The US and Israel: A Special Relationship

Torossian 1
Jérôme Torossian
Dr. Sensi
PLSC 325
December 2nd, 2016
The U.S. and Israel: A Special Relationship
The lifelong diplomatic relationship between the State of Israel and the United States is a
story that has started only 68 years ago. Thus, making the United States and Israel’s strategic
partnership pretty young. Indeed, since the earliest days of the Jewish’s state existence in 1948,
the United States has demonstrated a strong interest in the establishment of a close and
cooperative relation with Israel. This wish for deep bilateral ties has been based on an
unbreakable commitment to shared values and national interests. In fact, the United States and
Israel are both dedicated to democracy as they each follow and pledge for the rule of law, human
rights, and freedom of speech and religion. In addition, their close strategic and diplomatic
relation is also due to similar concerns, such as Israel’s security, worldwide terrorism and nuclear
weapons proliferation. The United States’ government considers Israel’s safety not only as
important for its foreign policy in the Middle East, but also as a key factor to its own interests in
the region. As a result, the United States constantly gives Israel tremendous help in terms of
military assistance so that it can protect itself against potential external threats. On the other
hand, Israel being technologically advanced works closely with the United States so to
strengthen their armies and secure their respective nations. In this essay, I will discuss the current
U.S. foreign policy priorities concerning the State of Israel and will mention certain areas of
controversy and shared interests between these two nations. Furthermore, a description of the
positions of the relevant U.S. institutional players, privates sectors, and the American public will
be provided in this work.

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In order to understand how Israel was able to become a nation in the Middle East, and
how its relationship begun with the United States, a historical overview is more than necessary.
The main factor that pushed for the demand of a Jewish state in Palestine is not only through the
rise of anti-Semitism in Europe, but also due to a new ideology: Zionism. Zionism is a political
movement that can be considered Jewish nationalism, which the supporters strongly believe that
for security reasons the Jews should have their own state. One of the most important figures in
the history of Zionism is Theodor Herzl, the founder of the World Zionist Organization.1 During
the years 1894-1895, Theodor Herzl was in Paris working as a correspondent for a Viennese
newspaper.2 While he was in France, Theodor Herzl was able to closely observe the Dreyfus
Affair of 1894. Alfred Dreyfus, a French Jewish artillery captain, was arrested on charges of
treason and wrongfully accused of espionage for the benefit of the German Empire. This trial led
to the spread of anti-Semitic sentiment throughout France, and eventually pushed Herzl to find a
solution. In 1896, his solution was formalized after the publication of The Jewish State, where he
concluded that European anti-Semitism was unstoppable and that only answer to the Jewish
problem was the creation of a Jewish homeland.3
During World War I, France and Great Britain secretly signed the Sykes-Picot
Agreement, in which they both agreed to partition between themselves the Middle East. In 1917,
Lord Balfour sent a letter to the Zionists’ representative stating that the British government
“view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”4 The
United States supported the British proposal as Woodrow Wilson not only advocated for
people’s right to self-determination, but also because he was under the influence of his Jewish
1 Safran, Nadav.The United States and Israel. Cambridge: Harvard University Press,1963, p.19
2 Ibid., p.19
3 Harms, Gregory.StraightPower Concepts inthe Middle East: US Foreign Policy, Israel, and World History. London: PlutoPress,2010, p.64

