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*In 1948, Israel was misconstrued by the State Department as a burden upon the US.
*In 1948, Israel was misconstrued by the State Department as a burden upon the US.
*Since 1967, Israel has emerged as a formidable force-multiplier for the US, economically and militarily.
*The June 1967 Israeli military victory spared the US an enormous economic and defense setback, denying the USSR a dramatic geo-strategic bonanza.
*In 1970, Israel forced a pull-back of the pro-Soviet Syrian invasion of pro-US Jordan, which could have toppled all pro-US Arab regimes.
*The 1981 Israeli destruction of Iraq’s nuclear reactor prevented a potential nuclear confrontation during the 1991 Gulf War.
*The 2007 Israeli destruction of the Syria-North Korea nuclear reactor, averted a potential nuclearized civil war in Syria.
*Etc.
“Israel did not grow strong because it had an American alliance. It acquired an American alliance because it had grown strong” (Prof. Walter Russell Mead, a leading historian of US foreign policy).
In 1948, Israel was misconstrued by the State Department as a burden upon the US, too feeble to withstand an all-out Arab military offensive, jeopardizing US ties with the Arab World and potentially pro-Soviet.
However, since 1967, Israel has emerged as the most effective, reliable and democratic ally of the US, and a formidable force-multiplier for the US.
For example:
*The June 1967 Israeli military victory devastated the pro-Soviet Egyptian military, while Egypt was on its way to become the pan-Arab leader, aiming to topple the pro-US regimes of the Arab oil-producing countries, at a time when the US was heavily dependent upon the Persian Gulf oil. The resounding Israeli victory spared the US a huge economic and national security setback, and denied the USSR a dramatic geo-strategic gold mine.
*25 US military experts went to Israel to study the lessons of the 1967 Six Day War, and to examine the captured Soviet military systems. Their findings upgraded the performance of the US armed forces and defense industries.
*As a result of the benefits derived by the US, a team of 50 experts arrived in Israel following the 1973 War, collecting information, which benefited the US militarily and industrially, bolstering the US defense of Europe in the face of Soviet threats.
*The December 1969 “Operation Rooster 53” highlighted Israel’s unique intelligence and battle tactic capabilities, which were shared with the US. An Israeli commando unit snatched from Egypt an advanced Soviet P-12 radar system, which was stationed throughout the world. The Soviet radar was studied by Israel and transferred to the US, as were additional Soviet military systems, enhancing the capabilities of the US intelligence, special operations forces and the US defense industries.
According to the late Senator Daniel Inouye, who was the Chairman of the Appropriations and Intelligence Committees, the value of the Soviet radar to the US defense industries and armed forces was around $3bn. He added that the scope of intelligence shared with the US, by Israel, exceeded the intelligence shared with the US by all NATO countries combined.
*In 1966 and 1989 Israel acquired MIG-21 and MIG-23 Soviet combat planes through defecting Iraqi and Syrian pilots. The planes were shared with the US, impacting the global balance of power, and enhancing the performance of the US Air Force and the aerospace industries.
*In 1970, Israel manifested its pro-US posture of deterrence by forcing – through its military presence on the Golan Heights – a pull-back of the pro-Soviet Syrian invasion of pro-US Jordan. Israel spared the US either a loss of an Arab ally, or the need to get involved militarily in an intra-Arab war, while it was bogged down in Southeast Asia. Moreover, the toppling of the pro-US Jordanian regime would have threatened the existence of the pro-US oil-producing regimes in the neighboring Persian Gulf, while the US was heavily dependent upon Persian Gulf oil. Thus, Israel spared the US a major economic and national security blow, and denied the USSR a geo-strategic bonanza.
*The lessons of the July 4, 1976 Entebbe Rescue Operation – which underscored Israel as a role model of pro-active, daring and innovative counter-terrorism – were shared with the US intelligence and special operations forces.
*The 1981 Israeli destruction of Iraq’s nuclear reactor – in defiance of fierce US opposition – spared the US the potential devastation of a nuclear confrontation during the 1991 Gulf War. It saved the pro-US oil-producing Arab regimes from the jaws of Saddam Hussein.
*In the October 1982 “Operation Mole Cricket 19,” Israel’s Air Force destroyed 29 Soviet surface-to-air missile batteries operated by Syria, perceived to be impregnable. It was the first time that a Western-equipped air force destroyed a Soviet-built surface-to-air missile network. In the process, in the biggest air battle since the Korean War, the Israeli Air Force downed 82 Soviet MIG combat planes without a single loss to Israel’s Air Force. The game-changing Israeli battle tactics, including jamming technologies, were shared with the US armed forces, bolstering the US military edge over the USSR.
*The 2007 Israeli destruction of the Syria-North Korea-Iran nuclear reactor, spared the region and the globe a potential nuclearized civil war in Syria.
*In 2022, against the backdrop of the highly-vulnerable pro-US Arab regimes, the growing vacillation of Europe, and the intensifying threat of the anti-US Sunni and Shiite terrorism, Israel stands out as “the largest US aircraft carrier,” which does not require a single American soldier on board, sparing the US the need to deploy to the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean additional aircraft carriers and ground divisions.
*In 2022, Israel’s posture of deterrence plays a key role in preventing the collapse of the pro-US Arab regimes and the dominance of the anti-US Iran’s Shiite Ayatollahs and the anti-US Sunni Islamic terrorism in the Middle East, which is crucial to global trade, the war on anti-US terrorism and the US-Russia-China balance of power.
*To paraphrase Prof. Walter Russell Mead’s observation: Israel’s posture of deterrence is not growing stronger due to the recent peace accords with Arab countries. Arab countries concluded peace accords with Israel due to the fact that Israel’s posture of deterrence is growing stronger.
*The US does not extend foreign aid to Israel. Rather, the US makes an annual investment in Israel, which yields to the American taxpayer an annual R-O-I (Return-On-Investment) of several hundred percent.
*Israel serves as the battle-tested, cost-effective laboratory of the US defense and aerospace industries and the US armed forces.
*Over 200 US high tech giants have established research and development centers in Israel, leveraging Israel’s brainpower.
*The US would have to establish five CIAs in order to procure the intelligence provided by Israel.
*Israel is the largest US aircraft carrier, which does not require American soldiers on board, sparing the US $15bn annually.
The US does not extend foreign aid to Israel. Rather, the US makes an annual investment in Israel, which yields to the American taxpayer an annual R-O-I (Return-On-Investment) of several hundred percent.
Is that a fact?
*While Israel is a most grateful recipient of a few hundred US military systems, it serves as the battle-tested, cost-effective laboratory of the US defense and aerospace industries, which employ – directly and indirectly – 3.5 million Americans.
Moreover, Israel’s Defense Forces serve as the battle-tested laboratory of the US armed forces, enhancing the performance of the US military.
*As documented in the following segments, the Israeli battle-tested laboratory enhances the economy, national security and homeland security of the US.
*For instance, Israel’s Air Force flies the Lockheed-Martin-manufactured F-16 and F-35 combat aircraft, providing the US manufacturer and Air Force – on a daily basis – with lessons involving operations, maintenance and repairs. These lessons are integrated into a multitude of upgrades for the next generation of the aircraft, bolstering the performance of the US manufacturer and Air Force.
In fact, the F-16 has been improved by several hundred Israeli-driven upgrades (cockpit, fire control, wings, fuel tanks, etc.). It has spared Lockheed-Martin 10-20 years of research & development – which costs billions of dollars – improving the global competitiveness of Lockheed-Martin, thus increasing its multi-billion-dollar exports, while expanding Lockheed-Martin’s employment base – a mega-billion-dollar bonanza.
Realistically, a similar mega-billion-dollar bonanza is enjoyed by Boeing, the manufacturer of the F-15 combat aircraft, which is also flown and upgraded by the Israeli Air Force, and a larger bonanza is the share of Lockheed-Martin, the manufacturer of the more sophisticated and more expensive F-35, which is also flown by Israel’s Air Force.
*Moreover, Israel is the Triple-A-Store of Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, G.D., Northrop Grumman, L3Harris Technologies, G.E., Oshkosh, Honeywell and many other US defense and aerospace industries, serving as a multiplier of export to countries, which assume that Israel’s use of these military systems – with its unique national security challenges – constitutes a most reliable stamp of approval.
*Furthermore, Israel shares with the US its battle-tactics against conventional military forces and terrorists, which are mutual-threats to the US and Israel, equipped with Russian, Chinese and Iranian military systems. In fact, much of the formulation of US battle tactics is based on the Israeli experience.
*For example, US Special Operations units and urban warfare specialists are trained by Israeli experts in neutralizing car bombs, improvised-explosive-devices and suicide bombers. In addition, US combat pilots benefit greatly from joint maneuvers with the highly-experienced Israeli combat pilots, who always fly under a do-or-die state of mind, and therefore are forced to maneuver more creatively and audaciously, stretching the capabilities of the US-made combat aircraft to new dimensions.
