Government decisions that snub the non-Orthodox denominations of the Jewish faith are not only a matter of identity and morality. They have a direct bearing on national security. One of the foundational aspects of Israel's strategy of survival in a hostile environment is the special relationship with the US, which turn rests on three pillars: a commonality of strategic interests, facing the same threats; an affinity of moral and democratic values; and the organized support of American Jewry. Both the affinity and the Jewish commitment may have been put at risk by decisions that enshrine the monopoly of the Orthodox (in effect, the ultra-Orthodox) interpretation of Judaism in Israeli political life.