The US-Israel Caucus Chairman Nachman Shai (Zionist Union), in an interview with Arutz Sheva, spoke about the importance of getting Knesset members more involved in US-Israel relations and issues related to the American Jewish community.

The Caucus was formed in 2013 with the help of the Ruderman Foundation and former Israeli ambassador to the US Moshe Arens.

The main activities of the Caucus, Shai explained, include “visits of Knesset member to American Jewish communities and learning about American Jewry on visits to the US. It also includes an American Jewish Studies program at Haifa University.”

Shai said that “there are 15 or 16 MKs who are part of the Caucus. It’s a big number, but it’s still too small. We’d like to see more.”

In response to the perception that American-Israel relations have not been good under the Obama Administration, Shai said he thought that “Perhaps in regards to the personal issues between Obama and Netanyahu, the relations have not been so good, but that’s not the whole story. The big story is that there was no issue, whether political, military, or economic, in which the US didn’t stand next to Israel. I think that in retrospect, this time will be seen as another peak in US-Israel relations.”