Shifting the Center of Gravity: Transforming the U.S.-Israel Security Partnership

Despite being a small country of 10 million, Israel today is arguably America’s most important ally. The security benefits that the United States derives from this partnership far exceed the assistance it provides Israel. By a substantial margin, Israel is the leading military and intelligence power in a region of the world critical to U.S. interests. Its high-tech economy is among the most innovative and dynamic on the planet, driving investment and growth in the United States. Both its government and society are unabashedly pro-American. Yet, for a variety of complex reasons, Israel’s political support in the United States has significantly eroded in recent years. Indeed, never in recent memory has there been a larger disconnect between the strategic contributions that an ally consistently makes to the enhancement of U.S. security and prosperity and its declining political standing among the American public.

We believe the choice to be clear. Israel’s value as a U.S. partner is unmatched. It is already a critical U.S. ally. In the coming decades, as America increasingly shifts its strategic focus to Asia and as the technological competition with China becomes more intense, Israel’s importance to U.S. national interests will only grow. That is why further deepening U.S. cooperation with Israel—militarily, technologically, and economically—will only strengthen American security and prosperity.

That said, given prevailing political winds at home, upgrading the U.S. alliance with Israel will require shifting the center of gravity of the bilateral relationship from providing U.S. military assistance—however mutually beneficial it may be to both countries—to true mutual collaboration. This should take the form of a new, and final, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that keeps U.S. military assistance at $3.8 billion annually, on average, for the next ten years and is paired with new, mostly non-monetary initiatives that deepen and expand the U.S.-Israel partnership. It should also include shifting the center of gravity of U.S. force posture in the Middle East toward Israel and away from vulnerable bases near Iran, a shift that will provide U.S. forces greater security, interoperability, and freedom of action.