What does America owe Israel, and what does Israel owe the world?

Is removing Iran as a regional power doing the world a favor?

As always, I start with the history. The question is, what does America owe Israel, and what does Israel owe the world?

In May, 1948, a government was proclaimed in Israel, as the British Mandate over Palestine ended. The United States, with President Harry Truman acting against the advice and wishes of his Department of State and diplomatic corps, recognized the Israeli government as the de facto representative of that land. The Arab leaders did not offer any government body for the world to recognize. They only wanted to seize the land on which Jews had settled. A bloody two year war decided the matter.

Did America’s immediate recognition of Israel have a meaningful impact on the war? Probably, yes. However, American Jewish organizations and even some Christian groups had been funding the Jewish causes on the ground since the surge in immigration of WWII refugees and concentration camp survivors. Some had illegally supplied surplus weapons to paramilitary groups, which, upon the founding of the State of Israel, became the IDF. Comparatively, the IDF was well-supplied and well-trained versus its Arab adversaries trying to defeat them.

Israel owes its existence in large part to America, but not necessarily to the U.S. government. Truman’s recognition did the work of keeping the war local to Israel, and keeping the Soviet Union from getting involved. Immediately after the U.S. recognized Israel, the Soviet Union did so as well.

The U.S. had always protected its interests in the Middle East, meaning Saudi oil. In 1956, during the Suez Canal crisis, President Eisenhower pressured Israel to abandon Sharm el-Sheikh in return for nothing from Egypt. but the U.S. offered to guarantee safe passage through the Straits of Tiran, where the Gulf of Aqaba meets the Red Sea, beyond the Suez. During the Yemen war, the U.S. sided with the Saudis against Egypt. This moved Egypt closer to the Soviets, while President John F. Kennedy approved the transfer of Hawk surface-to-air missiles to Israel, affirming the need for Israel’s security, as a bastion of the west against the Soviets, who were vying for Middle East influence.

And so Israel had always been a minor lever in the Cold War. Before the Six Day War, the U.S. vehemently opposed giving Israel any military aid or approval for a preemptive attack on Egypt. President Lyndon Johnson was bogged down in Vietnam and faced domestic unrest over the war. However during and after the war, America used diplomatic pressure to try to break the Egyptian blockade of the Straits of Tiran, though it did not succeed.

In the 1950s and 1960s, though the timeline and actions are muddy, Israel acquired the ability to assemble and produce nuclear weapons. Its Dimona nuclear research facility was greatly aided by French engineers and technical experts. However the key elements of making a bomb likely came from the United States, either by purposeful transfer or by spycraft. Israel has never acknowledged or denied possessing nuclear weapons, however most experts put the number of warheads in its inventory at between 80 and 200.

Israel’s nuclear threat has never been flaunted, except one time during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. President Richard Nixon was loathe to get involved in a Middle East war, but Israel was on the brink of losing in the face of Egyptian and Syrian advances that nearly broke the IDFs defenses. Prime Minister Golda Meir reportedly gave Defense Minister Moshe Dayan permission to activate the country’s nuclear alert, assemble bombs and release them to the Air Force. The U.S. flew an SR-71 reconnaissance mission over Israel which provided intelligence of the nuclear threat. Meanwhile, Israel’s war cabinet ordered the launchers made ready in plain sight of American and Soviet satellites, along with specially marked F-4s on alert ready to carry out nuclear strikes.

The message was received by both sides. The Soviets informed Cairo, and in Washington, the need for immediate resupply became a priority. It’s not known whether the nuclear ploy was responsible for Nixon’s decision to resupply Israel, and the Soviets decision to ratchet down its involvement. If anything, the incident cemented the intelligence world’s belief that Israel could play by “jungle rules” and use the so-called Samson Option to obliterate its enemies when its existence was threatened.

