"The Israelis, of course, remain a vital ally and a cornerstone of our regional security commitments."
- Admiral Mike Mullen,Chairman of the joint chief of staff
Since the creations of the Jewish State, the U.S. - Israel Relationship has been built on two primary components:
1) strategic cooperation
- Israel's willingness and ability to defend western interests
- sharing intelligence on Soviet weapons
- cooperation on anti-terrorism, ballistic missile defense, and anti-proliferation
- work to defeat spread of radical Islamist ideology, counter-fitting, and
cyberwarfare
2) shared values
- democratic countries
- Judeo-Christian heritage
- common values of morality, social Justice, and universal peace that are
embedded in heritage
- many similarities between the American Bill of Rights and Israel’s Basic Law
on Human Dignity and Liberty
Today, many Americans are aware of the immense contribution that America gives to Israel, but few really understand what Israel does for America:
- Israel had provided intelligence on the Soviets and other nations, help combat global terrorism, and have a high tech economy that contributes to all western nations.
The shared values between America and Israel cause them to be reliable allies, and with very few other countries in the world does America share the same high level of strategic cooperation.
The two countries have combined military planning and exercise, and they share intelligence and technological development; this strong cooperation has cause a deterrent among other nations in the Middle East who seek to harm either country
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America's Partner: Israel
- Strategy
- High Level meetings
- Intelligence sharing
- medical cooperation
- misslie defense
- digital defense
- military exchanges
- aviation security
- police cooperation
- emergency management
- port security
- border security
- cyber defense
- bomb detection
- science and technology
Special example:
suicide attacks
since operation Iraqi Freedom which began in 2003, there have been more then 1,700 suicide attacks targeting American and allied forces as well as civilians.
-Israeli Innovation--> Israel developed the Coral-SD = a portable device that detects explosives and other weapons concealed under the clothing of an enemy from far distance
The Opposition:
Bias in the media
· Tom Friedman, the New York Times columnist, constantly crosses the line in the way he displays his lack of support for Israel and resentment towards the pro-Israel lobby. This opinion writer shows that there does exist negative bias in the media today in America regarding Israel
He wrote in a recent column that, "I sure hope that Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, understands that the standing ovation he got in Congress this year was not for his politics. That ovation was bought and paid for by the Israel lobby."Opposition on campus and in the nation
· Israel Apartheid week
· Students for Justice in Palestine
· We should not focus on foreign spending in an economic crisis...
· Detractors of relationship insinuate that Israel seeks to get America to fight its wars for it. This is untrue: Israel has always insisted on defending itself by itself. If Israel today seeks "defensible borders," this is because it wants to deploy the Israel Defense Forces and not the U.S. Army.