*According to a former Head of US Air Force Intelligence, General George Keegan, the US would have to establish five CIAs in order to procure the intelligence provided by Israel. The annual budget of one CIA is around $15 billion.
*According to the late Senator Daniel Inouye, who was the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee and Intelligence Committee, the scope of Israeli intelligence shared with the US exceeded the intelligence provided by all NATO countries combined, including the foiling of anti-US terrorism, kidnapping and bombing, securing airliners and airports, and providing the US vital data on advanced Soviet/Russian military systems.
*Israel is a unique force-multiplier for the US, extending the strategic hand of the US, securing vulnerable pro-US Arab oil-producing regimes, and deterring conventional wars and terrorism, with no US troops on its soil (unlike NATO countries, Japan and South Korea).
*According to the late General Alexander Haig, who was NATO’s Supreme Commander and US Secretary of State and Admiral Elmo Zumwalt: “Israel is the largest US aircraft carrier, which does not require American soldiers on board, cannot be sunk, and is deployed in a most critical region (between Europe-Asia-Africa and between the Mediterranean-Red Sea-Indian Ocean-Persian Gulf), sparing the US the need to manufacture, deploy and maintain a few more real aircraft carriers and additional ground divisions, which would cost the US taxpayer some $15 billion annually.”
*Over 200 top US high tech companies, which employ several million Americans – such as Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, IBM, Apple, Johnson & Johnson, Google and Facebook – have established research and development centers in Israel, leveraging Israel’s brainpower, in order to increase US production and expand US exports and employment. As it is with the defense industries, the US commercial industries have realized that Israel is a critical partner in sustaining their edge over China, Russia, Europe and Japan in the development and manufacturing of game-changing commercial and military technologies.
*In conclusion, the US-Israel strategic relationship constitutes a classic case of a mutually-beneficial two-way-street, which enhances the economy and defense of both countries, benefitting Israeli and American taxpayers alike.
Israel is neither foreign to the US, nor does it receive aid. Israel is not a beneficiary of US foreign aid, but a beneficiary of an annual US investment, which yields to the US taxpayer a few hundred percent annual Return-On-Investment.
According to the February 2022 annual Gallup poll of country favorability, 71% of Americans accord Israel a “very favorable” and “mostly favorable” rating. It matches Israel’s average favorability since 2013, compared to 58% in 2002, 71% in 2012, 69% in 2019 and 75% in February 2021. Israel’s all-time high favorability was in February 1991 – 79% – in the aftermath of the January-February Iraqi Scud Missiles striking Tel Aviv.
Israel is ranked 7th among countries rated by Gallup, trailing Canada, Britain, France, Japan, Germany and India. However, none of these countries have been targeted – as has Israel – for daily criticism by the State Department (which fiercely opposed Israel’s establishment in 1948), the United Nations, the NY Times, Washington Post, L.A. Times, CNN, MSNBC and many of the political and social science departments on US campuses.
While Israel is considered favorably by 71% of Americans, the Palestinian Authority has earned a meager 27% favorability rating, at the bottom of the favorability scale, along with Cuba – 40%, Pakistan – 21%, China – 20% (all time low), Libya – 19%, Iraq – 16%, Iran – 13%, Afghanistan – 12%, Russia – 12% and North Korea – 10%.
Israel has retained a high-level of favorability among the three major US political groups: 63% of (mostly moderate) Democrats, 71% of Independents and 81% of Republicans. At the same time the Palestinian Authority received a 38% favorability rating among Democrats, 29% – Independents and 14% – Republicans.
The 2022 annual Gallup poll reflects the unique bottom-up phenomenon of the US attitude toward Israel – which is largely determined by the US constituency’s traditional affinity toward the Jewish State – contrary to the top-down phenomenon of the US policy toward foreign countries, which is generally determined by the White House and the State Department.
The February, 2022 Gallup poll of country favorability demonstrates the wide gap between most Americans (who are largely supportive of Israel), on the one hand, and the “elite” media (which is systematically critical of Israel), on the other hand.
Israel’s 71% favorability rating attests that most Americans realize the inaccuracy and immorality of the State Department’s moral-equivalence toward Israel and the Palestinians. They identify Israel as a reliable, democratic and productive ally, and view the Palestinian Authority as a member of the rogue entities of the world, associated with terrorism, in general, and enemies and rivals of the US, in particular.
Irrespective of the NY Times’ attitude toward Israel, most Americans empathize with Israel culturally, historically, ideologically and strategically. They identify the Jewish State with key precepts, which have shaped the American culture, the civic and judicial systems since the Early Pilgrims and the Founding Fathers, such as faith, the Mosaic legacy, civil liberties, patriotism, optimism, defiance of odds and a can-do mentality. Moreover, they consider Israel a unique force and dollar-multiplier for the US economy and defense in the face of mutual threats (e.g., Iran’s Shiite Ayatollahs, Sunni Islamic terrorism) and in the pursuit of a US commercial and military technological edge over China, Russia and Europe.
Israel’s 71% favorability demonstrates that most Americans subscribe to the following assessment made by Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Commander of NATO: “Our best military partner in the region, by far, is Israel…. It truly is a case of two nations that are unarguably stronger together.”
(follow up to my recent brief)
As 2022 begins, Israel is the most critical partner of the US in sustaining its edge over China, Russia, Europe and Japan in the development and manufacturing of game-changing commercial and military technologies.
In 2022, with merely 0.11% of the global population, Israel will remain second only to – and closely collaborating with – the US as far as the development of ground-breaking hightech innovations. Moreover, Israel’s brainpower has attracted 20% of the global investment in cyber technologies, while the number Israel’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) startups account to some 20% of the global total.
In 2022, Israel will be second only to the US in the development and manufacturing of commercial, military and dual-use intelligence technologies and systems (e.g., remote-control jammers, counter-IED and booby-trap measures, remote-control explosives neutralization, electronic warfare and electromagnetic spectrum). In fact, around 60% of Israeli-developed intelligence and counter-terrorism systems have reached the US through joint ventures with leading US manufacturers, US-owned research and development centers in Israel, and US acquisitions from Israeli manufacturers.
For example, hacking into the iPhone of the San Bernardino Islamic terrorist (who murdered 14 people at a Christmas celebration in December 2015) was facilitated by an Israeli mobile forensic technology used by the FBI. Also, the 2006 killing of the top al-Qaeda terrorist in Iraq, al-Zarqawi, was facilitated by the Israeli-developed and manufactured (“Rafael Armament Development Authority”) Litening infrared targeting and navigation pod, installed on a US Air Force F-16.
In 2022, the US (mostly) and Israel will remain the global co-leaders in the development and manufacturing of mini-size, small-size and medium-size satellites, as well as surveillance and strike-role unmanned aerial vehicles.
In 2022, the US and Israel will continue to expand air, naval and ground forces joint maneuvers, training and visitations, leveraging Israel’s unique battlefield experience in combatting Palestinian and Islamic terrorism and facing Russian and Iranian military systems (e.g., battle tactics formulation; acquaintance with Soviet/Russian battle tactics and military systems such as radar, surface-to-air missiles, combat aircraft and tanks). For instance, unprecedented air-defense cooperation has evolved between the US and Israeli air forces in response to rising mutual threats, such as Iran, in general, and Iran’s attack drones and ballistic missiles, in particular.
In 2022, the US will persist in leveraging Israel’s vast experience in securing the safety of commercial airports and airline passengers.
In 2022, unlike all Arab countries, Israel will still be the only stable, reliable, effective, technologically-advanced, democratic and unconditional ally of the US in the Middle East. Israel will continue serving as the most effective platform for the prepositioning of US military systems, medical supplies and ammunition in a critical region between Europe-Asia-Africa and the Mediterranean-Red Sea-Gulf of Aden-Indian Ocean-Arabian Sea-Persian Gulf.
In 2022, Israel will persist being the most effective battle-tested laboratory (and a mega-billion-dollar bonanza) for the US defense industries and armed-forces, and a second-to-none source of military intelligence to the US, foiling anti-US Islamic terrorism and enhancing the performance of the US national security agencies.
In 2022, some 250 US high-tech giants will continue to maintain – and expand – their research and development centers in Israel, leveraging Israel’s brain power. It has enhanced the competitiveness of the US industry in the global market, saving billions of dollars in research and development, while increasing US exports and expanding US employment.