Since 1973, Israel has fought multiple wars, in Lebanon, clashes in the Golan Heights, and since 2023, Gaza, and now, open war with Iran. America has nearly always sided with Israel, though usually with a view toward limiting Israel’s penchant for “jungle rules” no-holds-barred war. This time, there has been little restraint.

In 2020, the Trump administration promoted the Abraham Accords, which brought American influence into normalized relations between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. The first Trump administration also ended the JCPOA (the “Iran Deal”), further isolating Iran in the Middle East. All these moves made Israel more of a partner for stability in the Middle East. Yet Israel has been the greatest destabilizer of the region other than the Syrian civil war.

Let me summarize the heavy lifting Israel has done that benefits America. Hezbollah has always been an enemy of the U.S. On October 23, 1983, Hebollah drove a truck bomb into the Marine compound in Beirut, Lebanon. The resulting explosion killed 241 Americans, including 220 Marines. CNN noted this was the deadliest attack on U.S. Marines since Iwo Jima. After years of litigation, in 2013, U.S. District Court Judge Katherine Forrest ruled that $1.75 billion in frozen Iranian funds held by Citibank be released to families of victims of that bombing, which was affirmed by the Supreme Court in 2016.

Hezbollah is a proxy force controlled by the IRGC, meaning Iran. Israel has nearly destroyed Hezbollah’s ability to attack, and is in the process of a final cleansing of southern Lebanon, while using precision bombing in Beirut to remove all vestiges of the group’s political and military power over that country.

Israel has absorbed thousands of missile strikes from Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis in Yemen, and direct attacks from Iran. It has used its air force to degrade the Houthis ability to launch missiles, augmenting U.S. strikes. The Saudis fought the Houthis for 10 years and could not expel them from Yemen, despite having the benefit of U.S. intelligence and technical assistance. The Houthis have threatened navigation through the Suez and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the narrow passage between Djibouti and Yemen on the Horn of Africa, vital to shipping through the Red Sea.

Israel has stabilized the border between its country and Syria, and established a fire base on the slopes and summit of Mount Hermon, within range of Damascus. This has likely kept a fragile “peace” among the factions still vying for power in Syria and the nascent government that President Trump has sought to promote as a partner for peace (and getting the Russians out of Syria).

Israel has destroyed many of Iran’s drone manufacturing centers, thereby disrupting some of the flow of deadly Shahed drones to the Russians fighting in Ukraine, though Russia can produce its own Shaheds now.

Israeli intelligence managed to decapitate the Islamic Republic of Iran’s leadership, not once, not twice, but at least three times. Israel’s complete penetration of Iranian infrastructure, government and even its military has almost certainly saved the lives of American pilots, and given the U.S. targets in real time during Operation Epic Fury.

Why has Israel done all this? Jungle rules. Once the fighting begins, unless Israel is restrained, it will pursue its enemies to complete destruction. The Trump administration, in its second term, has not acted to restrain the Israelis, only to delay them.

This helps to answer the first question. What does America owe Israel? Nothing.

Raytheon, an American defense contractor, through a licensing arrangement with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, which was worked out during the Obama administration, produces the Tamir II missiles that enable Iron Dome to protect Israel from missile and rocket strikes. This is a safe, steady supply not subject to attack from Iran, or Hezbollah. The missiles are produced in Camden, Arkansas. These missiles are not given to Israel: the nation has paid $1.25 billion to Raytheon.

Israel does benefit from American technology. It uses the most advanced F-16 model in the world, the F-16I, specially modified by the IAF. Israel has F-35 advanced fighters, KC-35 tankers, and many American-made weapons systems. But it also has its own advanced weapons systems, and many of those technologies are available to U.S. defense industries and our military (we pay for them).

The U.S. and Israel have a fairly symbiotic relationship in military cooperation. Israel has done a lot of heavy lifting that benefits the United States, but in return it has almost guaranteed its own continued existence.

Now to the second question, what does Israel owe the world?

