to this festive, important event, saluting the relations between Israel and the United States."

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"If you want to know how deep the friendship and commitment between the two countries is, just look at how Ambassador Haley stood by Israel's side at the UN, and at our profound diplomatic and military bonds."

The US recognition of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights "as inseparable parts of the State of Israel constitutes another milestone for our common interests," he continued.

Video: World Zionist Organization

"As the organization that founded the State of Israel, the World Zionist Organization will continue to stand by the Jewish community leaders in instilling our common values, while battling anti-Semitism and the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement uncompromisingly, in full cooperation with American Jewry.

"The WZO promotes immigration to Israel, outreach and Zionist education, and sends Israeli teachers who teach Hebrew and Judaism in hundreds of Jewish schools throughout the US.

"We are proud of our strong bond with the United States and wish ourselves many more years of true friendship," Hagoel concluded.

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"America's friendship was and remains vital to the State of Israel's existence and prosperity. This friendship helped us contend with security and economic difficulties, and establish a thriving and prosperous country in the heart of the Middle East, a country that is the national homeland of the Jewish people, a Jewish and democratic state, a state that preserves its legacy and develops technology," Rivlin said.

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Rivlin used the opportunity to thank the American people "for the years of economic, diplomatic and military support, and for their help with bearing the burden of defense.

"Thanks to the alliance between Israel and the United States, Israel today is an island of security and progress, which ensures stability and security throughout the region while making contributions to the entire world in the fields of cyber, medicine, agriculture, security and the economy."

Video: Video: Avi Kaner

The president went on to thank Israel Hayom publisher Dr. Miriam Adelson "for her efforts to bolster the relationship between Israel and the United States," and Israel Hayom owner Sheldon Adelson "for their love and support for the State of Israel.

"I want to thank Israel Hayom Editor-in-Chief Boaz Bismuth for his journalistic work and for his commitment to publishing a daily newspaper with rich and fascinating content."

"I would like to welcome and to thank former US Ambassador to the UN Ms. Nikki Haley. It is a pleasure to welcome you to Israel and to our capital Jerusalem. You are a dear friend of Israel. We appreciate your strong stand on the world's most important stage, in support of the security, of the people, and the State of Israel. And all you did, and still [are] doing – to stand up for the values of freedom and democracy, that we share. Welcome back to Israel, welcome back to Jerusalem," he concluded.

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The US is Israel's closest ally in the international arena, but how much do you really know about the close ties between the two? Which US president established security ties with Israel? Who was the first Jewish US Secretary of State? Which famous American author visited Israel in the 19th century? Test your knowledge of US-Israel relations!

The post Think you're an expert on US-Israel relations? Take our quiz! appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

US President Harry Truman was the first world leader to recognize the Jewish state after Israel declared its independence; in 1974, Richard Nixon became the first American president to visit Israel, and in 2017, Donald Trump made history when he recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and moved the US Embassy there.

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Many American presidents have gone to great lengths to protect and promote the unique bond between the two nations, but who do you believe has done the most to promote the ties between the world's No. 1 superpower and the Jewish state?

The post Which American president do you believe has done the most to bolster US-Israel ties? appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.