Even before Tuesday's blue tsunami doused Capitol Hill and lapped up on the White House steps, the U.S.-Israel relationship fell into disarray. "We were giving them $4 billion," Donald Trump said Tuesday morning, "but it gets cut off at the end of the year." "Why should we suffer the slings from lunatics like an [Michigan Democrat Abdul] El-Sayed when they don't need it?" he asked. "It's a bad talking point." Wednesday morning, J.D. Vance claimed that the midterm became a rout because 2024 Trump voters were disaffected by the Iran war, cost of living increases, an abandonment of America First, and the relationship with Israel.
Failures of this magnitude have many causes, and the finger-pointing is already going at full tilt. If Israel's critics have their way, however, America's problems will get worse.
Defense aid to Israel is controversial. Some Americans oppose foreign aid in toto. Others believe that the aid is only useful as a source of leverage, and since it has not stopped the Jewish state from shooting back at its enemies, it should be scrapped. Screeches emanate from the fever swamps that the funds Israel receives reveal some kind of dark hold the Jewish state has over Washington.
These arguments range from wrongheaded to unhinged. Israel is the largest recipient of defense aid in terms of dollars, but other countries host tens of thousands of U.S. troops. Paying for some of Israel's purchases of our military equipment has promoted U.S. interests in the region without putting nearly as many Americans in harm's way.
Israel's American critics fundamentally fail to understand their own country's interests. Since Franklin D. Roosevelt met Saudi monarch Abdulaziz Ibn Saud in 1945, the United States has sought to prevent any other power from dominating or destabilizing the Middle East's energy reserves. This has been a core U.S. interest whether we were exporting oil or needed imports, because stable oil markets are critical for a functional global economy that benefits Americans. For its part, Israel does not want to be dominated by any of its neighbors, so it too opposes aspiring regional hegemons. The two have worked closely together for decades because of this confluence of geopolitical interests, more than anything else.
Washington did this not because of Holocaust guilt or scheming Shylocks, but because of Israel's strength. The strategic partnership only took root after Israel became too powerful to ignore. During the Cold War, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger realized they could use Israel as a lever to pry the Soviets out of the Middle East. Nixon prized allies who could handle smaller adversaries on their own, and the Jewish state proved more than capable of doing that. But Israel was socialist and therefore poor, so at first it needed significant amounts of aid for the partnership to achieve its full potential.
The alliance has been helpful ever since. Without Israel's strike on Saddam Hussein's Osirak reactor in 1981, the United States might have faced a nuclear Iraq 10 years later. The 2007 strike in Syria prevented the nation's civil war from turning into a nuclear nightmare. Israelis and Americans have fought all kinds of Islamist terrorism side by side.
Some Americans on both sides of the aisle want to blame Israel for the floundering campaign against Iran. But as Trump made clear on Wednesday, his concern about the "death to America" crowd acquiring nuclear weapons has to do with preventing an attack on Washington, not Tel Aviv. Israelis rightly fear a nuclear Iran too, which is why the IDF was a capable partner during the fighting.
Ironically, Israel is exactly the kind of ally the America First crowd claims to want. It has the same enemies as the United States, sustains a military that complements American power, and tries to take care of as much of its own affairs as possible without involving U.S. forces. Many Americans who are not sympathetic to Trump’s views also want to reduce our involvement in the Middle East, which is not feasible without relying more heavily on the Jewish state.
Israel is important for other American interests too. The competition with China for global technological leadership is fierce, and Israel is a world leader in a variety of fields, including cybersecurity and biotechnology. When U.S. policymakers gather allies and partners to stay ahead of America's enemies, the Israelis are at the table.
The relationship has taken different forms while still benefiting both countries. Transitioning from aid to joint partnerships could be appropriate. Earlier this year, Benjamin Netanyahu stated that American aid to Israel should eventually come to an end as Israel grew wealthier.
But there is a difference between helping a friend grow more self-reliant and abruptly cutting off 20 percent of an ally's defense budget in the middle of a war. One choice is prudent. The other? Madness.
