"First, Israel must consistently demonstrate a willingness, in principle, to support a two-state solution which will involve extensive territorial concessions, in exchange for peace and security. In practical terms, it must, at a minimum, hold open the possibility of such a solution, by severely constraining settlement expansion."
And let's get new leadership on both sides.
"As of now, a new Israeli Prime Minister would have an opportunity to begin to reverse the decline of the last five years, precisely because that decline is closely associated with Netanyahu...
"[A] future Israeli government working with a future Democratic Administration could have vociferous disagreements and political battles on issues of vital interest to Israel, namely, Iran and the Palestinians. But so long as Israel adopts the recommendations referred to above, Democrat support for the special relationship will likely survive. After all, arguments and crises are nothing new."
At the last J Street conference in 2018, many speakers basically took the Rynhold line. They said the U.S. and Israel were in the same boat, with terrible right-wing leaders who were taking their countries off the path of liberal democracy. We just need to lose Netanyahu.
Rynhold's view that the special relationship can survive strenuous disagreement echoes the Israel Policy Forum, when it says that the U.S. must oppose the annexation of the West Bank because it "would upend decades of carefully calibrated policy on Israel" and aid the BDS campaign.
Carefully-calibrated policy? Liberal Zionists are by and large actually OK with the status quo; and progressives aren't. They see massacre and apartheid. That is the heart of the disagreement here. I believe Rynhold is wrong about US public opinion: there's been a tectonic shift in the progressive camp, the human rights issue is now important because of Israel's conduct. A majority of Dems support sanctions to end the settlement expansion. It will be interesting to see how much oxygen the J Street conference gives to these critics.
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