The realization that Israel is a unique force-multiplier for the US was expressed as early as December 11, 1978 in a letter sent to President Carter by over 170 retired US Admirals and Generals: “….If not for the proven capability of the Israel Defense Force, we would be forced to station a significant number of men and substantial material in the Middle East…. The ability of the US to protect its security interests in the Middle East is closely linked, if not dependent on, the maintenance of a potent Israeli military capability…. In the event of a non-nuclear superpower conflict in the Middle East, Israel, by itself might deter Soviet combat forces intervention or prevent the completion of such deployment….”
In 2022, the steady reduction of the US military posture in the stormy Middle East will create a strategic void in an area, which is a global epicenter of the proliferation of anti-US Islamic terrorism, ballistic technologies and drug trafficking. The aforementioned information about Israel’s unique contributions to the US, makes the Jewish State the most qualified strategic ally to fill-in this void, safeguarding US national security and economic interests.
In 2022, Israel will still be neither foreign to the US, nor will it receive aid. Israel is not a beneficiary of US foreign aid, but a beneficiary of an annual US investment, which yields to the US taxpayer a few hundred percent annual rate-of-return.
*In October 2021 and January 2020, Israel’s intelligence alerted the US of Iranian drone and missile attacks on US military installations in Southern Syria and Iraq. 200 US soldiers (in Syria) and 1,500 US soldiers (in Iraq) took effective shelter.
*The scope of Israeli intelligence shared with the US exceeds the intelligence provided by all NATO countries combined. It includes data on Iran’s global terrorism and nuclear and ballistic programs; Islamic terrorism targeting the US and pro-US Arab regimes; battle tactics and military systems of US rivals and enemies; Israeli-developed technologies and battle tactics neutralizing hostile capabilities; Soviet nuclear-equipped intercontinental ballistic missiles; etc.
*According to General George Keegan, former Head of Air Force Intelligence: “I could not have procured the intelligence [received from Israel] with five CIAs.” The annual budget of one CIA is around $15BN.
*Israel is the most cost-effective, battle-tested laboratory of the US defense industries, employing (with much gratitude!) hundreds of US military systems, sharing with the US manufacturers lessons (operation, maintenance, repairs), which are integrated as upgrades. These upgrades enhance US global competitiveness, spare the US billions of dollars and many years of research and development, increase US exports and expand US employment. According to Lockheed-Martin (formerly GD), Israel’s use of the F-16 has yielded over 700 upgrades, netting a mega-billion-dollar bonanza to the manufacturer. A similar bonanza is enjoyed by Boeing, the manufacturer of the F-15. The benefits to the US derived by the more sophisticated and expensive F-35 are substantially higher.
*According to the late Admiral Elmo Zumwalt and General Alexander Haig, “Israel is the largest US aircraft carrier, which does not require American soldiers on board, cannot be sunk, and is deployed in a most critical region, economically and militarily, sparing the US the need to manufacture, deploy and maintain more real aircraft carriers and additional ground divisions, which would cost the US some $15bn annually.”
*The formulation of US battle tactics is largely based on Israel’s battle experience. For instance, Special Operations units (on their way to Iraq and previously to Afghanistan) and urban warfare specialists are trained in Israel. The US Air Force benefits greatly from joint maneuvers with Israel’s Air Force, which possesses much more battle experience, shedding light on the far-reaching capabilities of US-made combat aircraft.
*Israel is a most innovative hub (second to the US) of more than 200 giant US hightech companies, which operate research and development centers, leveraging the brain power of the Start Up Nation.
*Israel is a unique commercial and defense force-multiplier for the US, extending the strategic hand of the US without the presence of US troops (unlike Europe, South Korea and Japan), while deterring and preempting regional rogue entities, which threaten the US and pro-US Arab regimes.
*More data is available here.
*In 1948, the State Department, Pentagon, CIA, New York Times and the Washington Post opposed the establishment of the Jewish State, considering it a feeble pro-Soviet entity, unable to withstand an Arab offensive; a burden on the US.
*The 1967 Israeli preemptive military victory obliterated the military of then pro-Soviet Egypt, which aimed to topple every pro-US Arab oil-producing regime, at a time when the US was heavily dependent upon Persian Gulf oil. It spared the US a major economic and national security setback, and dealt a severe blow to the USSR. Israel was transformed from a misperceived geo-strategic burden to a geo-strategic force-multiplier, sharing with the US captured Soviet military systems (including surface-to-air missile batteries and tanks) and game-changing battle tactics.
*In December 1969, an Israeli commando unit snatched from Egypt the most advanced Soviet P-12 radar system, transferred its technologies to the US (estimated at $3bn by the Senate Intelligence Committee), which enhanced the capabilities of the US defense industries and armed forces.
*In 1966, 1968 and 1989, Israel acquired (through defecting Arab pilots) Mig-21, 17 and 23, which were shared with the US, upgrading the US Air Force capabilities.
*In 1970, Israel demonstrated its effective posture of deterrence, when forcing pro-Soviet Syria to roll back its invasion of pro-US Jordan, by buttressing its military presence on the Syria-Israel-Jordan border (the Golan Heights) – at the request of the US – at a time when the US was bogged down in Southeast Asia.
*In 1981, Israel destroyed Iraq’s nuclear reactor, sparing the US a potential nuclear confrontation in the 1991 Gulf War.
*The transformation of Iran (1978/79) and Turkey (2003) from favored allies to major enemy/adversary of the US, highlighted Israel as the only effective, reliable and democratic Middle East ally of the US.
*In 2007, Israel destroyed the Syrian-Iranian-No. Korean nuclear reactor, which spared the globe a potential nuclearized civil war in Syria.
*Since 2010, the Arab Tsunami has traumatized the Arab Street, underscoring Israel’s role as a unique ally of the US, against the backdrop of the inherently intra-Arab violence, instability, unpredictability and tenuous nature of Arab regimes, policies and accords.
*In 2021, the US could terminate its military presence in the Persian Gulf, if there were an Israel-like entity in that region.
*More data is available here.
*Israel’s QME has upgraded its posture as a US beachhead and force multiplier – with no need for US soldiers – in the inherently explosive junction of Europe-Asia-Africa, between the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, which is an epicenter of regional and global Islamic terrorism, the proliferation of ballistic technologies and drug trafficking.
*Israel’s QME has bolstered its performance as a cost-effective battle-tested laboratory for the US defense industry and armed forces, sparing the US many years and mega-billion-dollars of research and development, increasing US exports, expanding US employment and enhancing the formulation of US battle tactics.
*Israel’s QME has reinforced Israel’s posture of deterrence against Islamic terrorist organizations and rogue regimes, which have targeted the US and all pro-US Arab regimes.
*Israel’s QME has constrained the maneuverability of Iran, Syria and Russia in Syria and Lebanon, serving as a critical line of defense for the highly-vulnerable pro-US Hashemite regime in Jordan.
*Israel’s QME has scaled down regional instability, reducing the threat of regional wars and terrorism, while enticing the relatively moderate and pro-US Arab regimes to seek peace and normalization with Israel.
*Israel’s QME– in the face of Iran’s Ayatollahs – has motivated the Arab Gulf States to dramatically improve ties with Israel.
*Israel’s QME has facilitated relatively swift and decisive military operations – with less losses to both sides – which has limited the scope of Israel-Arab conflicts, regionally and globally.
*Israel’s QME eases a gradual US military withdrawal from the Middle East, while Israel’s military capabilities fill in the geo-strategic void.
*Israel’s QME is not an effective substitute for the topography of the Golan Heights and the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), which dominate the geographic sliver along the Mediterranean of pre-1967 Israel. Israel’s qualitative military edge today could be erased tomorrow, but Israel’s topographic edge today will remain a topographic edge tomorrow.
*More data is available here.
In conclusion
The aforementioned data reaffirms the fact that the annual US’ $3.8bn constitute a most productive investment in – not foreign aid to – Israel, yielding several hundred percent annual rate-of-return to the US. This is the most productive investment made by the US.
Thus, US-Israel relations constitute a mutually-beneficial two-way-street with the flow of benefits from Israel to the US expanding by the day.
Presidents propose and Congress disposes
On September 23, 2021, the US House of Representatives voted 420:9 to replenish the Israeli-developed defensive “Iron Dome” missiles, which are increasingly manufactured – and eventually exported – by the US defense company Raytheon, that benefits from the battle-tested “Israeli laboratory.”
The overwhelming vote reflects Congressional realization that the “Iron Dome”:
*Enhances Israel’s posture of deterrence, which is critical to the survival of all pro-US Arab regimes and minimization of regional instability;
*Reduces the need for full-scale Israeli wars on Palestinian and Islamic terrorism;
*Provides an alternative to Israeli military ground-operations against Palestinian terrorists, which would entail substantial Israeli and Palestinian fatalities;
*Represents joint US-Israel interests, militarily and technologically, in the face of mutual threats (e.g., Islamic terrorism) and mutual challenges (e.g., developing world-class, game-changing technologies).
