Are American-Israeli ties cooling?

AMERICAN politicians and pundits tend quite frequently to use glowing terms in describing the relationship between the United States and Israel, creating the impression that the two countries have maintained a historic and unshakeable alliance that reflects their common interests and values and that can be compared to the relationship between the US and, say, Great Britain.

This accepted wisdom that assumes a high level of compatibility when it comes to the strategic interests of the two nations might explain why the current tensions between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin ("Bibi") Netanyahu over the evolving nuclear deal with Iran have been depicted by the media as a major crisis with some observers predicting a long-term rupture - a strategic divorce of sorts - in the relations between Washington and Jerusalem.

But seen from a wider historical perspective, the current spat between the Israeli and US leaders is much less momentous than previous Israeli-American diplomatic crises.