re: #1 Romantic Heretic

Israel needs America’s support. To get that support he must connect with the most passionate American supporters of Israel. These people, thanks to their passion and focus, can affect American politics quite a bit.

When you’ve got them by the balls, their hears and minds will follow.

The problem is that this gathering of “passionate supporters” aren’t interested in Israel as a living functional nation. At this event you’ve got a mix of religious people who want fulfillment of John’s Apocalypse and Islamphobic people who see Israel as the front line of the civilizational war versus Islam: neither of them is interested in what’s good for Israel…or what Israelis want from their government. Their “support” is conditional on a bunch of criteria regarding Israel’s foreign policy (hawkish towards Iran and the rest of the ME), handling of issues relating to Palestine and settlements (no two-state solution, continued expansion of settlements), et cetera. If there is a policy change by Israel (as a result of elections) it will be interesting to hear how they change their tune about “support.”