The 2016 Race for the White House: The Current Picture

The 2016 Race for the White House: The Current Picture

by Oded Eran and Owen Alterman, INSS

In the fast-changing reality of the Middle East, the status of the Iran deal is just one issue, albeit a major one, in the long race for the White House. The ability of Israel to influence US political and military policies in the Middle East should not be confused by campaign language.

Still, developments in the campaign do provide lessons for Israel. The Republican Party eschewed the non-interventionism of Ron Paul four years ago, with the lion's share of the party holding to a hawkish line on foreign policy and blanket opposition to the Iran deal.

On the Democratic side, the rift within the party over the Iran nuclear deal has not yet come to the fore in the campaign. Sometime next year, though, if as expected she is the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton may need to decide how to balance between supporters of the deal (among them, a sitting Democratic president) and opponents of the deal among pro-Israel Democrats.

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