To suggest that the American/Israeli special relationship is symmetric is preposterous: it is the relationship of the giant to the dwarf. To suggest that Israel has the freedom to defy American interests in any serious manner does not pass the straight face test, or perhaps people are forgetting 1973.
Apart from the cupidity of the arms merchants, Israel enjoys overwhelming support among the American people because, emerging from the grim shadow of the Holocaust, Israel has largely tried to set an example as a moral, democratic state, and because Americans like an underdog. To assume that this support will survive intransigence in the peace process *might* be a mistake, however, particularly if Americans decide they are tired of their national security being held hostage to the squabbling of two tiny groups of people over a desiccated piece of land about the size of New Jersey. America has done too much to ensure the survival and prosperity of Israel to put up with disrespect from the AIPAC crowd.
