Urban legends, fantasies, misconceptions abound in life. But nowhere do they seem to be more pronounced and durable than in the discussion of America's relationship with the State of Israel. Some are simply a result of fuzzy thinking; others flow from the willful propaganda efforts of both the pro and anti-Israeli advocates and the battles they wage for the hearts and minds of the committed and the not-so-committed. Indeed, the latest addition to the mythology is Mitt Romney's recent statement that he'd be the "opposite" of President Obama on policies toward Israel and Iran.

Here are five of the most prominent myths:

Myth 1: US-Israeli interests are congruent across the board.

How could they be? On one hand you have the most powerful nation on earth with strategic, security, economic, and political interests stretching out across the globe; on the other, a tiny nation of some seven million souls without much of an imperial or global reach. One nation is surrounded by non-predatory neighbors to its north and south and fish to its east and west and faces no real existential threats; the other, a small power with a dark past lives precariously on the knife's edge despite its formidable military and economic power.