Some would say that Israel should be a more cooperative, better player at the world diplomatic table. And sure, that’s true. Israel does not play by the same rules as many other nations, which pretend to honor international agreements while committing atrocities against their own people and war crimes against their adversaries. The U.N. Human Rights Council includes the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a repressive dictatorship; and China, which uses Uighur slave labor and has nearly wiped out Tibetan culture. It is a joke.

Israel is by far the most censured nation by every U.N. organization. It has been condemned and censured over 150 times in the last 50 years. The nearest competitor in that unwanted race is a tie between Iran and North Korea, with about 60 each, then Syria with about 40. To say that there’s some kind of moral or societal parity between Israel, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and North Korea’s Kim dynasty is absurd, but people try to make that equivalence argument. It’s true that Israel does not treat Palestinians under its jurisdiction very well. But neither did the United Kingdom in Northern Ireland when buses were being blown up.

Iran is the world’s biggest exporter of terrorism. North Korea is the world’s biggest counterfeiter and dark web enabler. Iran and North Korea use their cyber hacking skills to destabilize western nations and industries, and to extort money (billions) from American companies and other conglomerates in capitalist nations.

The largest single unit in the IDF is Unit 8200, the Israeli SIGINT National Unit (ISNU). It’s comprised of college-age youths skilled at cybersecurity and also, hacking. Many experts place Unit 8200 on parity with the NSA in skill and capabilities. The unit’s alumni are sought by top recruiters at tech firms around the world. Some have gone on to found their own tech and security companies. Unit 8200 is not insignificant in responsibility for the massive success in the current Iran operations, and participated in various famed operations like Stuxnet.

Israel stands against Iran and North Korea, supporting rather than undermining western values and the stability of our computer networks and infrastructure.

Yet the world doesn’t like Israel playing by “jungle rules” in its bid for continued existence. The late Ayatollah Khameini always believed that if Iran built a nuclear weapon, in exchange for Israel’s Samson Option, it would be worth accepting a nuclear strike from Israel to see Iran’s bomb detonated over Tel Aviv. A nuclear weapon detonated over Tel Aviv—even a small one—would represent the destruction of Israel. Iran is the size of Alaska with a population of 90 million spread out over vast distances. Israel is the size of New Jersey, with about 10 million, largely concentrated in the Tel Aviv metro area.

Israel knows where it stands in the world’s eyes. It knows where it stands in its enemies’ eyes. And many of Israel’s former enemies are waking up to the fact that their own prosperity and stability are enhanced by Israel’s heavy lifting, even if it means accepting damage from a desperate and rabid regime fighting for its own existence in Iran.

Israel owes the world nothing. It has paid in blood and treasure all that it needs to pay.

The unasked question is what does the world owe Israel? We will see.

The U.S. is not making many friends these days. But with Israel, “jungle rules” seems to be favored by the Trump administration, which also wants to play by those same rules. The U.S. have never played by “jungle rules” and does not need to. But that’s a different question.

The world should be grateful to Israel for its many contributions, and its destabilizing may result in an extended period of peaceful prosperity for so many nations and peoples. That is, if we—meaning the free world—finish the job of eliminating the Iranian regime. If America owes anyone anything, we owe the Iranian people the debt of removing that evil regime and freeing them from the boot of despotism.

America owes Israel nothing more than our friendship. And Israel owes the world nothing at all, that is, until the world stops playing stupid hypocritical games.

SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS: You can follow us on social media at several different locations. Official Racket News pages include:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewsRacket
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/NewsRacket
Mastodon: https://federated.press/@RacketNews

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@theracketnews
David: https://www.threads.net/@captainkudzu71
Steve: https://www.threads.net/@stevengberman

Our personal accounts on the platform formerly known as Twitter:

David: https://twitter.com/captainkudzu
Steve: https://twitter.com/stevengberman
Jay: https://twitter.com/curmudgeon_NH

Thanks again for subscribing! Don’t forget to share us with your friends!