When Donald Trump returned to the White House, many Americans and Israelis anticipated the restoration of a familiar and favorable alignment in U.S.-Israel relations. Trump’s early moves — lifting sanctions on West Bank settlers, releasing stalled arms shipments, issuing stern warnings to Iran and helping to facilitate the release of Israeli hostages — were widely interpreted as evidence of a White House once again unequivocally supportive of Israel’s strategic posture.

It has taken only a few short months for that initial optimism to give way to unease. A series of consequential developments — Trump’s conspicuous exclusion of Israel from his regional itinerary, his separate diplomatic engagement with the Houthis amid continuing attacks on Israel, reports of a new Iran nuclear framework a

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