With elections in the offing, Netanyahu, like Copernicus, may not be around to reap the rewards of his revolution. However, even as the Israeli premier continues to defy U.S. pressure, America’s Arab allies seem to be edging closer to Israel as they too believe that the administration has misunderstood the region’s celestial mechanics. Whereas the Catholic Church was forced to accept Copernicus’ truths out of weakness, the United States has the opportunity to reorient its approach while it is still strong. Disabused of the notion that Israel is the sun around which region’s myriad of problems revolve, the United States could jettison the lenses of linkage and recast its policy appropriately.

Gabriel Scheinmann is the Director of Policy at The Jewish Policy Center and a Doctoral Candidate at Georgetown University.

Image: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza​