What Israel does
for the United States
• In 1952, as the Cold War got underway, U.S. Army Chief-of-Staff Omar Bradley called for the
integration of Israel into the Mediterranean Basin area, in light of the country's location and unique capabilities.
• In 1967, Israel defeated a radical Arab, pro-Soviet offensive, which threatened to bring
about the collapse of pro-American Arab regimes and disrupt oil supply, thus
severely undermining the American standard of living. The U.S. gained valuable
military information from analysis of captured Soviet equipment, including
SAM-2, SAM-12, Mig-21 aircraft, and Soviet T-54 battle tanks. In fact, Israel
gave an entire squadron of MiG-21s to the U.S. which was dubbed the “Top Gun”
squadron and used by the U.S. Air and Naval forces for training purposes. Since
1967, Israel transferred captured Soviet weapons systems to the U.S. Pentagon
after every conflict:
1967, 1967-70, 1973, 1982, 1990 (Scud remnants from the Gulf War), and
2006(remnants of Iranian supplied missiles.
• In the 1967-1970 1000 Day War of Attrition, the IDF, armed with American aircraft
successfully defeated a Soviet-supplied air defense system, pointing out the deficiencies in Soviet air-defense doctrine to US defense planners. Israel shared captured military equipment
include P-2 radar and Soviet tanks with the U.S. military.
• In 1970, Israel brought about the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Jordan, at a time
when the U.S. was tied up by wars in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, thus
preventing the fall of the pro-American Hashemite regime and the installation of a pro-Soviet radical Palestinian terrorist regime.
• In 1973 – thanks to U.S. re-supply, but without U.S. forces, Israel defeated
Soviet-trained and equipped Egyptian and Syrian forces. Israel again shared captured Soviet equipment, including T-62battle tanks with the U.S. Israel emerged as the only reliable ally where U.S.troops could land, where U.S. equipment can be pre-positioned, where the U.S.
has friendly port facilities (in Haifa and Ashdod) in the entire Middle East
region. This too has saved the U.S. billions of dollars.
• 1970s - Joseph Sisco, a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, assistant to Secretary of
State Henry Kissinger during the latter’s shuttle diplomacy, told the Israeli author and military
expert, Shmuel Katz: “I want to assure you, Mr. Katz, that if we were not
getting full value for our money, you would not get a cent from us.”
• In 1981,Israel bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak, delaying Saddam Hussein’s
quest for nuclear weapons. It thus provided the U.S. with the option of engaging in conventional wars with Iraq in
1991 and 2003.
• The vice president General Dynamics which produces the F16 fighter jets has stated that
Israel is responsible for 600improvements in the plane's systems, modifications estimated to be worth billions of dollars, which spared dozens of research and development years.
• In 1982,Israel destroyed Soviet anti-aircraft batteries in Lebanon that were considered
immune to American weapons. Israel promptly shared the operation's lessons,
estimated to be worth billions of dollars.
• Former Secretary of State and NATO forces commander Alexander Haig has stated that he
is pro-Israeli because Israel isthe largest American aircraft carrier in the world that cannot be sunk, doesnot carry even one American soldier, and is located in a critical region for
American national security.
• During thefirst Gulf War 1991, Israel provided invaluable intelligence, an umbrella of
air cover for military cargo,and had personnel planted in the Iraqi desert to pick up downed American pilots.
• General George Keegan, former head of U.S. Air Force Intelligence has publicly declared that
“Israel is worth five CIA’s.”
He further stated that between 1974 and 1990, Israel received $18.3 billion in U.S. military grants. During the same period Israel provided the U.S. with $50-80 billion in intelligence, research and development savings, and Soviet weapons systems captured and transferred to the U.S.
• In 2005,Israel provided America with the world's most extensive experience in homeland
defense and warfare againstsuicide bombers and car bombs. American soldiers train in IDF facilities and Israeli-madedrones fly above the "Sunni Triangle" in Iraq, as well as in Afghanistan,providing U.S. Marines with vital intelligence.