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friend and adviser, Louis D. Brandeis.56 Due to the Balfour Declaration, thousands of Jews began
to do their aliyah to the land of Israel. This immigration of Jews grew even larger after Adolf
Hitler came to power in Germany and ordered the Holocaust. In 1947, the United Nations
General Assembly passed the Resolution 181, with both the United States and the Soviet Union
voting in favor for the creation of an Arab and Jewish state in Palestine.7 At that time, the United
States had three main goals. First, to maintain peace and receive sympathy from the Arabs.
Second, to protect its oil interests. Third, to assist Jewish refugees from the Holocaust.8 After a
civil war and the end of the British mandate over Palestine, David Ben-Gurion, the first prime
minister of Israel, proclaimed on May 14th, 1948 the independence of the State of Israel.
President Harry Truman officially recognized Israel within eleven minutes after its
independence. Thus, making the United States the first country to grant de facto recognition to
the State of Israel.9
The United States had a great interest in the Middle East, and Israel proved to be a good
opportunity for the U.S. so to maintain a foothold in the region and spread its influence. Before,
the American foreign policy regarding the Middle East was to contain communism, ensuring
countries to have access to petroleum, promote democratic values and capitalism, and protect
Israel. Today, the United States still has a strong interest in the region, although containing the
Soviets is no longer part of the U.S foreign policy agenda. Throughout the past 68 years, the
good bilateral relations between the United States and Israel have been maintained due to
democratic and religious values as well as security interests. Their diplomatic relations also have
5 Schoenbaum,David. The United States and the State ofIsrael. NewYork: OxfordUniversityPress,1993, p.17
6 Harms, Gregory.StraightPower Concepts inthe Middle East: US Foreign Policy, Israel, and World History. London: PlutoPress, 2010, p.36-37
7 Ibid., p.68
9 Ibid., p.42

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grown significantly over the years thanks to legislation, memorandums of understanding, and
cooperation in diverse sectors, such as military, scientific, economic, and trade.10
At first, the United States provided Israel with low military and economic aid. However,
this behavior started to change in the 1970s as Congress became dedicated to strengthening
Israel’s military, economy, and national security.11 Located in a sensible region, the United
States believes that Israel needs to be able to defend itself from external threats like Hamas,
Hezbollah, or Iran. Thus, Israel is known since the 1980s to be the largest receiver of American
foreign aid. Indeed, it obtains annually from the United States around $3 billion. To put it into
perspective, Israel received in 2016 more than the two countries below it combined. In fact, the
second largest recipient of US aid in 2016 is Afghanistan with $1.51 billion, and the third is
Egypt with $1.46 billion.12 Previously, a significant percentage of the American foreign aid to
Israel was meant to develop its economy. Since the Israeli economy is doing pretty well
nowadays, the monetary aid to Israel is mostly dedicated for Foreign Military Financing (FMF).
Actually, the Obama administration has recently agreed to provide Israel with $38 billion in
military aid over the next 10 years.13 This deal represents the largest bilateral military aid
package ever made in American history and demonstrates the close alliance between the U.S.
and Israel. The U.S. FMF to Israel represents approximately 20% of Israel’s defense budget.14
The US aid is the reason why the Israeli Defense Force is not only one of the strongest but also
one of the most technologically sophisticated armies in the world. In fact, Israel possesses many
American fighter aircraft, such as Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, but also anti-tunnel
10 Freedman,Robert. Israel and theUnitedStates: Six Decades ofUS-IsraeliRelations.Boulder: Westerview Press, 2012, p.124
11 Ibid., p.128
12 McCarthy, Niall. TheCountries Set To Receive TheMostU.S. Foreign AidIn 2016. Forbes,2016. Web.
13 Gaouette, Nicole.Largest-ever US military aid package togo to Israel. CNN, 2016. Web.
14 Zanotti, Jim. Israel: BackgroundandU.S Relations. CongressionalResearch Service, 2016, p.22

