The US-Israel relationship explained | Start Here

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 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 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 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 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 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 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