*Constitutes another example of the systematic support by Congress of enhanced US-Israel cooperation.
The decisive role played by Congress in the replenishment of the “Iron Dome” underscores the cardinal rule of the US political system: The President proposes, but Congress disposes.
The involvement of Senators and House Representatives in foreign policy and national security-related issues has surged since the Vietnam War, Watergate and Iran Gate scandals, the dismantling of the USSR (which transformed the world from a bi-polar to a multi-polar) and rapidly-expanding globalization.
In fact, former Secretary of State, Jim Baker, complained about the growing congressional assertiveness in the area of foreign policy: “You can’t conduct foreign policy with 535 Secretaries of State….” Former Secretary of Defense, Dick Cheney, criticized Congress for micromanaging the defense budget: dictating how much to spend on particular weapons, imposing detailed requirements and programmatic restrictions, venturing into policy-setting and requesting that the Department of Defense submits mountains of reports.
Congressional muscles
The US Congress is the most powerful legislature in the world, and it has demonstrated its co-equal, co-determining muscle in the areas of foreign and defense policies on many occasions, such as:
*Imposing sanctions against foreign countries in defiance of Presidents Clinton, Obama and Trump (e.g., Egypt – 2012, Iran – 1996-97 and 2013, Russia – 2017);
*Non-ratification of the 2015 JCPOA, which enabled withdrawal by the US;
*The 2009 non-closure of the Guantanamo Detention Camp was led by Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid (NV-D), in defiance of President Obama.
*The 2009 non-confirmation of Charles Freeman to the Director of National Intelligence was led by Senator Chuck Schumer (NY-D);
*The 1999 non-ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in defiance of President Clinton and the international community;
*The unprecedented expansion of US-Israel strategic cooperation took place despite stiff opposition by President Bush and Secretary of State Baker;
*The Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act overrode President Reagan’s veto;
*The 1984 Boland Amendment aborted President Reagan’s financial and military aid to anti-Communist elements in Nicaragua;
*The 1983 blocking of President Reagan’s attempted coup against the Surinam pro-Soviet regime;
*The 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act mandated congressional authorization of surveillance of persons and organizations, which may threaten national security;
*The 1975/76 Tunney (CA-D) and Clark Amendments stopped financial and military covert support of the opposition to the pro-Soviet regime in Angola;
*The 1973 Church-Case Amendment ended funding of military involvement in Southeast Asia;
*The 1973 War Powers Act overrode President Nixon’s veto;
*The Jackson-Vanik Amendment preconditioned aid to Moscow upon free immigration.
Congress empowered by the Constitution
As documented in the aforementioned paragraphs, one is advised to note that while Congress is preoccupied with District and State issues, it has the power to both propose and dispose in the areas of foreign and defense policies.
The US Constitution aspires for a limited government and a non-monarchical president, and therefore does not limit Congress to overseeing the budget. It provides the Senate and the House of Representatives with the power to act on strategic issues and policy-setting.
The Constitution accords Congress ”the power of the purse,” oversight of government operations, ratification of treaties, confirmation of key appointments, declaration of war, funding of military operations and cooperation with foreign entities, creation and elimination of government agencies, imposing sanctions on foreign governments, etc.
In other words, the President is the “commander in-chief” within constraints, which are set by Congress.
Pre-1967
In 1948, the CIA opposed the reestablishment of the Jewish State, contending that it would be a feeble entity, unable to withstand an all-out Arab war – which would yield a second Holocaust in less than ten years – fully dependent on US soldiers for its survival, jeopardize US ties with the Arab World, imperil US access to Persian Gulf oil, and probably join the Soviet Bloc.
The State Department and the Pentagon, along with the New York Times and Washington Post, seconded the CIA assessment.
On the other hand, Clark Clifford, President Truman’s trusted advisor, who dedicated much time to studying the track record of Jewish sovereignty in Middle East history, impressed upon the President that an independent Jewish State would be a most effective military power, reliable, stable and inherently pro-US.
Clifford was absolutely right, while the State Department, the Pentagon, the CIA, the New York Times and the Washington Post were resoundingly wrong.
Following the impressive Israeli military performance in the 1948/49 War of Independence, General Omar Bradley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff, recommended that Israel be considered a favored strategic ally, since “the Israeli army would be the most effective force south of Turkey, which could be utilized to delaying action [in the case of a Soviet invasion]….”
The 1967 Six Day War
Since the 1967 Six Day War Israeli military victory over Egypt, Syria and Jordan, the US national security establishment has recognized the potency of Israel to advance regional and global US national security interests, which supersede the Palestinian issue.
Unlike NATO, South Korea and Japan, Israel has extended the strategic arm of the US with no need for US military personnel.
Thus, Israel has been transformed from a misperceived geo-strategic hinderance to a proven geo-strategic force-multiplier for the USA.
The June 1967 military victory dramatically transformed Israel from a strategic liability/burden to a strategic asset for the US. The Israeli victory devastated the Egyptian military, at a time when the pro-Soviet Egyptian President Nasser was on his way to become the pan-Arab leader. Nasser actively attempted to topple the highly-vulnerable regimes in Saudi Arabia and all other pro-US Arab oil-producing countries, at a time when the US was heavily dependent upon the importation of Persian Gulf oil. Moreover, 70,000 Egyptian soldiers were involved in a civil war in Yemen, attempting to employ Yemen as a springboard to topple the House of Saud in Riyadh. The resounding Israeli victory aborted Nasser’s anti-US plan and led the way to the demise of the anti-US Nasser era. It spared the US a huge economic and national security setback, and denied the USSR a climactic geo-strategic gold mine.
25 US military experts went to Israel for three months to study the lessons of the 1967 Six Day War, including the scrutiny of advantages and disadvantages of the captured Soviet military systems, returning to the US with top heavy information, which upgraded the performance of the US armed forces and defense industries.
Post-1967
As a result of the benefits derived by the US, a team of 50 experts arrived in Israel for six months following the 1973 War, collecting thicker volumes of information, which benefited the US militarily and industrially, and bolstered the US defense of Europe in the face of Soviet threats.
The December 1969 “Operation Rooster 53” – during the War of Attrition between Egypt and Israel – highlighted Israel’s unique intelligence and battle tactic capabilities, which have been shared with the US. An Israeli commando unit snatched from Egypt a game-changing Soviet P-12 radar system, which was superior to similar US systems, and was stationed throughout the world. The Soviet radar was studied by Israel and transferred to the US, as was the case with additional Soviet military systems, enhancing the capabilities of the US intelligence, armed forces and defense industries.
According to the late Senator Daniel Inouye (HI-D), who was a Chairman of the Appropriations and Intelligence Committees, the value of the Soviet radar to the US defense industries and armed forces was around $3bn.
In 1966 and 1989 Israel acquired Mig-21 and Mig-23 Soviet combat planes through Iraqi and Syrian pilots, who found refuge in Israel. The planes were shared with the US, impacting the global balance of power and the US Air Force performance.
In 1970, Israel manifested its posture of deterrence, when buttressing its military presence on the Syria-Israel-Jordan border (Golan Heights) in response to a pro-Soviet Syrian invasion of the pro-US Jordan. The Israeli deployment convinced Syria to pull back its invading troops from militarily-inferior Jordan. The Israeli show of force spared the US either a loss of an Arab ally (the late King Hussein), or the need to get involved militarily in an intra-Arab war. The potential toppling of the Hashemite regime in Jordan could have triggered ripple effects into the neighboring Arabian Peninsula, threatening the existence of the pro-US Arab oil-producing regimes, handing the USSR a geo-strategic bonanza.
The lessons of the 1976 Entebbe Operation – which underscored Israel as a role model of counter-terrorism – were shared with the US intelligence and special operations forces.
The 1978/79 toppling of the Shah of Iran (“the US policeman of the Gulf”) and the 2003 rise of Erdogan to the presidency of Turkey – two countries, which were transformed from key allies of the US to key enemies/adversaries – reflected the inherently transient allegiance of Middle East regimes, unlike the uniquely reliable, effective and democratic nature of Israel.
The 1981 Israeli destruction of Iraq’s nuclear reactor – in defiance of fierce US opposition – spared the US the potential devastation of a nuclear confrontation during the 1991 Gulf War. It saved the pro-US oil-producing Arab regimes from the jaws of Saddam Hussein.
The 2007 Israeli destruction of the Syria-North Korea-Iran nuclear reactor, spared the region and the globe the potential of a nuclearized civil war in Syria
The 1982 Israeli destruction of 29 Soviet surface-to-air missile batteries operated by Syria – stationed in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley and perceived to be impregnable – along with the downing of 82 Soviet Mig combat planes, reinforced Israel’s role as a unique force-multiplier for the US in the areas of critical intelligence, game-changing battle tactics and jamming technologies.
