Reagan, Israel and Lebanon

Abstract

It was inevitable that Ronald Reagan’s inauguration would mark a distinct change in emphasis in American policy. Little was known about his attitudes to the Middle East beyond the fact that he was a warm supporter of Israel. Carter’s policies had won him few plaudits amongst American Jews and in the 1980 election Reagan had sensibly made the most of his commitment to Israel’s security, winning 39 per cent of the Jewish vote, a record for a Republican presidential contender. It is fair to say that the Jewish community had mixed expectations of him. Although they welcomed his warm commitment to Israel, an early hope that he would recognise Jerusalem as the capital failed to be realised and many Jews, strong supporters of the separation of church and state, were wary of the evangelical Christian nature of much of Reagan’s support. From the Israeli perspective there was one clear improvement, however. Whereas, from the start of his presidency, Carter had tried to focus on the central Israeli-Palestinian impasse, the Reagan administration preferred to fit the Middle East into a much broader global framework of American foreign policy. The rhetoric of the election campaign had cast the record of the Carter administration as one of incompetence and failure.