This project will examine the relationship between the United States and the State of Israel. The exhibition will specify on how the United States responded to calls for the founding of a Jewish State. This will include both how the United States responded to the Balfour Declaration in 1917 and how the United States responded to the founding of the State of Israel. The focus will be on both how the American public and the United States government reacted to the Zionist movement. The project will also investigate the influence of American public opinion as well as groups that lobby the United States government on behalf of the state of Israel, such as AIPAC. This will examine how domestic movements within the U.S. shaped foreign policy in regard to Israel. Next, this project will evaluate how the relationship between the U.S. and Israel was altered by the desire of the U.S. to appeal to the Arab States. The relationship between the U.S. and Israel fluctuated because of the differing attitudes towards the Arab States. The focus will be both on the United States trying to appeal to the Arab States for strategic purposes during the Cold War, as well as the United States striving for more peaceful purposes in the Middle East after the Cold War. The relationship between the United States and Israel has stirred lots of conversation for Americans at home, as it has helped the United States win the Cold War, though it often stands in the way of a peaceful Middle East.
The history between the United States of America and the Israel starts before Israel was ever officially founded. The first great call for the creation of a Jewish State was by Great Britain in 1917 in what is known as the “Balfour Declaration”. The U.S. did not take any action, positive or negative, in response to the declaration. Public opinion within the U.S. preferred a foreign policy of isolationism and was not generally supportive of the Jewish people. When Adolf Hitler rose to power, the U.S. rejected the offer to take in Jewish refugees.[1] It was only after the American public had realized how horrific the Holocaust was that the public opinion on the Jewish people began to change.[2]
When Israel was founded in 1948, the young state was relatively popular among the American public. In contrast, the U.S. government was initially neutral in regards to Israel, as France and Great Britain had most of the influence over Middle Eastern policy.[3] The U.S. gradually became far more influential in the Middle East as it tried to maintain the policy of containment against the Soviet Union. Because the U.S. wanted to adopt patronage over many Arab states in the Middle East, its policies were relatively hostile towards Israel. The U.S. could not risk looking friendly to the Jewish state or else many of the Arab states would quickly choose to ally themselves with the Soviet Union. Domestic lobbying on behalf of Israel prevented the U.S. from taking any action too hostile towards Israel.[4]
During the start of the 1960’s it became clear that many of the Arab states such as Egypt and Lebanon had chosen to ally themselves with the Soviet Union. Only then did the U.S. begin to make actions that benefitted Israel. The U.S. realized that it could use Israel as a military asset in the Middle East and began sending Israel military and economic aid. Only after the Six Day War in 1967 did the U.S. recognize how crucial an asset Israel could be. In the war, Israel quickly repelled and defeated the neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Domestically, support for Israel from Americans was growing rapidly. Politicians supported Israel not only to attract the Jewish vote, but also because Israel was touted by Americans as the only democracy in the Middle East.[5]
The relationship between the U.S. and Israel quickly began to fluctuate. In order for the U.S. to perceive Israel as a strategic asset instead of a burden, Israel needed to be able to defend itself economically and militarily from the Arab states and from the Soviet Union. Because Israel needed U.S. support to defend itself from the Soviet Union, Israel was quickly seen as a burden by the U.S. The relationship quickly got better when the U.S. and Israel had the same interests in the civil war in Jordan.[6] Israel defeated the Palestine Liberation Organization(PLO) in Jordan, thus defending U.S. interests in Jordan. As a reward, the U.S. greatly increased military and economic aid for Israel. U.S. President Richard Nixon made history in 1971 when he publicly announced that the United States and Israel had a “special relationship”.[7]
The mutual trust between the United States and Israel eventually began to diminish during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Israel had been attacked by Egypt during its most sacred holiday, Yom Kippur. Israel was able to repel the attack and nearly defeated Egypt until the U.S. interfered. The U.S. wanted to keep Egypt relatively intact so it could be adopted as an ally against the Soviet Union. Further to Israel’s dismay, the U.S. chose to use Israel’s newly acquired territories to appeal to Egypt, thus using Israel to appeal to Egypt. When Egypt agreed to recognize Israeli sovereignty at the Camp David accords in 1978, Israeli was forced to give up a significant amount of land, for the U.S. threatened to withdraw lots of aid if Israel refused to sign the accords. Soon, Israel was seen as no more important to the U.S. as its other Middle Eastern allies of Egypt and Saudi Arabia.[8]
Tensions between the U.S. and Israel continued to rise towards the start of the 1980’s. Israel acted increasingly hostile towards its neighbors, which led to the Ronald Reagan Administration sanctioning it to prevent it from acting so aggressively. Tensions only further heightened as the George H. W. Bush Administration increasingly saw Israel as a burden because Israel undermined U.S. peace plans by building settlements in neighboring territories.
It was only after the collapse of the Soviet Union did the relationship begin to flourish again. Israel went from being a military asset for the U.S. to becoming a peace asset for the U.S. The Oslo Accords were first signed in 1993 to promote peace between Israel and the neighboring Palestinians. The U.S. began to give Israel more defense technology such as advanced computers and access to satellites, as well as more aid than ever before. Unfortunately, the Oslo Accords did not stand because Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli Prime Minister who signed them, was assassinated by Israeli radicals in 1995, who despised the accords. Furthermore, and the PLO was replaced by the far more radical organization called Hamas, who refused to accept the accords, too.
In recent years, the relationship has continued to fluctuate. Israel has been making peace with Palestine increasingly difficult by building new settlements. Furthermore, the Obama Administration negotiated and signed the Iran Nuclear agreement, which greatly angered Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.[9] Relations only improved when the new U.S. President left the Iranian Nuclear Agreement, and also chose to recognize Israeli sovereignty of both Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Domestically, relations with Israel have become an increasingly partisan debate, as Republicans consistently defend Israeli policies, while Democrats are consistently far more likely to criticize them.
[1] Jonathan Rynhold, “The special relationship between the United States and Israel.” in Israel in a Turbulent Region: Security and Foreign Policy, ed. Tore T. Petersen (London: Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2019)
[2] Amnon Cavari, “Six Decades of Public Affection: Trends in American Public Attitudes Toward Israel” in Israel and the United States : Six Decades of US-Israeli Relations, ed. Robert O. Freeman (New York: Routledge, 2018), 101
[3] Yaacov Bar-Siman-Tov, “The United States and Israel since 1948: A “Special Relationship”?” Diplomatic History 22, no. 2 (1998): 231-262.
[4] Bar-Siman-Tov, “The United States and Israel since 1948: A “Special Relationship”?” 231-262.
[5] Noam Kochavi, Nixon and Israel (Albany: SUNY Press), 23
[6] Steven L Spiegel “Israel as a Strategic Asset” Commentary 75, no. 6 (1983): 51.
[7] Bar-Siman-Tov, “The United States and Israel since 1948: A “Special Relationship”?” 231-262.
[8] Bar-Siman-Tov, “The United States and Israel since 1948: A “Special Relationship”?” 231-262.
[9] Ilai Z. Saltzman, “Not So “Special Relationship”? US-Israel Relations During Barack Obama’s Presidency,” Israel Studies 22, no. 1 (2017): 50-75.