Israel’s Tragic Choice

Mr. Goodman is a host of Beit Avi Chai’s “The Party of Thoughts” podcast. He wrote from Jerusalem.

A kind of sociological law of nature in the world holds that the weak think about the strong more than the strong think about the weak. When it comes to the upcoming American and Israeli elections, this law breaks down.

Politicians on the left and right in the United States these days often seem more focused on Israel, its treatment of the Palestinians and its policies in the Middle East than on the usual local concerns, like the number of children in a classroom or unemployment. This preoccupation is a puzzle to many Israelis, but there is a bigger conundrum: the absence of........

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