New insights into the cementing of the American-Israeli relationship during the Nixon years.
Using a wealth of recently declassified American and Israeli documents, Nixon and Israel argues that ideational and psychological factors are an important complement to standard geopolitical explanations of American-Israeli relations during the Nixon years. Noam Kochavi looks at the emotional impact on senior American leadership of specific choices made by Israel outside the Middle East in the early 1970s, such as the acumen and sensitivity of Israel with regard to Nixon's fundamental concerns-"honorable extrication" from Vietnam and winning reelection. The book takes issue with the controversial argument that Israeli and American Jewish leaders joined forces to orchestrate a campaign designed to tilt American foreign policy in Israel's favor. To the contrary, the picture that emerges suggests that while Israel did adopt policies that altered Nixon's image of Israel, these policies were adopted not in concert with American Jews but despite American Jewish disapproval.