Beyond Military Aid

What Critics Get Wrong about the United States Alliance with Israel

On the Jewish holiday of Purim which we celebrated on March 3, 2026, this year, Jews around the world gathered to hear the Book of Esther read aloud, not once, but twice. We listen at night on the eve of the holiday and again in the morning. This practice forces us to remember a moment in time when genocide was imminent at the hand of Haman of Persia who had obtained royal approval to annihilate the Jews.

In addition to this ritual, on the Sabbath preceding Purim, we hear “Parshat Zachor” (the chapter of remembrance) which commands the Jewish people to never forget how they were ruthlessly attacked by the Amalekites (from whom Haman descended) as they escaped Egypt. In the Jewish tradition, the tribe of Amalek represents the archetype of unprovoked, irrational hatred who seeks to destroy the Jewish people for its own sake.

The traditional readings landed with a special force this year coinciding as they did with the decisive blow dealt the Iranian regime just days earlier in a coordinated Israel-United States attack. The significance was not lost on us.

Americans too, would do well to remember their own violent experience with the Islamic Republic of Iran as soon as it ascended to power after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Almost immediately, militants stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran holding 66 Americans hostage for 444 days. In true Islamist fashion, the captors subjected the hostages to extreme physical and psychological abuse such as forcing them to stand before what they believed were firing squads and listen to the clicking of empty weapons, beatings, sensory deprivation and isolation.

The recent strike on Iranian power centers is the best thing that could have happened to Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens and their fellow antisemites. It hands them a ready-made narrative that “the Jews” have dragged America into yet another endless Middle Eastern war. The partnership between the United States and Israel in the attack on Iran is cast by conspiracy theorists as evidence that Washington is a tool of Jerusalem. Donald Trump, who takes instructions from no one, is presented as nothing more than Prime Minister Netanyahu’s errand boy. As if the only possible reason for attacking Iran was to serve Israel’s interests.

In fact, as Gerard Baker points out in his opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal on March 3, 2026,[1] the Islamic Republic has made a regular practice of murdering Americans. “From the more than 200 marines killed by Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah, in the 1983 Beirut bombing and the 600 or so American service members killed by Iran backed militias in Iraq to the many U.S. citizens terrorized, captured and killed by Hamas and other Iranian sponsored entities in Gaza and around the world. Tehran has repeatedly bathed in American blood.”

Critics of the war claim not to understand why the United States had to take military action before allowing diplomacy to run its course. What they ignore is the fact that during negotiations Iranian officials made clear they had no intention of dismantling their nuclear program or curbing their ballistic missile arsenal. On the contrary, they admitted that they intended to strengthen those capabilities. Given their long- standing threats against Israel and their open hostility toward the United States there was little reason to believe they would not have turned on this country as soon as the opportunity presented itself. They have attacked American interests before. Should we have waited for another terrorist attack on U.S. soil before acknowledging the danger?

Israel, by necessity, has mastered the art of preemption. Its survival has depended on it. In 1967, rather than wait for the combined armies of Egypt and Syria to carry out their publicly declared plans to destroy the Jewish state, Israel struck first, neutralizing enemy air forces before their planes could even take off. In 1981, it destroyed Iraq’s nuclear reactor rather than wait for Saddam Hussein to acquire nuclear weapons. In 2007 it did the same to Syria’s nuclear facilities. Israel faced massive criticism for these actions. But they undoubtedly prevented a catastrophe.

Even after Israel was taken by surprise in the 1973 Yom Kippur war, they managed to repel five Arab armies and ultimately prevail against overwhelming odds. That accomplishment attracted the attention of the U.S. military, which sought to understand how such a small nation could defend itself so effectively. Thereafter, cooperation between American and Israeli defense officials began in earnest. That partnership influenced the development of the U.S. military’s “Big Five” weapons systems (i.e., Apache helicopters, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, Patriot missile systems, Abrams tanks and Black Hawk helicopters)[2].

Since then, the United States military has continued to benefit from Israeli defense innovations. Israel’s unique security challenges in urban combat, asymmetric battles and tunnel warfare has forced the country to develop cutting edge strategies that the U.S. military later adopted. For example, Israel developed the Trophy Active Protection System (APS) which detects and neutralizes anti-tank guided missiles and rocket propelled grenade ambushes before impact. The US integrated the Trophy APS onto M1 Abrams tanks, significantly improving battlefield survivability. The Trophy APS is one of many Israeli military innovations utilized by American forces[4]

Israeli tunnel detection and mapping technologies, developed to counter Hezbollah and Hamas, were also shared with the United States. These tools were subsequently used to locate and neutralize drug-smuggling tunnels beneath the southern border and to assist U.S. troops in the Middle East combating terrorist groups that rely on underground networks to surveil and attack military installations.

Cooperative programs such as Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and the Arrow missile defense systems have strengthened Israel’s defensive capabilities while materially informing and improving American missile defense systems. Intelligence sharing on terrorism, cyber threats, and nuclear proliferation flows continuously between Jerusalem and Washington.

Yet critics decry the billions of dollars in U.S. military assistance to Israel as a burden on American taxpayers. In fact, over 75% of that aid is spent on American defense contractors, supporting hundreds of thousands of US jobs[5]. The strategic return on investment, in the form of intelligence cooperation, battlefield innovation, and technological advancement far exceeds the monetary outlay.[6]

It is naïve to believe that the United States supports Israel solely out of beneficence. Nations act in their own interests. They are not charities. The alliance persists because its serves both parties. Israel’s military and intelligence capabilities are formidable and have repeatedly demonstrated their effectiveness.[7] Partnering with a country that provides such expertise is just sound policy.

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[1] Baker, G The Case for Cautious Optimism About Trump’s War in Iran

[2] Spencer, J. and Collins, L. (April 27, 2025) “How Israeli Military Technology Continues to Improve the U.S. Military” INSS Insight No. 1975 https://www.inss.org.il/publication/usa-army-idf/

[4] Ibid. https://www.israelfactcheck.com/military-aid-us-benefits-from-israel-far-exceed-3-8-billion-aid-package

[6] https://www.israelfactcheck.com/military-aid-us-benefits-from-israel-far-exceed-3-8-billion-aid-package

[7] Danzig, M. (April 17, 2025) One of America’s Best Investments: US Military Aid to Israel https://www.jewishexponent.com/one-of-americas-best-investments-us-military-aid-to-israel/