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technologies, and anti-tank and anti-rocket missiles to name a few.15 Despite the fact that Israel
receives lots of military assistance from America, there is still a rule that Israel needs to follow
under the 1952 Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement. This agreement states that “The
Government of Israel assures the United States Government that such equipment materials, or
services […] will be used solely to maintain its internal security, its legitimate self-defense” and
that it will not use them to attack another country.16
From 1948 up to the mid-1980s, trade relations between the United States and Israel did
not go over $1 billion. Yet, their commercial relationship significantly increased after they both
agreed to sign the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) of 1985.17 The FTA was concluded so to
eliminate all customs duties between the two nations, and “serve as a model for the rest of the
world.”18 Today, Israel ranks 23rd as the United States’ top trading partner, while the United
States is Israel’s number one.19 Currently, Israel exports around $20 billion in goods to the
United States, which is almost seven times the amount it obtains in military aid and represents
two-thirds of American manufacturing imports from the Middle East.20 It imports approximately
$10 billion in goods coming from the United States. The five largest U.S. goods imports from
Israel are diamonds, pharmaceutical products, electrical machinery, machinery, and optic and
medical instruments.21 Israel imports from the U.S. the same kinds of goods, but the difference is
that it receives aircraft.22 In addition, the United States and Israel have created programs so to
encourage industrial, agricultural, and scientific research cooperation. For instance, the
Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund (BARD), the Binational Industrial
16 Ibid., p.26
18 Ibid., p.132
21 Israel Free Trade Agreement -Office oftheUnited States TradeRepresentative
22 Ibid

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Research and Development (BIRD), and the Binational Science Foundation (BSF) were founded
in order to promote collaboration. BARD is a funding program that research on agricultural
issues, which is managed by American and Israeli scientists.23 It focuses on diverse areas such as
animal health, food quality and safety, and environmental problems.24 For the moment, this
program has financed over 850 projects in most of the American states.25 BIRD was founded to
create cooperation between the private American sectors and Israeli high-tech industries.26 To
name a few, the areas of interest currently include homeland and cyber security, software, and
agrotechnology.27 The program finances annually fifteen projects with an investment of around
$11 million.28 Lastly, the BSF tries to promote scientific and technological research cooperation
between the U.S. and Israel. The BSF has funded around 4,000 projects, some of which have
won the Nobel Prize.29
Nowadays, the support of the United States towards the State of Israel is both political,
military, and financial. However, this assistance also has a direct impact on the American
political system. In fact, the relationship between the United States and Israel is so important that
every American candidate running for the presidency has to address its commitment to the
Jewish state. This is due in part because the American Jews are able to affect the US-Israeli
diplomatic relations not only through their influence on Israel but also from their strength on
American politics and government.30 Currently, the United States is home to around six million
Jews, which represent 2% of the American population.31 Although they constitute a small
24 Ibid., p.134-135
25 Ibid., p.135
26 U.S.-Israel Binational Foundations: BinationalIndustrial Research &DevelopmentFoundation (BARD) (BIRD) (BSF) –Jewish VirtualLibrary
27 Ibid
29 Ibid., p.135
31 Pohoryles, Yaniv.Why theJewishvoteis soimportant toUS presidentialcandidates.Ynetnews, 2016. Web.

Torossian 7
minority in the American electorate, obtaining the votes from Jews can be a good push in a
presidential election.32 Actually, gaining the votes from American Jews can be crucial for
candidates as they are mostly located in big cities, which can prove to be a great factor for the
state they are in.33 Gil Troy, a US presidential historian and lecturer at McGill University,
recently conducted a study on why Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton decided to make pro-Israel
speeches and arguments during their campaign. First of all, Professor Troy stated that American
Jews are quite wealthy, politically active, and generous donators. Indeed, he estimated that the
American Jewish contributions in the 2016 presidential election represented 50% of the
donations received for the Democratic Party and 25% for the Republicans.34 In addition, he noted
that in major swing states, there “is a high concentration of Jews, they have a considerable
influence relative to the community’s size.”35 Likewise, he emphasized that a number of Jews
hold high positions all around the country. He declared that the fact that some American Jews are
senators, congressmen or Supreme Court justices may have a significant impact. Moreover,
another explanation is that the voter turnout in the Jewish community represent 85%, while the
general voter turnout in the United States is around 50%.36 American Jews tend to vote in favor
of a person based on its stand on matters regarding Israel, and candidates are well aware of that.
Therefore, it demonstrates how American Jews can be so influential in the United States, and
how important the Jewish vote represent for presidential candidates.
The American foreign policy towards Israel, and to some extent the Middle East, may not
be discussed without mentioning the influence of the pro-Israel lobby in the United States. This
lobbying group is composed of multiple firms, which advocate in impacting US government
32 Safran, Nadav.The United States and Israel. Cambridge:Harvard University Press, 1963,p.276
33 Ibid., p.276
34 Pohoryles, Yaniv.Why theJewishvoteis soimportant toUS presidentialcandidates.Ynetnews, 2016. Web.
35 Ibid
36 Ibid

