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Israel – America’s Unique Ally

“Israel is responsible for over 600 modifications in the current generation of General Dynamics’ F-16 fighter aircraft, providing GD a multi-billion dollars bonus in research and development, improving GD’s competitive edge in the global market, expanding the US employment and export base and enhancing US national security,” told me GD’s plant manager in Ft. Worth, Texas. Similar benefits are enjoyed by hundreds of US defense contractors, who sell their products to Israel. Israel’s choice of US military products is perceived, by the global community, as a Blue Ribbon effect, which multiplies US exports. Israel constitutes the most advanced, battle-tested, cost-effective, invaluable laboratory for US military systems.

Israel is to the US defense industry what a triple-A tenant is to a shopping mall – value enhancer and tenants/clients drawer.

In fact, the CEOs of Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, IBM and many other US giants concur that Israeli technologies have played a crucial role in their global competitiveness.  George Gilder, a US high tech guru maintains that “we need Israel as much as it needs us.”

Contrary to conventional wisdom, US-Israel relations are not a one-way street (US gives and Israel receives), but a two-way street, mutually-beneficial, win-win ties. Contrary to conventional oversimplification, US-Israel relations transcend the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Palestinian issue.

Israel has shared with US soldiers, on their way to Iraq and Afghanistan, its unique experience in facing car bombs, suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and anti-tank missiles.  Israeli developed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide intelligence otherwise unobtainable, preempting terrorists, thus saving American lives.  Brig. General Michael Vane, Deputy Chief of Staff at the US Army Training and Doctrine Command contends that the Israeli experience played a role in defeating terrorists in Iraq’s Sunni Triangle.

According to Senator Daniel Inouye, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Chairman of the Appropriations Committee and former Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, “the scope of intelligence received, by the US, from Israel exceeds the scope of intelligence received from all NATO countries combined.”

According to Assistant Secretary of State, Andrew J. Shapiro, “Israel serves as a cornerstone of our regional security commitments. From confronting Iranian aggression, to working together to combat transnational terrorist networks, to stopping nuclear proliferation and supporting democratic change and economic development in the region – it is clear that both our strategic outlook, as well as our national interests, are strongly in sync….Israeli technology is proving critical to improving our Homeland Security and protecting our troops. One only has to look at Afghanistan and Iraq, where Israeli armor plating technology is being used on U.S. military vehicles and innovative equipment, such as the specially designed “Israeli bandage,” is being used to treat our troops….U.S. and Israeli forces also take part in numerous exercises throughout the year in order to test operational concepts, improve interoperability, and practice urban terrain and counter-terrorism operations…”

In 1970, Israel demonstrated its posture of deterrence, while the US was bogged down in Vietnam. Israel forced the rollback of the pro-Soviet Syrian invasion of pro-US Jordan, which also threatened the survival of pro-US oil-rich Persian Gulf regimes. Thus, Israel spared the US an economic and national security disaster, without requiring a single US boot.

In 1981, Israel demonstrated its counter-nuclear proliferation muscle, and its aptitude as a national security producer, by bombing Iraq’s nuclear reactor, thus sparing the US a nuclear confrontation with Iraq in1991 and 2003.  In 2007, Israel demolished a Syrian-Iranian-North Korean nuclear reactor in Syria. Israel’s battle tactics were promptly shared with the US Air Force.

The late General Alexander Haig, who was NATO’s Supreme Commander and US’ Secretary of State, defined Israel as “the largest, most battle-tested and cost-effective US aircraft carrier, which does not require a single US boot, cannot be sunk and is located at a most critical area. If Israel did not exist, the US would have to deploy a few more real aircraft carriers to the eastern flank of the Mediterranean, costing $20BN annually, which has been spared by the Jewish State.”

The seismic events on the Arab Street – which have yet to climax – underline the tenuous nature of Arab regimes, policies and alliances. The stormy Arab Winter – which may be followed by a burning Arab Summer – highlights the one-bullet, one-revolution aspect of each Arab regime.

The pending US withdrawal from Iraq, the increasing volatility of the Middle East, the intensifying threats, the deepening Russian and Chinese involvement, the vulnerability of pro-US Arab regimes and the substantial US interests, shed light on Israel as the sole stable, reliable, capable, democratic and unconditional ally of the US – a regional anomaly and a global rarity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 




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Open letter to Prime Minister Bennett ahead of visit to USA

(Hebrew edition in “Israel Hayom,” Israel’s largest circulation daily)

During your first official visit to Washington, DC, you’ll have to choose between two options:

*Blurring your deeply-rooted, assertive Israeli positions on the future of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), which would be welcome by the Biden Administration, yielding to short-term political convenience and popularity inside the beltway;

or

*Tenaciously advocating your deeply-rooted, principle-driven positions, which would underscore a profound disagreement with the Biden Administration and the “elite” US media, while granting you and Israel long-term strategic respect, as demonstrated by some of your predecessors.

