Israeli Views on the US Presidential Election: Between Perception and Reality

Abstract

The Israeli perspectives on the US presidential elections are characterized by the dichotomy of perception and reality. That is to say, most of the Israeli perspective is based on perception rather than reality. Perception of the candidates and their positions on Iran, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Israeli settlements, arms control, and the relationship each of the candidates would have with Israel, all these affected Israeli preferences. The dichotomy between perception and reality has also infiltrated the 2009 Israeli election campaigns of the parties and their leading candidates insofar as they presented themselves as the candidates of “change” or as those most likely to work well with the incoming Obama administration, despite the political realities that may indicate otherwise. This has been referred to as the “Obama effect.”¹