See the other articles in this series:
- The atomic bombing of
- Operation
- Support for rebellions throughout the Cold War
- Shifting alliances in the
- Unflinching support of
- The War in
- American Exceptionalism and its two-faced foreign policy
The Story of U.S.-Israeli Relations
Without a doubt, Israel is one of the largest causes of social and political conflict in the modern era. Since its creation in 1948, Israel has been in a constant state of war. Neighboring countries did not recognize its legitimacy as a country, causes several bloody wars throughout the initial decades (Israel is well known for being literally surrounded by enemies). The Arab-Israel Conflict has become so entrenched in Middle East culture that the two sides disagree on how it began. An Arab will tell you that the conflict started with the influx of Jews into Palestine in the early 20th century and the Balfour Declaration in 1917, which established Britain's pro-Zionist policy -- the declaration was met negatively by Palestinians and other opponents of a Zionist state. The Muslim-Christian Association was particularly vocal in their opposition.
Israelis, on the other hand, claim that tensions began to flare after the Hebron massacre on the 23rd and 24th of August, 1929, in which 67 Jews were murdered by the local Arab population. The Arab assailents, operating under false rumors that fellow Arabs were being killed by Jewish forces, forced the surviving Jews out of Hebron. The city (one of the holiest in Judaism) remained under Arab control until 1967.
U.S. Support for Israeli State
United States support for Israel has been a proverbial snowball of foreign policy, progressing from a distant alliance to its present condition today of unconditional support. President Truman recognized the Israeli government within eleven minutes of its Declaration of Independence on May 14, 1948. This was heavily disputed within the United States, however, particularly by Secretary of State John Marshall, who was concerned about U.S. interests and alliances in the Arab world. Marshall argued that the establishment of an Israeli state would destabilize the Middle East -- he even threatened to vote against Truman in the next election if the United States recognized Israeli legitimacy.
At first, the United States maintained a lukewarm relationship with Israel. It provided the small nation with monetary loans but little else. During the Suez Crisis of 1956 (in which Israel, Britain, and France attacked Egypt), the United States used its political capital to force a withdrawal from the invading nations. Eisenhower even threatened to bankrupt Britain and devalue the British pound. This was the last instance of the United States putting serious public pressure on Israel.
Distance to Friendship: Johnson, the USS Liberty, and the Six-Day War
When President Johnson took over the White House, the United States maintained a distant relationship with Israel. It wanted to avoid looking overtly friendly with the Jewish state while trying to maintain friendly ties to Arab states who were actively being courted by the Soviet Union. This policy shifted during the Six-Day War -- the victory of the tiny democracy over its surrounding enemies inspired the United States to revamp its perspective on Middle East nations. The Johnson administration decided that the Arab nations had entered the Soviet Union's camp and began the thus far unbroken policy of selling advanced weapons to Israel to give it an advantage over other nations in the area.
It is notable that this shift in support to Israel occurred so soon after the disastrous Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, stationed off of Egypt. Israeli officials claimed that the American vessel was mistakenly identified as an enemy craft and that the United States failed to dislose its location beforehand. Several high level U.S. bureaucrats said that it would have been impossible for Israel to mistake the ship's identity and that the attack was not accidental.
The USS Liberty after the Israeli attack.
Continued U.S. Support
In 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel in what would become the twenty-day Yom Kippur War. Six days into the conflict, the United States launched Operation Nickel Grass, a strategic airlift operation that delivered over 20,000 tons of military equipment to Israel. This equipment was instrumental in Israel's victory but devastating to the United States' relationships with Arab nations. When the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries found out about Operation Nickel Grass, the organization instituted an oil embargo and raised the posted price of oil by 70%. This led to the 1973 oil crisis and its notorious price controls and rationing.
During Jimmy Carter's term as President, he strongly pushed Israel to give rights and land to Palestinians and successfully helped negotiate the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. The pressure that he put on Israel, however, soon gave way to outright support during the Reagan years. The Israel supporters in the United States were initially hesitant about Ronald Reagan after some of his appointees had personal ties with Arab nations, but Reagan proved to be a powerful ally for Israel.
In 1987, Reagan promoted Israel to a "major non-NATO ally," which gave them further access to U.S. weapons systems. Reagan also initiated a free trade agreement with Israel and is widely considered one of the most pro-Israel Presidents in modern history. During President Bush's term, U.S.-Israel relations were soured when the administration told Israel to halt its expantionist activities, but soon rebounded after the Gulf War. Israel was one of the countries under threat from Saddam Hussein and the United States' destruction of the Iraqi army strengthened the political bonds between the two nations.
President Clinton focused a large amount of energy on Middle East relations, presiding over the Oslo Accords, the Jordan-Israeli Peace Treaty, and the Interim Agreement between Israel and Palestinians. While there was subdued animosity between Clinton and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the United States never backed down from whole-hearted support for its ally.
The Oslo Accords, 1993
President Bush had a solid relationship with Israel, hinting that he was not opposed to Israel's settlement activities and providing military equipment during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon Conflict. Barack Obama, despite reiterating the United States' support for Israel, has thus far been accused of being anti-Israel -- according to Voice of America News, a poll on June 19th, 2009, found that only 6 percent of Israeli citizens think that Obama is pro-Israel. Demonstrating the dychotimous nature of Middle East politics, 50 percent of Israelies see Obama as pro-Palestinian.
Why is support for Israel such a huge deal?
Israel is one of the most contested political issues in the world -- most Arab nations don't even recognize its right to exist. Border guards in twelve Arab countries (Afghanistan, Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen) check for Israeli visas and will refuse access to anyone who they suspect has visited Israel at any time. By America so unconditionally supporting a country whose existence they consider illegal, these countries see the United States as inherently anti-Arab. To some extent, this has been true: in any conflict between Israel and the Arab world, the United States will invariably and automatically side with Israel. The "Israel issue" is constantly brought up by Arab governments, terrorist spokesmen, and Arab columnists and religious leaders (not that the three fall within the same genre of people at all).
Why does the United States support Israel?
There are obvious reasons for U.S. support for Israel: it is the most stable democracy in the Middle East and a long-term ally of the West. The unconditional, absolute support of Israel comes not from rationality, however, but from the strong pro-Israel lobby in the United States. This "lobby" has two unofficial parts -- constituent support and actual lobbying groups. The strength of the former (the American voters' strong support for Israel) was evidenced in the 2008 Presidential election, when rumors of Obama anti-Israel beliefs threatened to hurt his campaign and his constituent support. The official lobby is primarily composed of to groups: the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Because of the intense Jewish lobby, it is extremely difficult for American politicians to criticize Israel in any way. Barack Obama noted this landmine of an issue when he said that "there is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says, 'unless you adopt an unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel, then you're anti-Israel,' and that can't be the measure of our friendship with Israel."
For more information
The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy,
by John J. Mearsheimer
The Case for Israel,by John J. Mearsheimer
by Alan DershowitzA History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time,
by Howard M. Sacharp732x4tes6
