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The US-Israel relationship explained | Start Here
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The US has always been Israel’s most important ally. What’s behind the relationship? What keeps it going? And why are some people questioning how it works? #AJStartHere with @SandraGathmann explains.
00:59 - The US has supported Israel from the beginning
01:44 - Why the US supported Zionism
02:29 - The US and Israel’s “shared values”
03:27 - The US and Israel are strategic partners
04:07 - How the US and Israel’s strategic partnership developed during the Cold War
05:29 - The US gives Israel a lot of money for its military
07:25 - Being pro-Israel pays off politically in the US
07:51 - Why evangelical Christians in the US support Israel.
08:34 - The influence of pro-Israel lobby groups like AIPAC
09:46 - Is the US the guarantor of Israeli impunity?
10:56 - Is the US-Israel alliance under pressure?
This episode features:
David Tal - Israel Studies at the University of Sussex
Khaled Elgindy - Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute
Steven Simon - Senior Research Analyst at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
Alex Gatopoulos - Al Jazeera Defence Editor
Daniel Levy - President of the US / Middle East Project
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Transcript
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Intro
let's talk about the US's relationship
with Israel we stand with Israel I love
Israel I love Israel the bond between
our two countries is unbreakable the
Eternal friendship relationship is very
important we are you and you are us it's
a relationship that's always been super
close but it's been getting more
attention
recently after Hamas attacked Israel on
October
7th and Israel launched its war on
Gaza the US is moving a tremendous mous
amount of Firepower and Manpower as a
show of support to Israel significant
increase in American Support basically
comparable to a blank check no questions
asked not even a debate now there are
lots of layers to the US Israel
relationship and it's tied up in at
least 75 years of pretty complicated
history but here are four things to know
that'll help explain what's behind it
what's kept it going and where it's at
[Music]
now the the first thing to know is that
US support for Israel
the US has supported Israel from the
very beginning the Arab Israel Israel
declared itself a state in 1948 on land
that had previously been Palestine under
British control more than 700,000
Palestinians fled or were forced from
their homes and the US was the first
country to recognize Israel President
Truman did it just 11 minutes after its
creation the idea of establishing a
nation for Jewish people had been
gaining momentum for decades it was the
main goal of a movement called Zionism
which started in the late 1800s zionists
believed that a Jewish homeland was the
only way to ensure safety for Jews who'd
suffered persecution around the world
for centuries the United States the to
Day idea designist idea from the very
beginning it was almost natural that the
United States would be the first to
recognize the existence of the state of
Israel there was great Sympathy for the
Zionist project throughout the 1930s and
40s for example
and of course after the Holocaust that
was combined with enormous Sympathy for
the genocide that was uh carried out
against the Jewish people in Europe and
that helped pave the way for Western and
particularly American support for the
establishment of a Jewish State the
other thing was that President Harry
Truman was facing an election and uh he
didn't want to sacrifice any possible
Edge that he could have over his
opponent now something both the US and
Shared values
Israel highlight a lot is the idea of
shared values it can be hard to pin down
exactly what those values are but many
US politicians talk about Israel as the
only democracy in the Middle East a lot
of people might criticize this idea that
both the US and Israel are beacons of
democracy but whatever you think about
that it's a narrative they both like to
emphasize America is a nation of
immigrants strengthened by diversity
enriched by faith were fueled by
entrepreneurship and in ation and we are
defined by a democratic discourse so in
Israel we see values that we share they
seem to feel they have an alignment of
values that perhaps the United States
doesn't feel it has with Muslim nations
in the Middle East and they feel that
Israel's strategic desires and America's
strategic desires dovetail um
significantly and I think that's
something that draws them together so
here's the next point to know as well as
Strategic Partners
those shared values the US and Israel
are strategic Partners what does that
mean well basically that they both get
something concrete out of the
relationship that serves their National
interest and it really started with the
Cold War significant news from Russia
that's the period after the second world
war until the late 1980s when the US and
the Communist Soviet Union were
competing to be the dominant Global
power and that rivalry played out in the
Middle East too especially in in Egypt
Israel's neighbor keep in mind that five
Arab countries including Egypt went to
war with Israel right after it was
created colel NASA holds a parade in
1955 Egypt's leader Gamal Abdul Nasser
bought weapons from the Soviet Union we
have to defend our country against
aggression that shifted the military
balance in the region against Israel and
marked a new division in the Middle East
with that Naser separated himself from
the west and the Middle East was divided
into two camps Pro Soviet and pro
Western now here's the thing Israel had
been asking the US for weapons since
1950 it said it needed them to maintain
a military Edge over hostile Arab
neighbors and in 1962 the US under
President Kennedy finally agreed Kennedy
laid the foundation for what would later
become a a closer relationship and one
that
had a strategic Dimension that increased
exponentially after the 1967 war when