• In September2007, the IAF destroyed a Syrian-North Korean nuclear plant, extending the US’sstrategic arm. It provided the US with vital information on Russian air defense
systems, whichare also employed by Iran. It bolstered the US posture of deterrence and
refuted the claim that US-Israel relations have been shaped by politicalexpediency.
• In 2009,Israel shares with the US its battle-tested experience in combating Palestinian
and Hizbullah terrorism, which are the role model of anti-US Islamic terrorismin Iraq and Afghanistan.US GIs benefit from Israel’s battle tactics against car bombs, improvised
explosive devices and homicide bombing. An Israel-like ally in the Persian Gulf
would have spared the need to dispatch US troops to Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi
Arabia.
• Israel has relayed to the U.S. lessons of battle (during the Cold War – Soviet military
doctrine) and counter-terrorism(including aircraft security, homicide-suicide bombings) which reduce Americanlosses in Iraq and Afghanistan, prevent attacks on U.S. soil, upgrade Americanweapons, and contribute to the U.S. economy. Without Israel, the U.S. would
have been forced to deploy tens of thousands of American troops in the eastern
Mediterranean Basin, at a cost of billions of dollars a year.
• Senator DanielInouye has recently (2005) argued Israeli information regarding Soviet arms
saved the U.S. billions of dollars. The contribution made by Israeli intelligence to America is greater than that provided by all NATO countries combined, he said.
• Israel's utilization of American arms guarantees its existence, but at the same time
gives U.S. military industries,such as Boeing and General Dynamics, a competitive edge compared to European industries,while also boosting American military production, producing American jobs, andimproving America's national security. Japan and South
Korea, for example, preferred the "Hawkeye" spy plane and the MD-500
chopper, both purchased and upgraded by Israel, over comparable British and
French aircraft.
• The American industries want U.S. aid to Israel to continue. The bulk of the $1.8 billion in
annual U.S. military aid toIsrael must be spent in the United States. That provides jobs for some 50,000U.S. workers. Virtually all of the $1.2 billion in annual economic aid goes for
repayment of debt to the United States, incurred from military purchases dating
back many years. This debt is now close to being liquidated.
• Innovative Israeli technologies have a similar effect on American civilian, including
computer-related industries and agricultural industries, which view Israel as a successful research and
development site.
• Members of the U.S. Congress leaders, then Vice President Dick Cheney, and then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld are aware of Israel's unique contribution to U.S. interests. But, in fact, they all wonder why the post-1993 Israel does not use its impressive contribution as leverage, in sharp contrast to the pre-1993 Israel.
• In contrast to our commitments to Korea, japan, Germany and other parts of the world, not a
single American serviceperson needs to be stationed in Israel. Considering that the cost of one
service person per year – including backup and infrastructure – is estimated to be about $200,000 per year, and assuming a minimum contingent of 25,000 troops, the cost savings to the United States on that score alone are on the order of $5 billion a year.
During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Syrian missile batteries
in Lebanon caused heavy damage to Israeli fighter jets. As a result, Israel
developed the first modern UAV. Israel pioneered the use of UAVs for real-time
surveillance, electronic warfare and decoys. The images and radar decoying
provided by these UAVs helped Israel to completely neutralize the Syrian air
defenses at the start of the 1982 Lebanon War, resulting in no pilots downed.
With the maturing and miniaturization of applicable technologies as seen in the
1980s and 1990s, interest in UAVs grew within the higher echelons of the U.S.
military. In the 1990s the U.S. Department of Defense gave a contract to US
Corporation AAI Corporation of Maryland along with Israeli company Mazlat. The
US Navy bought the AAI Pioneer UAV that was jointly developed by American AAI
Corporation and Israeli Mazlat, this type of drone is still in use. Many of
these Pioneer and newly developed U.S. UAVs were used in the 1991 Gulf War.
UAVs were seen to offer the possibility of cheaper, more capable fighting
machines that could be used without risk to aircrews. Initial generations were
primarily surveillance aircraft, but some were armed (such as the General
Atomics MQ-1 Predator, which utilized AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles).
