Israel’s detractors have always alleged that American support for the Jewish state is based on two factors: politicized sympathy for the Jews and the purchase of congressional backing by an all-powerful “Israel lobby.” But according to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, both assertions are myths that are themselves the product of partisan propaganda rather than objective analysis.
He’s joined in this week’s episode of “Think Twice” by Ronald Reagan Institute scholar Daniel J. Samet, author of the new book, U.S. Defense Policy Toward Israel: A Cold War History. Samet argues that, notwithstanding the popularity of Israel among the majority of Americans, Washington’s backing for it has always been based on a cold, hard analysis of U.S. national interests, and not sentiment or even campaign contributions.
The scholar dissects the myth of the “Israel Lobby” and the supposed ability of AIPAC and other pro-Israel organizations to influence American policy. He argues that despite its reputation as wielding enormous power, it has never won a fight with any American administration whose policies it opposed. That includes friendly ones like that of Ronald Reagan, which sold planes to Arab nations and opposed Israel’s bombing of an Iraqi nuclear reactor, as well as more hostile presidents like Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Barack Obama, who pushed through the dangerous Iran nuclear deal despite the protests of the pro-Israel community and AIPAC.
Samet’s book details the fact that during Israel’s early years when it was in the greatest danger, it received no defense aid from the United States, whether from sympathetic presidents like Harry Truman or hostile ones like Dwight Eisenhower, because it was perceived as a weak state that interfered with American efforts to appease or engage with hostile Arab states. It was not until after its astonishing victory in the 1967 Six-Day War that Washington began to think of it as a strategic asset or partner.
Nor has sympathy for Jews been an indicator of American policy. As Samet points out, President Richard Nixon was guilty of harboring antisemitic sentiments. But because he saw Israel as a vital ally in the Middle East against Soviet expansionism, he delivered vital aid to the Jewish state in its moment of need during the Yom Kippur War that enabled it to prevail.
A close reading of the history of the relationship between the two countries during the Cold War, as well as the decades since then, shows that realpolitik and rational evaluations of American interests have always determined U.S. policy. More to the point, it is such a realistic approach rather than one that relies solely on arguments about common values, democracy and the natural sympathy most Americans have for Israel that is, as the Trump administration has shown, the best guarantee of a strong U.S.-Israel alliance.
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