Much of the punditry regarding the current state of the U.S.-Israeli alliance has focused on the volley of slights and insults between Jerusalem and Washington. A small number of former Obama administration insiders, such as Derek Chollet, have pushed back, pointing to the personal Ties between American and Israeli defense ministers . The alliance is **t breaking up, but we would be in serious denial to keep saying Ties are **t strained (or that they are stronger than ever). The problem is **t (entirely) personal. For all of our shared interests, America and Israel diverge on three key topics: Iran, Syria, and Qualitative Military Edge (QME).