The 1990 disintegration of the USSR transformed the bi-polar world to a multi-polar world. While the Israeli military and technological capabilities well-served the US during the bi-polar Cold War, they have become much more significant in the emerging multi-polar world, with the proliferation of many rogue terror regimes and organizations, threatening the US and the Free World.
The 2010 eruption of tectonic violence on the Arab Street (“Arab Spring”), which is still raging, has exposed the intrinsic intra-Arab violence and the inherently unstable, unpredictable and tenuous nature of Arab regimes, contrary to the stable, reliable, effective and democratic Israel.
Israel’s 2021 posture of deterrence has constrained the military maneuverability of Iran and Russia in Syria, and has bolstered the stability of the pro-US Hashemite regime in Jordan in the face of existential threats by Palestinian, the Muslim Brotherhood and ISIS terrorism. It has buttressed the national security of the pro-US Arab regimes in the Arabian Peninsula; has served as the first line of defense of Western democracies in the face of Islamic terrorism; and has spared the US the need to deploy to the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean additional aircraft carriers and ground divisions.
If there were an Israel-like entity in the Persian Gulf, the US could terminate its military presence in the region.
In 2021, US-Israel relations are a mutually-beneficial two-way-street. The US makes an annual investment in – rather than extending foreign aid to – Israel, which yields to the US taxpayer an annual rate-of-return of several hundred percent.
The Ettinger Report 2023 © All Rights Reserved
Official Palestinian demographic numbers are highly-inflated, as documented by a study, which has audited the Palestinian data since 2004:
*500,000 overseas residents, who have been away for over a year, are included in the Palestinian census, contrary to international regulations. 325,000 were included in the 1997 census, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, and 400,000 in 2005, according to the Palestinian Election Commission. The number grows steadily due to births.
*350,000 East Jerusalem Arabs are doubly-counted – by Israel and by the Palestinian Authority. The number grows daily due to births.
*Over 150,000 Arabs, who married Israeli Arabs are similarly doubly-counted. The number expands daily due to births.
*A 390,000 Arab net-emigration from Judea & Samaria is excluded from the Palestinian census, notwithstanding the annual net-emigration since 1950. For example, 15,466 in 2022, 26,357 – 2019, 15,173 – 2017 and 24,244 – 2014, as documented by Israel’s Population and Migration Authority (exits and entries) in all the land, air and sea international passages.
*A 32% artificial inflation of Palestinian births was documented by the World Bank (page 8, item 6) in a 2006 audit.
*The Judea & Samaria Arab fertility rate has been westernized: from 9 births per woman in the 1960s to 3.02 births in 2021, as documented by the CIA World Factbook. It reflects the sweeping urbanization, growing enrollment of women in higher education, rising marriage age and the use of contraceptives.
*The number of Arab deaths in Judea & Samaria has been under-reported (since the days of the British Mandate) for political and financial reasons.
*The aforementioned data documents 1.4 million Arabs in Judea and Samaria, when deducting the aforementioned documented-data from the official Palestinian number (3 million).
In 2023: a 69% Jewish majority in the combined area of Judea, Samaria and pre-1967 Israel. In 1947 and 1897: a 39% and 9% Jewish minority. In 2023, a 69% Jewish majority benefiting from fertility tailwind and net-immigration. Arab fertility is Westernized, and Arab net-emigration from Judea and Samaria. No Arab demographic time bomb. A Jewish demographic momentum.
More data in this article and this short video.
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Jewish Policy Center’s inFOCUS, Spring, 2023
Saudi-Iranian diplomatic relations
*Riyadh does not allow the resumption of the Saudi-Iranian diplomatic ties to befog the reality of the tenuous and shifty Middle East regimes, policies and agreements, and the inherently subversive, terroristic, anti-Sunni and imperialistic track record of Iran’s Ayatollahs.
*Saudi Arabia is cognizant of the 1,400-year-old fanatic, religious vision of the Ayatollahs, including their most critical strategic goal – since their February 1979 violent ascension to power – of exporting the Shiite Revolution and toppling all “apostate” Sunni Arab regimes, especially the House of Saud. They are aware that neither diplomatic, nor financial, short term benefits transcend the deeply-rooted, long term Ayatollahs’ anti-Sunni vision.
*Irrespective of its recent agreement with Iran – and the accompanying moderate diplomatic rhetoric – Saudi Arabia does not subscribe to the “New Middle East” and “end of interstate wars” Pollyannaish state of mind. The Saudis adhere to the 1,400-year-old reality of the unpredictably intolerant and violent inter-Arab/Muslim reality (as well as the Russia-Ukraine reality).
*This is not the first resumption of Saudi-Iranian diplomatic ties, which were previously severed in 1988 and 2016 and followed by the Ayatollahs-induced domestic and regional violence.
*The China-brokered March 2023 resumption of diplomatic ties is a derivative of Saudi Arabia’s national security interests, and its growing frustration with the US’ eroded posture as a reliable diplomatic and military protector against lethal threats.
*The resumption of Saudi-Iranian diplomatic relations constitute a major geo-strategic gain for China and a major setback for the US in a region which, until recently, was perceived as a US domain.
*The US posture of deterrence has been severely undermined by the 2015 nuclear accord (the JCPOA), the 2021 withdrawal/flight from Afghanistan, the systematic courting of three real, clear and lethal threats to the Saudi regime – Iran’s Ayatollahs, the “Muslim Brotherhood” and Yemen’s Houthi terrorists –- while exerting diplomatic and military pressure on the pro-US Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt.
*US policy has driven Saudi Arabia (as well as the UAE and Egypt) closer to China and Russia, commercially and militarily, including the potential Chinese construction of civilian nuclear power plants and a hard rock uranium mill in Saudi Arabia, which would advance Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s “Vision 2030.”
Saudi “Vision 2030”
*Effective Israel-Saudi Arabia cooperation is a derivative of Saudi Arabia’s national security and economic interests, most notably “Vision 2030.”
*The unprecedented Saudi-Israeli security, technological and commercial cooperation, and the central role played by Saudi Arabia in inducing the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and the Sudan to conclude peace treaties with Israel, are driven by the Saudi assessment that Israel is an essential ally in the face of real, clear, lethal security threats, as well as a vital partner in the pursuit of economic, technological and diplomatic goals.
*The Saudi-Israel cooperation constitutes a win-win proposition.
*The Saudi-Israel cooperation is driven by Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman’ (MBS’) “Vision 2030.” He aspires to catapult the kingdom to a regional and global powerhouse of trade and investment, leveraging its geo-strategic position along crucial naval routes between the Far East and Europe (the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean, Arab Sea and the Red Sea).
*”Vision 2030″ has introduced ground-breaking cultural, social, economic, diplomatic and national security reforms and upgrades, leveraging the unique added-value of Israel’s technological and military capabilities.
*Saudi Arabia, just like the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, are preoccupied with the challenge of economic diversification, realizing that they are overly-reliant on oil and natural gas, which are exposed to price-volatility, depletion and could be replaced by emerging cleaner and more cost-effective energy. They consider Israel’s ground-breaking technologies as a most effective vehicle to diversify their economy, create more jobs in non-energy sectors, and establish a base for alternative sources of national income, while bolstering homeland and national security.
*”Vision 2030″ defies traditional Saudi religious, cultural and social norms. Its future, as well as the future of Saudi-Israel cooperation, depend on Saudi domestic stability and the legitimacy of MBS. The latter is determined to overcome and de-sanctify the fundamentalist Wahhabis in central and southwestern Saudi Arabia, who were perceived until recently as the Islamic authority in Saudi Arabia, and an essential ally of the House of Saud since 1744.
“Vision 2030”, the Middle East and Israel’s added-value
*MBS’ ambitious strategy is preconditioned upon reducing regional instability and minimizing domestic and regional threats. These threats include the Ayatollahs regime of Iran, “Muslim Brotherhood” terrorists, Iran-supported domestic Shiite subversion (in the oil-rich Eastern Province), Iran-based Al Qaeda, Iran-supported Houthis in Yemen, Iran-supported Hezbollah, the proposed Palestinian state (which features a rogue intra-Arab track record), and Erdogan’ aspirations to resurrect the Ottoman Empire, which controlled large parts of the Arabian Peninsula. Currently, Erdogan maintains close security and political ties with the “Muslim Brotherhood” and the pro-Iran and pro-“Muslim Brotherhood” Qatar, while confronting Saudi Arabia in Libya, where they are both involved in a series of civil wars.
*Notwithstanding the March 2023 resumption of diplomatic ties with Iran, Saudi Arabia is aware that the Middle East resembles a volcano, which frequently releases explosive lava – domestically and regionally – in an unpredictable manner, as evidenced by the Arab Tsunami, which erupted in 2010 and is still raging on the Arab Street.