Israel not only fended off Arab states
in 6
days but also managed to conquer land
from Jordan Syria and Egypt and with
time Israel started to offer more and
more strategic gains and advantages to
the United States they've got
intelligence gathering abilities that
are pretty efficient and they're also
funneling a lot of this information back
to the United States so what does Israel
Military Aid
get out of its relationship with the US
well among other things a lot of money
since the second world war the United
States has given more money to Israel
than any other country about $260
billion in total that included economic
aid until 2008 but now the us only gives
money for military spending Israel gets
3.8 billion a year as part of a deal
signed by President Obama these American
taxpayer dollars have helped Israel
build up one of the most powerful
militaries in the
world with the latest American fighter
jets and an advanced missile defense
system called Iron
Dome but one important thing to know
about the money given to Israel is that
almost all of it has to be spent in the
US America provides essentially grants
to buy for Israel to buy uh American
Military Hardware so it's kind of a
self-licking ice cream cone really I
mean you you give all this money but
it's actually spent uh on industries
that are in Key congressional districts
another thing about this military aid is
that the US really doesn't attach any
conditions to it either in terms of how
the weapons are used or as a way to
pressure Israel on any of its policies
like the way it treats Palestinians for
example Israel essentially is given a
blank check uh with regard to the
military hardware the
technology uh the resources that the
United States provides um there is
little or no
scrutiny theoretically there are laws in
place for example the Ley laws that US
military hardware can only be used for
defensive purposes and can't be used uh
in violation of of Human Rights
standards um we've never seen those
conditions or those Provisions applied
in in the Israeli case so how do we
explain this blank check approach while
Public Opinion
some of it comes down to domestic us
politics where generally being
pro-israel pays off politically and one
way to look at that is by looking at
public opinion on the Israeli
Palestinian issue sympathy for Israelis
has consistently pulled higher than
sympathy for Palestinians although the
gap's been narrowing a bit recently
something else to consider is that a big
voting constituency in the US are
Evangelical or born- again Christians
they make up about about a quarter of
the US population and they are
overwhelmingly pro Israel Israel is not
a political issue it's a Bible issue
Israel is the only nation on earth
created by a sovereign Act of God Jewish
people are God's chosen people the Bible
says 55 times that that land shall be
Israel's land forever we are talking
about a millions of millions of people
who believe that what is written in the
Bible is a pure truth so if God promised
to Abraham that land of Israel would be
his and of his descendants then this is
what should happen another element in US
political support for Israel is the
influence of pro-israel Lobby groups
like APAC now there are different
schools of thought on just how much
influence Lobby groups like APAC
actually have in practice are they
really shaping policy or are they just
promoting policies already popular with
politicians and the public whatever the
case us leaders certainly pay attention
well hello apack what a remarkable
remarkable crowd it is wonderful to be
here and see so many friends APAC has
long been able to direct funds to
candidates for office on the basis of uh
that
candidate's um attitudes towards Israel
especially in the House of
Representatives where you know they're
you know running for office every 5
minutes they need a constant flow of
money what the Jewish Israel Lobby do is
not forcing policy on the United States
as many academics and pundits are
arguing they present a policy that they
argue would be preferable to Israel if
these interests are aligned with the
American interest then the United States
would go for you so you've got all of
these elements that feed into the US's
relationship with Israel there's the
history those shared values strategic
interests religion and Broad public and
political support all of this has
Criticism
sustained the relationship to the point
where some people say it goes pretty
much unchallenged and that's where a lot
of the criticism also comes in
especially in the context of Israel's
occupation of Palestinian territory and
a system that human rights groups have
described as a parid one view of the US
Israel relationship is that it basically
enables this to the detriment of both
Palestinians and Israelis cuz crucial to
this relationship is that America is the
guarantor
of Israeli impunity we could not be
where we are today if America had not
got us to a place where there are no
costs and consequences
internationally legally in terms of
sanctions at the UN etc for the way
Israel treats the Palestinians day in
day out for generations and I wonder how
much America is waking up to that so is
the alliance under pressure well it's
hard to say but events following the
Hamas attack on October 7th have put it
on full display let there be no doubt
the United States has Israel's back
plenty of people are questioning it
perhaps more than before Biden You Can't
Hide bid Biden you can't hide the United
States of America provides $3.8 billion
every year to Israel we have a right to
say sorry you need a new military
strategy but whether that will translate
into any tangible change is something
else Congress is still overwhelmingly in
line with the traditional uh pro-israel
stance uh that is largely uncritical and
in many cases hostile toward
Palestinians a lot will depend on how
the Gaza War plays out what Israel does
next and how the US government
responds we do all kinds of explainers
on news events and current affairs on
start here you can check out our YouTube
playlist
here
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