The issues that pose the greatest challenge to strong American Jewish-Israeli ties are not the oft-cited left/right matters such as settlements or access to the Kotel.
While it is too early to know what the Trump Administration's Middle East peace team – led by Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt – will suggest as the basis for possible negotiations, it is already evident that the Palestinian leadership is in anguish, and for the time being adamant in refusing to engage with the U.S. effort.
For now, the US, Israel, the EU and some Arab states appear more willing to help the Palestinians in Gaza than their own leaders. This, of course, is not new. It is the tragic ongoing curse of Palestinian history.
With no grand solutions either violent or peaceful at hand, the IDF's preferred option remains conflict management. At its core lies the old, ugly but useful concept that has always been central to Israel's security doctrine: deterrence, writ large.