*The survival of the Saudi regime, and the implementation of “Vision 2030,” depend upon Riyadh’s ability to form an effective coalition against rogue regimes. However, Saudi Arabia is frustrated by the recent erosion of the US’ posture of deterrence, as demonstrated by the 43-year-old US addiction to the diplomatic option toward Iran’s Ayatollahs; the US’ limited reaction to Iranian aggression against US and Saudi targets; the US’ embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood; and the US’ appeasement of the Ayatollahs-backed Houthi terrorists. In addition, the Saudis are alarmed by the ineffectiveness of NATO (No Action Talk Only?), European vacillation in the face of Islamic terrorism, and the vulnerability of the Arab regimes. This geo-strategic reality has driven the Saudis (reluctantly) closer to China and Russia, militarily and commercially.
*Against this regional and global backdrop, Israel stands out as the most reliable “life insurance agent” and an essential strategic ally, irrespective of past conflicts and the Palestinian issue. The latter is considered by the Saudi Crown Prince as a secondary or tertiary issue.
*In addition, the Saudis face economic and diplomatic challenges – which could benefit from Israel’s cooperation and can-do mentality – such as economic diversification, innovative technology, agriculture, irrigation and enhanced access to advanced US military systems, which may be advanced via Israel’s stature on Capitol Hill.
*The Saudi interest in expanding military, training, intelligence, counter-terrorism and commercial cooperation with Israel has been a byproduct of its high regard for Israel’s posture of deterrence and muscle-flexing in the face of Iran’s Ayatollahs (in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran itself); and Israel’s systematic war on Palestinian and Islamic terrorism. Furthermore, the Saudis respect Israel’s occasional defiance of US pressure, including Israel’s high-profiled opposition to the 2015 JCPOA and Israel’s 1981 and 2007 bombing of Iraq’s and Syria’s nuclear reactors, which spared the Saudis (and the US) the devastating wrath of a nuclear Saddam Hussein and a nuclear Assad.
*A deterring and defiant Israel is a cardinal force-multiplier for Saudi Arabia (as it is for the US). On the other hand, an appeasing and retreating Israel would be irrelevant to Saudi Arabia’s national security (as it would be for the US).
*On a rainy day, MBS (just like the US) prefers a deterring and defiant Israel on his side.
Saudi interests and the Palestinian issue
*As documented by the aforementioned data, Saudi Arabia’s top national security priorities transcend – and are independent of – the Palestinian issue.
*The expanding Saudi-Israel cooperation, and the key role played by Riyadh in accomplishing the Abraham Accords, have contradicted the Western conventional wisdom. The latter assumes that the Palestinian issue is central to Arab policy makers, and that the resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict is preconditioned upon substantial Israeli concessions to the Palestinians, including the establishment of a Palestinian state.
*Contrary to Western conventional wisdom, MBS is aware that the Palestinian issue is not the crux of the Arab-Israeli conflict, neither a crown-jewel of Arab policy-making, nor a core cause of regional turbulence.
*Independent of the pro-Palestinian Saudi talk, Riyadh (just like the Arabs in general) has demonstrated an indifferent-to-negative walk toward the Palestinians. Arabs know that – in the Middle East – one does not pay custom on words. Therefore, the Arabs have never flexed a military (and barely financial and diplomatic) muscle on behalf of the Palestinians. They have acted in accordance with their own – not Palestinian – interests, and certainly not in accordance with Western misperceptions of the Middle East.
*Unlike the Western establishment, MBS accords critical weight to the Palestinian intra-Arab track record, which is top heavy on subversion, terrorism, treachery and ingratitude. For instance, the Saudis don’t forget and don’t forgive the Palestinian collaboration with Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, which was the most generous Arab host for Palestinians. The Saudis are also cognizant of the deeply-rooted Palestinian collaboration with Islamic, Asian, African, European and Latin American terror organizations, including “Muslim Brotherhood” terrorists and Iran’s Ayatollahs (whose machetes are at the throat of the House of Saud), North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela. The Saudis are convinced that the proposed Palestinian state cannot be different than the Palestinian rogue track record, which would add fuel to the Middle East fire, threatening the relatively-moderate Arab regimes.
Saudi Arabia and the Abraham Accords
*Saudi Arabia has served as the primary engine behind Israel’s peace treaties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and the Sudan, and has forged unprecedented defense and commercial cooperation with Israel, consistent with the Saudi order of national priorities.
*Contrary to Western conventional wisdom, the Saudis do not sacrifice Middle East reality and their national security interests on the altar of the Palestinian issue.
*The success of the Saudi-supported Abraham Accords was a result of avoiding the systematic mistakes committed by Western policy makers, which produced a litany of failed Israeli-Arab peace proposals, centered on the Palestinian issue. Learning from prior mistakes, the Abraham accords focused on Arab interests, bypassing the Palestinian issue, avoiding a Palestinian veto.
*Therefore, the durability of the Abraham Accords depends on the interests of the respective Arab countries, and not on the Palestinian issue, which is not a top priority for any Arab country.
*The durability of the Abraham Accords depends on the stability of Saudi Arabia and the Arab countries which signed the Abraham Accords. Their stability is threatened by the volcanic nature of the unstable, highly-fragmented, unpredictable, violently intolerant, non-democratic and tenuous Middle East.
*The tenuous nature of most Arab/Muslim regimes in the Middle East yields tenuous policies and tenuous accords. For example, in addition to the Arab Tsunami of 2010 (which is still raging on the Arab Street), non-ballot regime-change occurred (with a dramatic change of policy) in Egypt (2013, 2012, 1952), Iran (1979, 1953), Iraq (2003, 1968, 1963-twice, 1958), Libya (2011, 1969) and Yemen (a civil war since the ’90s, 1990, 1962), etc.
*Bearing in mind the intra-Arab Palestinian track record, regional instability, the national security of Saudi Arabia, the Abraham Accords and US interests would be severely undermined by the proposed Palestinian state west of the Jordan River. It would topple the pro-US Hashemite regime east of the River; transform Jordan into a chaotic state in the vein of the uncontrollable Libya, Syria, Iraq and Yemen; and produce another platform of regional and global Islamic terrorism, which would be leveraged by Iran’s Ayatollahs, in order to tighten their encirclement of Saudi Arabia. This would trigger a domino scenario, which would threaten every pro-US Arab oil-producing country in the Arabian Peninsula, jeopardizing the supply of Persian Gulf oil; threaten global trade; and yield a robust tailwind to Iran’s Ayatollahs, Russia and China and a major headwind to the US and its Arab Sunni allies, headed by Saudi Arabia.
*Why would Saudi Arabia and the Arab regimes of the Abraham Accords precondition their critical ties with Israel upon Israeli concessions to the Palestinians, which they view as a rogue element? Why would they sacrifice their national security and economic interests on the altar of the Palestinian issue? Why would they cut off their noses to spite their faces?
The well-documented fact that Arabs have never flexed a military muscle (and hardly a significant financial and diplomatic muscles) on behalf of the Palestinians, provides a resounding answer!
Israel-Saudi cooperation and Israel’s national security interests
*Notwithstanding the importance of Israel’s cooperation with Saudi Arabia, it takes a back seat to Israel’s critical need to safeguard/control the geographic cradle of its history, religion and culture, which coincides with its minimal security requirements in the volcanic Middle East: the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria (West Bank), which dominate the 8-15-mile-sliver of pre-1967 Israel.
*The tenuously unpredictable Middle East reality defines peace accords as variable components of national security, unlike topography and geography (e.g., the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights) which are fixed components of Israel’s minimal security requirements in the non-Western-like Middle East. Israel’s fixed components of national security have dramatically enhanced its posture of deterrence. They transformed the Jewish State into a unique force and dollar multiplier for the US.
*An Israel-Saudi Arabia peace treaty would be rendered impractical if it required Israel to concede the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria, which would relegate Israel from a terror and war-deterring force multiplier for the US to a terror and war-inducing burden upon the US.
*Contrary to the Western (mis)perception of Israel-Arab peace treaties as pillars of national security, the unpredictably-violent Middle East features a 1,400-year-old reality of transient (non-democratic, one-bullet, not one-ballot) Arab regimes, policies and accords. Thus, as desirable as Israel-Arab peace treaties are, they must not entail the sacrifice of Israel’s most critical national security feature: the permanent topography of the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria, which dominate 80% of Israel’s population and infrastructure.
*In June and December of 1981, Israel bombed Iraq’s nuclear reactor and applied its law to the Golan Heights, in defiance of the Western foreign policy establishment. The latter warned that such actions would force Egypt to abandon its 1979 peace treaty with Israel. However, Egypt adhered to its national security priorities, sustaining the peace treaty. Routinely, Western policy makers warn that construction in Jerusalem (beyond the “Green Line”) and in Judea and Samaria would trigger a terroristic volcano and push the Arabs away from their peace treaties with Israel.