For example, the late Prime Minister Shamir honed the second option, bluntly introduced his assertive Israeli positions on Judea and Samaria, rebuffed heavy US pressure – including a mudslinging campaign by President Bush and Secretary of State Baker – suffered a popularity setback, but produced unprecedented expansion of US-Israel strategic cooperation. When it comes to facing the intensified threats of rogue regimes and Islamic terrorism, the US prefers principle-driven, reliable, patriotic, pressure-defying partners, irrespective of disagreements on the Palestinian issue.

Assuming that you shall not budge on the historical and national security centrality of Judea and Samaria, it behooves you to highlight the following matters during your meetings with President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, National Security Advisor Sullivan, Secretary of Defense Austin and Congressional leaders (especially the members of the Appropriations Committees):

  1. The 1,400-year-old track record of the stormy, unpredictable, violent and anti-“infidel” Middle East, which has yet to experience intra-Arab peaceful-coexistence, along with the 100-year-old Palestinian track record (including the systematic collaboration with anti-US entities, hate-education and anti-Arab and anti-Jewish terrorism) demonstrates that the proposed Palestinian state would be a Mini-Afghanistan or a Mega-Gaza on the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria.

It would dominate 80% of Israel’s population and infrastructures in the 9-15-mile sliver between Judea and Samaria and the Mediterranean, which is shorter than the distance between RFK Stadium and the Kennedy Center.

Thus, a Palestinian state would pose a clear and present existential threat to Israel; and therefore, Israel’s control of the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria is a prerequisite for its survival.

  1. The proposed Palestinian state would undermine US interests, as concluded from the Palestinian intra-Arab track record, which has transformed the Palestinians into a role-model of intra-Arab subversion, terrorism and ingratitude. Arabs are aware that a Palestinian state would add fuel to the Middle East fire, teaming up with their enemies (e.g., Iran’s Ayatollahs, the Muslim Brotherhood and Turkey’s Erdogan) and providing a strategic foothold to Russia and China. Consequently, Arabs shower Palestinians with favorable talk, but with cold and negative walk.

Hence, during the October, 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty ceremony, Jordan’s military leaders asserted to their Israeli colleagues that a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River would doom the pro-US Hashemite regime east of the River, and lead, subsequently, to the toppling of all pro-US Arab Peninsula regimes.

  1. There is no foundation for the contention that Israel’s retreat from the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria – which are the cradle of Jewish history, religion and culture – is required in order to sustain Israel’s Jewish majority. In reality, there is unprecedented Jewish demographic momentum, while Arab demography – throughout the Middle East – has Westernized dramatically. The Jewish majority in the combined area of Judea, Samaria and pre-1967 Israel benefits from a robust tailwind of fertility and migration.
  2. Israel’s control of the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights, bolsters its posture of deterrence, which has daunted rogue regimes, reduced regional instability, enhanced the national security of all pro-US Arab regimes, and has advanced Israel’s role as a unique force-multiplier for the US. An Israeli retreat from Judea and Samaria would transform Israel from a strategic asset – to a strategic liability – for the US.
  3. As the US reduces its military presence in the Middle East – which is a global epicenter of oil production, global trade (Asia-Africa), international Islamic terrorism and proliferation of non-conventional military technologies – Israel’s posture of deterrence becomes increasingly critical for the pro-US Arab countries (e.g., Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan), who consider Israel to be the most reliable “life insurance agent” in the region.

Contrary to NATO, South Korea and Japan, Israel’s defense does not require the presence of US troops on its soil.

  1. Sustaining Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge is a mutual interest for the US and Israel, which serves as the most cost-effective battle-tested laboratory for the US defense industries and armed forces. Thus, Israel’s use of hundreds of US military systems has yielded thousands of lessons (operation, maintenance and repairs), which have been integrated, by the US manufacturers, into the next generation of the military systems, saving the US many years of research and development, increasing US exports and expanding the US employment base – a mega billion dollar bonanza for the US. At the same time, the US armed forces have benefitted from Israel’s military intelligence and battle experience, as well as joint training maneuvers with Israel’s defense forces, which has improved the US formulation of battle tactics.

Prime Minister Bennett, your visit to Washington, is an opportunity to demonstrate your adherence to your deeply-rooted strong Israeli positions, rejecting the ill-advised appeals and temptations to sacrifice Israel’s national security on the altar of convenience and popularity.

Yours truly,

Yoram Ettinger, expert on US-Israel relations and Middle East affairs

Support Appreciated

 

 

 

 

 




Videos

The post-1967 turning point of US-Israel cooperation

Israeli benefits to the US taxpayer exceed US foreign aid to Israel

Iran - A Clear And Present Danger To The USA

Exposing the myth of the Arab demographic time bomb