One of the rare permanent aspects of politics in the United States is the “bipartisan support for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship,” Josh Block, president and CEO of The Israel Project, said in an interview with Israel’s Army Radio on Wednesday.

Overall, the message coming from AIPAC, Block said, is that “the U.S.-Israel relationship is strong, is bipartisan, and I think for members of Congress it’s strong and bipartisan because it’s in America’s interest to make it that way.”

Earlier in the interview, Block had assessed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to AIPAC. Block emphasized that Netanyahu warned that “Iran is a great menace to the United States, to Israel, to our allies, to the Arab states in the region” — a consensus view across the Israeli political spectrum. He also warned that Iran’s efforts to establish bases in Syria pose a “grave threat” to the region and that the prime minister had communicated that effectively.

The complete interview with Block, whose responses to questions in Hebrew are in English, is embedded below.

During the AIPAC policy conference, Block moderated a panel discussion called Regional Outlook: The Middle East in 2018, featuring Zionist Union MK Stav Shaffir, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R – N.Y.) and Joshua W. Walker, a Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund and former State Department official.

[Photo: AIPAC]