*None of the warnings materialized, since Arabs act in accordance with their own interests; not in accordance with Western misperceptions and the rogue Palestinian agenda.
US departure from the recognition of a United Jerusalem as the exclusive capital of the Jewish State, and the site of the US Embassy to Israel, would be consistent with the track record of the State Department, which has been systematically wrong on Middle East issues, such as its opposition to the establishment of the Jewish State; stabbing the back of the pro-US Shah of Iran and Mubarak of Egypt, and pressuring the pro-US Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, while courting the anti-US Ayatollahs of Iran, Saddam Hussein, Arafat, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and the Houthis of Yemen; transforming Libya into a platform of global Islamic terrorism and civil wars; etc..
However, such departure would violate US law, defy a 3,000 year old reality – documented by a litany of archeological sites and a multitude of documents from Biblical time until today – spurn US history and geography, and undermine US national and homeland security.
United Jerusalem and the US law
Establishing a US Consulate General in Jerusalem – which would be a de facto US Embassy to the Palestinian Authority – would violate the Jerusalem Embassy Act, which became US law on November 8, 1995 with substantially more than a veto-override majority on Capitol Hill.
According to the Jerusalem Embassy Act, which enjoys massive support among the US population and, therefore, in both chambers of Congress:
“Jerusalem should remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected….
“Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of the state of Israel; and the United States Embassy in Israel should be established in Jerusalem….
“In 1990, Congress unanimously adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution 106, which declares that Congress ‘strongly believes that Jerusalem must remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected….’
“In 1992, the United States Senate and House of Representatives unanimously adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution 113… to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem, and reaffirming Congressional sentiment that Jerusalem must remain an undivided city….
“In 1996, the state of Israel will celebrate the 3,000th anniversary of the Jewish presence in Jerusalem since King David’s entry….
“The term ‘United States Embassy’ means the offices of the United States diplomatic mission and the residence of the United States chief of mission.”
United Jerusalem and the legacy of the Founding Fathers
The US Early Pilgrims and Founding Fathers were inspired – in their unification of the 13 colonies – by King David’s unification of the 12 Jewish tribes into a united political entity, and establishing Jerusalem as the capital city, which did not belong to any of the tribes (hence, Washington, DC does not belong to any state). King David entered Jerusalem 3,000 years before modern day US presidents entered the White House and 2,755 years before the US gained its independence.
The impact of Jerusalem on the US founders of the Federalist Papers, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Federalist system and overall civic life is reflected by the existence, in the US, of 18 Jerusalems (4 in Maryland; 2 in Vermont, Georgia and New York; and 1 in Ohio, Michigan, Arkansas, North Carolina, Alabama, Utah, Rhode Island and Tennessee), 32 Salems (the original Biblical name of Jerusalem) and many Zions (a Biblical synonym for Jerusalem and the Land of Israel). Moreover, in the US there are thousands of cities, towns, mountains, cliffs, deserts, national parks and streets bearing Biblical names.
The Jerusalem reality and US interests
Recognizing the Jerusalem reality and adherence to the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act – and the subsequent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the site of the US Embassy to Israel – bolstered the US posture of deterrence in defiance of Arab/Islamic pressure and threats.
Contrary to the doomsday assessments by the State Department and the “elite” US media – which have been wrong on most Middle East issues – the May 2018 implementation of the 1995 law did not intensify Palestinian, Arab and Islamic terrorism. State Department “wise men” were equally wrong when they warned that Israel’s 1967 reunification of Jerusalem would ignite a worldwide anti-Israel and anti-US Islamic volcanic eruption.
Adherence to the 1995 law distinguishes the US President, Congress and most Americans from the state of mind of rogue regimes and terror organizations, the anti-US UN, the vacillating Europe, and the cosmopolitan worldview of the State Department, which has systematically played-down the US’ unilateral, independent and (sometimes) defiant national security action.
On the other hand, US procrastination on the implementation of the 1995 law – by Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama – eroded the US posture of deterrence, since it was rightly perceived by the world as appeasement in the face of pressure and threats from Arab/Muslim regimes and terrorists. As expected, it radicalized Arab expectations and demands, failed to advance the cause of Israel-Arab peace, fueled Islamic terrorism, and severely undermined US national and homeland security. For example, blowing up the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and murdering 224 persons in August 1998; blowing up the USS Cole destroyer in the port of Aden and murdering 17 US sailors in October 2000; the 9/11 Twin Towers massacre, etc.
Jerusalem and Israel’s defiance of US pressure
In 1949, President Truman followed Secretary of State Marshall’s policy, pressuring Israel to refrain from annexing West Jerusalem and to accept the internationalization of the ancient capital of the Jewish people.
in 1950, in defiance of brutal US and global pressure to internationalize Jerusalem, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion reacted constructively by proclaiming Jerusalem the capital of the Jewish State, relocating government agencies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and settling tens of thousands of Olim (Jewish immigrants to Israel) in Jerusalem. He upgraded the transportation infrastructure to Jerusalem, erected new Jewish neighborhoods along the 1949 cease fire lines in Jerusalem, and provided the city land reserves for long-term growth.
In 1953, Ben Gurion rebuffed President Eisenhower’s pressure – inspired by Secretary of State Dulles – to refrain from relocating Israel’s Foreign Ministry from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
In 1967, President Johnson followed the advice of Secretary of State Rusk – who opposed Israel’s 1948 Declaration of Independence – highlighting the international status of Jerusalem, and warned Israel against the reunification of Jerusalem and construction in its eastern section. Prime Minister Levi Eshkol adopted Ben Gurion’s statesmanship, fended off the US pressure, reunited Jerusalem, built the first Jerusalem neighborhood beyond the 1949 ceasefire lines, Ramat Eshkol, in addition to the first wave of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria (West Bank), the Jordan Valley and the Golan Heights.
In 1970, President Nixon collaborated with Secretary of State Rogers, attempting to repartition Jerusalem, pressuring Israel to relinquish control of Jerusalem’s Holy Basin, and to stop Israel’s plans to construct additional neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem. However, Prime Minister Golda Meir refused to rescind the reunification of Jerusalem, and proceeded to lay the foundation for additional Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the 1949 ceasefire lines: Gilo, Ramot Alon, French Hill and Neve’ Yaakov, currently home to 150,000 people.
In 1977-1992, Prime Ministers Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir defied US and global pressure, expanding construction in Jerusalem, sending a clear message: “Jerusalem is the exclusive and non-negotiable capital of Israel!”
“[In 1978], at the very end of [Prime Minister Begin’s] successful Camp David talks with President Jimmy Carter and President Anwar Sadat, literally minutes before the signing ceremony, the American president had approached [Begin] with ‘Just one final formal item.’ Sadat, said the president, was asking that Begin put his signature to a simple letter committing him to place Jerusalem on the negotiating table of the final peace accord. ‘I refused to accept the letter, let alone sign it,’ rumbled Begin. ‘If I forgot thee O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning,’ said [Begin] to the president of the United States of America, ‘and may my tongue cleave to my mouth’ (The Prime Ministers – An Intimate Portrait of Leaders of Israel, 2010)”
In 2021, Prime Minister Bennett should follow in the footsteps of Israel’s Founding Father, Ben Gurion, who stated: “Jerusalem is equal to the whole of the Land of Israel. Jerusalem is not just a central Jewish settlement. Jerusalem is an invaluable global historical symbol. The Jewish People and the entire world shall judge us in accordance with our steadfastness on Jerusalem (“We and Our Neighbors,” p. 175. 1929).”
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The goal of Passover’s liberty was not the subjugation of the Egyptian people, but the defeat of the tyrannical Pharaoh and the veneration of liberty throughout the globe, including in Egypt.
Moses received the Torah – which includes 50 gates of wisdom – 50 days following the Exodus, as celebrated by the Shavou’ot/Pentecost Holiday, 50 days following Passover. Moreover, there are 50 States in the United States, whose Hebrew name is “The States of the Covenant” (Artzot Habreet -ארצות הברית).
Passover aims at coalescing the fabrics of the Jewish family and the Jewish people, commemorating and strengthening Jewish roots, and refreshing and enhancing core values such as faith, humility, education, optimism, defiance of odds and can-do mentality, which are prerequisites to a free and vibrant society.
Passover is an annual reminder that liberty must not be taken for granted.
Jerusalem has been the exclusive capital of the Jewish people since King David established it as his capital, 3,000 years ago.
More: Jewish Holidays Guide for the Perplexed – Amazon, Smashwords
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Synopsis:
*Israel’s control of the topographically-dominant mountain ridges of the Golan Heights, Judea and Samaria has enhanced Israel’s posture of deterrence, constraining regional violence, transforming Israel into a unique force-multiplier for the US.
