Walter Russell Mead appears on The Free Press’s Conversations with Coleman to discuss the most polarizing question in American foreign policy—United States support for Israel. Mead argues that nearly everyone has the story wrong by focusing on lobbying power, campaign donations, and media influence. They ignore the fact that American interest in a Jewish return to the Holy Land far predates modern Zionism. It is rooted not in Jewish political organization but in Protestant theological traditions.
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Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan, Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, and Indonesia's Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka during the G20 Leaders' Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, on November 22, 2025. (Getty Images)