I forgot to answer "Why do we have/need such a close relationship with Israel?" My last paragraph probably addresses it directly, but the intensity
of the relationship over the years needs an explanation, IMO, which I included below.
To counter "liberal religion" of the liberal Democrats (and broaden its declining voter base), the GOP took as its third stool leg "conservative
religion" (anti-gay, anti-abortion, and for the really hard core, anti-"mixing of the races"), thus enclosing in its Big Tent conservative
Catholic, Southern Baptist, Mormon, and Moonies (which is how today even a fellow like Newt G. can find favor in SC).
This third leg helped elect Ronald Reagan, and became the source for votes to get Republicans elected for over three decades ("And those elected went
up to DC, where they found favor with lobbyists and easy money, and were thus corrupted"...desert bible chapter 2 same old verse).
An interesting aspect of some of the third leg was their belief in End Times, which could be used by the GOP as an easy way to carry out war/foreign
policy: call out the
"Middle East experts" to convince Americans their policies for Israel
and Iraq were the only correct ones. ("And, lo, American military contractors found it to be good and lucrative. A Prince among them, named Eric,
found it highly good and lucrative and thusly did prosper in the bosom of North Carolina, until he became a Xe and did find himself wandering in the
desert from Iraq to Kuwait." db Ch 3 verse same as old verse)
It was one thing to call on Calvin and his work ethic for decades, another to use made up religious dogma to enable foreign affairs that in turn kill
those very same soldiers who are told by their church to believe it. (And churches that issued "voting guides" to elect leaders who ended up
profiting from and turning a blind eye to those in the finance industry and elsewhere who stole the wealth of the middle class over three decades,
until the Final Looting of 2008...no, wait, these vultures still feel there's meat on the carcass, going after "entitlement programs", to which
THEY feel they're entitled to loot.)
Certain politicians needed certain voters, and certain voters needed certain politicians.
I would say that up until the highjacking of religious dogma for the above purposes, support for Israel was secular, seeing a post-WW2, post-Holocaust
need for a "Jewish state", along with the need for Israel as a friend/ally for US interest in that region. But, hey, one can argue issues on a
secular level. but who's gonna argue with what "God wants"!