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policies in areas that are in Israel’s interest. For instance, pro-Israel lobby supports US military
aid to Israel. In addition, they also work so to reduce American support for Israel’s enemies. The
most famous pro-Israel lobby is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). In
order to influence American policies regarding Israel and the Middle East, pro-Israel lobby
conducts diverse activities. Pro-Israel lobby tries to influence “lawmakers in Congress as well as
policy makers and officials in the executive branch.”37 It drafts and promotes bills that are in
Israel’s favor, which the House of Representatives and the Senate often approve. Their main job
is not just to encourage and/or oppose certain policies. Actually, what they also want is to keep
cordial relations with politicians and bureaucrats while maintaining them informed about issues
regarding Israel.38 They watch closely American governmental elections so to raise and donate
money to the candidate they prefer. These funds are made so to help politicians who are
sympathetic to their cause and defeat those who are not. The pro-Israel lobby had many
successes in impacting U.S. foreign policy. One of the main success of the pro-Israel lobby was
when it influenced President Woodrow Wilson to support the idea of allowing a Jewish
homeland in Palestine. The 1917 British plan was approved by the Wilson administration despite
the opposition from the State Department.39 Moreover, although it is contrary to American policy
goals, the lobby was able to prevent actions from many US administrations so to stop the Israeli
settlements in the occupied territories.40
In general, the American public supports Israel’s right to exist and consider it as an ally
of the United States. In 2007, a study was conducted in forty-five nations so to compare public
38 Ibid., p.81
39 Ibid., p.83
40 Ibid., p.95

Torossian 9
opinions regarding Israel.41 The United States was the most sympathetic country as 60% of
Americans sympathized with Israel against 13% who sided with Palestinians.42 Over the years,
polls have demonstrated that Americans of all ages, races, and religions still expressed great
sympathy towards Israel and thought that the U.S. should continue to support this country.
Although the United States and Israel have a strong diplomatic relationship, they still
have deep disagreements over several topics. One of them is the issue of the Israeli settlements.
The Israeli settlements are basically cities that are funded by the Israeli government and built
within Palestinian lands. Israel believes that it has the right to do so not only because these lands
are part of the promised land, but also in order to create a buffer zone so to protect itself.43 The
Israeli government also emphasizes that under international law, if a territory is used to attack a
country, the targeted nation has the right to invade and settle the land for security reasons.44
Since 1967, the position of the United States regarding the Israeli settlements has fluctuated over
time. Multiple administrations thought that settlements were against international law. For
instance, President Carter’s Secretary of State Cyrus Vance declared in 1980 that settlements
were illegal.45 On the other hand, President Reagan thought that they were not illegal. In 2011,
the Obama administration vetoed a UNSC resolution describing the settlements illegal. However,
Susan Rice, a former U.S. ambassador to the UN, pointed out “the folly and illegitimacy” of
Israeli settlements.46 Currently, the official position of the United States is that settlements
represent an obstacle to peace talks and agreement. The State Department recently condemned
the approval from the Israeli government to create new Jewish settlements on the West Bank.
Another source of disagreement between the United States and Israel is concerning the 2015 Iran
42 Ibid., p.100
43 Steves, Rick. Settlements inthe West Bank, froman IsraeliPoint ofView. Huffingtonpost, 2013. Web.
44 Ibid
46 Malka, Haim. Crossroads: The Future ofthe U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership. Center for Strategicand International Studies, 2011.Web.