*Top Jordanian military officers warned that a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River would doom the pro-US Hashemite regime east of the River, transforming Jordan into a non-controllable terrorist heaven, generating an anti-US domino scenario in the Arabian Peninsula.
*Israel’s control of Judea and Samaria has eliminated much of the threat (to Jordan) of Judea and Samaria-based Palestinian terrorism.
*Israel’s posture of deterrence emboldens Jordan in the face of domestic and regional threats, sparing the US the need to deploy its own troops, in order to avoid an economic and national security setback.
*The proposed Palestinian state would become the Palestinian straw that would break the pro-US Hashemite back.
*The Palestinian track record of the last 100 years suggests that the proposed Palestinian state would be a rogue entity, adding fuel to the Middle East fire, undermining US interests.
Israel’s and the US’ counter-terrorism
*Islamic and Palestinian terrorism consider Israel as a critical beachhead – and a proxy – of the US in the Middle East and a significant collaborator with the pro-US Arab regimes. They perceive the war on “the infidel Jewish State” as a preview of their more significant war on “the infidel West” and their attempts to topple all pro-US Sunni Arab regimes. Therefore, Islamic and Palestinian terrorism has been engaged in intra-Arab subversion, while systematically collaborating with enemies and rivals of the US and the West (e.g., Nazi Germany, the Soviet Bloc, Ayatollah Khomeini, Latin American, European, African and Asian terror organizations, North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba). The more robust is Israel’s war on terrorism, the more deterred are the terrorists in their attempts to bring the “infidel” West to submission.
*Islamic and Palestinian terrorism has terrorized Jewish communities in the Land of Israel since the late 19th century, adhering to an annihilationist vision as detailed by the Fatah and PLO charters of 1959 and 1964 (eight and three years before 1967), as well as by the hate-education system, which was installed by Mahmoud Abbas in 1993 following the signing of the Oslo Accord.
*Israel battles Palestinian terrorism (Hamas and the Palestinian Authority) and Islamic terrorism (Iran and Hezbollah), which are not preoccupied with the size – but with the eradication – of the “infidel” Jewish State from “the abode of Islam.”
*Israel and the West fight against deeply-rooted and institutional Islamic and Palestinian terrorism, that is inspired by 1,400-year-old rogue values, which are perpetrated by K-12 hate-education, mosque incitement and official and public idolization of terrorists.
*Israel and the West combat terrorism, that has astutely employed 1,400-year-old Islamic values such the “Taqiya’ ” – which promotes double-speak and dissimulation, as a means to mislead and defeat enemies – and the “Hudna’,” which misrepresents a temporary non-binding ceasefire with “infidels” as if it were a peace treaty.
*Israel and the West confront Islamic and Palestinian terrorism, which is politically, religiously and ideologically led by despotic and rogue regimes, rejecting Western values, such as peaceful-coexistence, democracy, human rights and good-faith negotiation.
*Israel and the West face off against Palestinian and Islamic terrorism, which does not allow lavish financial and diplomatic temptations to transcend intrinsic, fanatic, rogue and annihilationist vision. Moreover, terrorists bite the hands that feed them.
*Israel and the West are not assaulted by despair-driven terrorism, but by hope-driven terrorism – the hope to bring the “infidel” to submission. The aspiration of these terrorists contradicts peaceful-coexistence.
*Israel and the West clash with terrorists, who view gestures, concessions and hesitancy as weakness, which inflames terrorism.
*Israel and the West struggle against terrorism, which is not driven by a particular Israeli or US policy, but by a fanatic vision. Thus, Islamic terrorism afflicted the US during the Clinton and Obama Democratic Administrations, as well as during the Bush and Trump Republican Administrations.
*The US State Department has embraced a “moral equivalence” between Palestinian terrorists – who systematically and deliberately hit civilians, while sometimes hitting soldiers – and Israeli soldiers, who systematically and deliberately hit terrorists, while sometimes, unintentionally, hitting civilians. It emboldens terrorism, which threatens all pro-US Arab regimes, undermining regional stability, benefiting US’ rivals and enemies, while damaging the US.
War on terrorism
*The bolstering of posture of deterrence – rather than hesitancy, restraint, containment and gestures, which inflame terrorism – is a prerequisite for defeating terrorism and advancing the peace process.
*The most effective long-term war on terrorism – operationally, diplomatically, economically and morally – is not a surgical or comprehensive reaction, but a comprehensive and disproportional preemption, targeting the gamut of terroristic infrastructures and capabilities, draining the swamp of terrorism, rather than chasing the mosquitos.
*Containment produces a short-term, false sense of security, followed by a long-term security setback. It is the terrorists’ wet dream, which does not moderate terrorism, but adrenalizes its veins, providing time to bolster its capabilities – a tailwind to terror and a headwind to counter-terrorism. It shakes the confidence in the capability to crush terrorism. Defeating terrorism mandates obliteration of capabilities, not co-existence or containment.
*Containment aims to avoid a multi-front war (Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, Hezbollah and Iran), but it erodes Israel’s posture of deterrence, which brings Israel closer to a multi-front war under much worse conditions.
*Containment erodes Israel’s posture of deterrence in the eyes of the relatively-moderate Arab countries (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, the Sudan, Jordan and Egypt), which have dramatically enhanced cooperation with Israel due to Israel’s posture of deterrence against mutual threats, such as Iran’s Ayatollahs, the “Muslim Brotherhood” and ISIS terrorists).
*Containment is also a derivative of White House’s and the State Department’s pressure, subordinating national security to diplomatic priorities. It undermines Israel’s posture of deterrence, which plays into the hand of anti-Israel and anti-US rogue regimes. Precedents prove that Israeli defiance of US pressure yields short-term tension, but long-term strategic respect, resulting in expanded strategic cooperation. On a rainy day, the US prefers a defiant, rather than appeasing, strategic ally.
*The 2002 comprehensive counter-terrorism Israeli offensive, and the return of Israel’s Defense Forces to the headquarters of Palestinian terrorism in the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) – and not defensive containment and surgical operations – resurrected Israel’s effective war on Palestinian terrorism, which substantially curtailed terrorists’ capabilities to proliferate terrorism in Israel, Jordan and the Sinai Peninsula.
*The containment option intensifies terrorists’ daring, feeds vacillation and the self-destructive “don’t rock the boat” mentality. It erodes steadfastness and confidence in the capabilities to withstand the cost of terrorism, and feeds the suicidal perpetual retreat mentality.
*The addiction to containment is one of the lethal by-products of the 1993 Oslo Accord, which has produced a uniquely effective hot house of terrorism, highlighted by the importation, arming and funding of some 100,000 Palestinian terrorists from Tunisia, the Sudan, Yemen, Lebanon and Syria to Gaza, Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem, who have unprecedentedly radicalized the Arab population of pre-1967 Israel, established a K-12 hate education system, launched an unparalleled wave of terrorism, and systematically violated agreements.
The bottom line
*The 30 years since the Oslo Accord have featured unprecedented Palestinian hate-education and wave of terrorism. It has demonstrated that a retreat from the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria has boosted terrorism; that the Palestinian Authority is not committed to a peace process, but to the destruction of the Jewish State; and that terrorism requires a military, not political, solution. A successful war on terrorism behooves a preemptive offense, not defense, containment and reaction; and that fighting in the terrorists’ own trenches is preferable to fighting in one’s own trenches. No Israeli concessions could satisfy international pressure; and diplomatic popularity is inferior to strategic respect. Avoiding a repeat of the critical post-Oslo errors requires a comprehensive, disproportional, decisive military campaign to uproot – not to coexist with – terroristic infrastructures.
*The historic and national security indispensability of the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria – which dominate the 8-15-mile sliver of pre-1967 Israel – and the necessity to frustrate Palestinian terrorism, behooves Israel to eliminate any sign of hesitancy and vacillation by expanding the Jewish presence in this most critical area. It will intensify US and global pressure, but as documented by all Prime Ministers from Ben Gurion, through Eshkol, Golda Meir, Begin and Shamir, defiance of pressure results in the enhancement of strategic respect and cooperation.
*The Palestinian track record during the 30 years since the 1993 Oslo Accord has highlighted the violent, unpredictable and anti-US rogue nature of the proposed Palestinian state west of the Jordan River, which would force the toppling of the pro-US Hashemite regime east of the River. It would transform Jordan into an uncontrollable, chaotic state in the vein of Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, triggering a domino scenario into the Arabian Peninsula (south of Jordan), which could topple the pro-US, oil-producing Arab regimes. This would reward Iran’s Ayatollahs, China and Russia, while severely undermining regional and global stability and US economic and national security interests.
