This chapter discusses the role of political parties and interest groups in affecting the direction of foreign policy, with a focus on the erosion of bipartisanship and the influence of ethnic groups.

The American support for the Zionist movement and later Israel was based on three premises: religion, shared values, and history. Religious belief and the Old Testament were significant components of the identity of the first Americans, the Puritans, and their descendants. Taking their cue from their devotion to the Bible, its stories, and geography, the Americans became convinced that if God’s prophecies were to be fulfilled, then the Jews should return to their homeland, and the Americans should propagate the restoration of the Jewish homeland. The American belief in democracy, a civic expression of religious beliefs and self-determination, in which they believed in for the Jews, led the United States to a sense of commitment towards the restoration and permanent well-being of the Jews in their own homeland. History was another component in the American commitment to the Zionist movement and Israel, the sense that it was America’s duty to undo the injustices that the Jews suffered for thousands of years from Christians, most recently the Holocaust. Contrary to the American idealistic commitment to the Zionist cause and to Israel, the Zionists and Israel viewed their alliance with the Americans more pragmatically.