The bad news: America is no longer our soulmate. The good news: America is not the world.

US Vice President JD Vance did Israel and the Jews a favor last week when he told us to “wake up and smell the reality.” It was the political equivalent of a person finally saying what everyone else was too polite to admit: they’re just not that into you. There is something clarifying, even liberating, about hearing it said out loud. And if Vance’s words weren’t enough, New York’s election of proud Hamas sympathizers sent the message even more clearly: the special relationship is over. It’s time to move on.

I believe it is time to admit that America’s relationship with Israel was not a healthy one to begin with. It’s worth remembering that America began its relationship with the Jewish state with an arms embargo. For the first 25 years of the state’s struggle to exist, America played a dampening role, forcing our young nation to pull back from military victories against larger foes. Only once America recognized Israel as a regional force, and a threat to the Oil Kingdoms it was devoted to, did America seduce Israel into a relationship branded as special: Israel accepted American strategic direction in return for the right to purchase American military equipment.

Critics often point to Israel’s status as the largest recipient of direct........

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