Torossian 10
deal. In this agreement, Iran accepted to redesign and reduce its nuclear facilities in exchange for
the lifting of the economic sanctions from the UN, U.S., and EU. President Obama believed that
it was a historic deal and that it will make the world more secure as Iran will less likely obtain a
nuclear weapon.47 However, Benjamin Netanyahu strongly opposed it declaring that it was a
“historic mistake” and that it threatened Israel’s existence. In addition, he argued that “such a
deal would not block Iran’s path to the bomb. It would pave it.”48 It is worth to mention that Iran
represents a great threat to Israel, a country where the supreme leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini,
has declared that Israel will not exist in 25 years.
Since its independence, Israel and its population believe that the United States represents
their only true ally. In fact, these two nations have successfully maintained for decades a special
relationship and partnership through research and political, military, and economic aids.
However, some Israelis begin to question this friendship as the United States and Israel often
encounter disagreements, such as on the 2015 Iran deal. In addition, the United States and Israel
do not have a formal mutual military defense treaty, thus, it increases Israelis’ uncertainty on
whether the U.S. would intervene in case Israel was in danger. Despite the fact that America has
constantly pledged American assistance and given tremendous military aid to Israel, the United
States does not want to frustrate countries in the Arab world by choosing sides. Consequently,
future developments are hard to predict as long as the Israeli government and the people of Israel
are doubtful of U.S. commitments to their country and region. To prevent any tension, the United
States and Israel should work carefully together so to develop policies that are beneficial for their
mutual interests and dedication in the Middle East.49
47 Korte, Gregory. Obama: Iran deal makes the world safer. USAToday, 2016. Web.
48 Tossi, Nahal; Gass,Nick.Netanyahuwarns ofnuclear arms race. Politico, 2015. Web.
49 Malka, Haim. Crossroads: The Future ofthe U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership. Center for Strategicand International Studies, 2011.Web.

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Bibliography
Freedman, Robert. Israel and the United States: Six Decades of US-Israeli Relations. Boulder:
Westerview Press, 2012. Web.
Gaouette, Nicole. Largest-ever US military aid package to go to Israel. CNN, 2016. Web.
Harms, Gregory. Straight Power Concepts in the Middle East: US Foreign Policy, Israel, and
World History. London: Pluto Press, 2010. Print.
Hurt, James. What is the U.S. position regarding the legality of Israeli settlements?. Council on
Foreign Relations, 2013. Web.
Korte, Gregory. Obama: Iran deal makes the world safer. USAToday, 2016. Web.
Malka, Haim. Crossroads: The Future of the U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership. Center for
Strategic and International Studies, 2011. Web.
McCarthy, Niall. The Countries Set To Receive The Most U.S. Foreign Aid In 2016. Forbes,
2016. Web.
Pohoryles, Yaniv. Why the Jewish vote is so important to US presidential candidates. Ynetnews,
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Safran, Nadav. The United States and Israel. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1963. Print.
Schoenbaum, David. The United States and the State of Israel. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1993. Print.

Torossian 12
Steves, Rick. Settlements in the West Bank, from an Israeli Point of View. Huffingtonpost, 2013.
Web.
Toosi, Nahal; Gass, Nick. Netanyahu warns of nuclear arms race. Politico, 2015. Web.
Zanotti, Jim. Israel: Background and U.S Relations. Congressional Research Service, 2016.
Web.
Israel Free Trade Agreement - Office of the United States Trade Representative
https://ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/israel-fta
U.S.-Israel Binational Foundations: Binational Industrial Research & Development Foundation
(BARD) (BIRD) (BSF) – Jewish Virtual Library
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/BARD.html

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