Though the lens of realpolitik certainly captures critical elements of these relationships, they extend beyond just geopolitics: there is a strong normative component rooted in a shared counterrevolutionary ethos among these actors that views democracy -- anywhere in the region -- as anathema to their own survival. In the period since the Arab Uprisings, Israel has engaged alongside their regional partners in a sophisticated campaign of counterrevolution designed to not only preserve the prevailing regional balance of power, but to also prevent the emergence of a popular democratic paradigm from emerging in the Middle East. Understanding this shared desire of both Tel Aviv and various Arab regimes to maintain the regional authoritarian status quo is critical to understanding the full scope of these relationships.

Israel presents itself as a haven for democracy within a "tough neighborhood" of authoritarianism and inherent violence and backwardness. For example, Israel's first prime minister David Ben Gurion once said "we [Israel] live in the twentieth century, they [Arabs] in the fifteenth," and stressed that Israel represents a "modern society...in the midst of a medieval world." A similar message has been echoed by former defense minister of Israel Ehud Barak, who has often referred to the country as "a villa in a jungle" and an "oasis fortress in a desert" to describe Israel's relationship with its Arab neighbors. In his book, "A Place Among Nations: Israel and the World," former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argued that "violence is ubiquitous in the political life of all Arab countries. It is the primary method of dealing with opponents, both foreign and domestic, both Arab and non-Arab." 

As Israeli historian Avi Shlaim has argued previously, such a worldview has "translated into a geostrategic conception" in which the Zionist state is "permanently locked into an alliance with the West against the 'backward' East." This is all despite the fact that Israel's status as a democracy is greatly debated, with several prominent human rights organizations among others, labeling the Jewish State and the Palestinian territories it controls an apartheid regime.

Despite the rhetoric espoused by its leaders, Israel has opposed democratic transitions in the Middle East and benefits from the region's lack of democracy. Israel is a status quo power in the Middle East and relies heavily upon the maintenance of undemocratic governments in the region. Even some staunch U.S. supporters of Israel recognize this, as Robert Kagan argued after the 2013 military coup that ousted a democratically elected government in Egypt. "To Israel, which has never supported democracy anywhere in the Middle East except Israel," he wrote, "the presence of a brutal military dictatorship bent on the extermination of Islamism is not only tolerable but desirable."

Israel fears that popular governments in the region accountable to their people would be more demanding in the fight for Palestinian rights and a genuine settlement to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Arab public opinion remains firmly in support of the plight of the Palestinians. Although the 2011 uprisings were spurred by demands for political, social, and economic justice primarily focused at the domestic level, the symbolism of Palestine was often on display during these demonstrations.