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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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 Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 9:26 am Post subject: Israel: Asset or Liability? |
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On July 20th, a debate on the above question was held at the Nixon Center.
Arguing Israel: Not Just a Strategic Asset, But a Strategic Bonanza was pro-Israeli Washington Institute executive director Robert Satloff:
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I did have some reluctance in agreeing to speak at this event. After all, I asked myself, why should I lend legitimacy to a question��Israel: asset or liability?��on which the overwhelming majority of Americans agree; on which the vast majority of strategists of both major parties agree; and on which the vast majority of military leaders and national security specialists agree, across the political spectrum? Today�s question bounces around a lot on the blogosphere, but, I am authoritatively told, not in the Situation Room. Still, it�s out there�perhaps on the fringes, but perhaps not only there�and it sometimes rears its head in ugly and even anti-Semitic ways. So, I thought�why not? A case as strong as this one deserves the light of day.
And there is a certain appropriateness in having it heard at the Nixon Center. Richard Nixon, as this room surely knows, was no romantic. And he was certainly no philo-Semite. But he was the first American president to recognize the strategic value of Israel to U.S. national interests. As President Nixon once said, �I am supporting Israel because it is in the interest of the U.S. to do so.� Even Professors Walt and Mearsheimer, who you won�t hear me quote approvingly very often, cite Israel as a U.S. strategic asset during those Nixon years: �By serving as America�s proxy after the Six Day War, Israel helped contain Soviet expansion in the region and inflicted humiliating defeats on Soviet clients like Egypt and Syria. Israel occasionally helped protect other U.S. allies (like Jordan�s King Hussein), and its military prowess forced Moscow to spend more backing its losing clients. Israel also gave the United States useful intelligence about Soviet capabilities.� All of that is an understatement, of course, but it underscores why this place�more than most other institutions�should have a natural inclination to recognize the strategic value of the U.S.-Israel relationship. |
Satloff's complete remarks at link
Opposing Satloff was Charles Freeman, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia and an opponent of unconditional US support to Israel.
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Under current circumstances, strategic advantage for the United States is not one of them. If we were to reverse the question, however, and to ask whether the United States is a strategic asset or liability for Israel, there would be no doubt about the answer.
American taxpayers fund between 20 and 25 percent of Israel�s defense budget (depending on how you calculate this). Twenty-six percent of the $3 billion in military aid we grant to the Jewish state each year is spent in Israel on Israeli defense products. Uniquely, Israeli companies are treated like American companies for purposes of U.S. defense procurement. Thanks to congressional earmarks, we also often pay half the costs of special Israeli research and development projects, even when � as in the case of defense against very short-range unguided missiles -- the technology being developed
is essentially irrelevant to our own military requirements. In short, in many ways, American taxpayers fund jobs in Israel�s military industries that could have gone to our own workers and companies. Meanwhile, Israel gets pretty much whatever it wants in terms of our top-of-the-line weapons systems, and we pick up the tab.
Identifiable U.S. government subsidies to Israel total over $140 billion since 1949. This makes Israel by far the largest recipient of American giveaways since World War II. The total would be much higher if aid to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and support for Palestinians in refugee camps and the occupied territories were included. These programs have complex purposes but are justified in large measure in terms of their contribution to the security of the Jewish state. |
Freeman's complete remarks
What do you think? |
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The Happy Warrior
Joined: 10 Feb 2010
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| Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 11:00 am Post subject: |
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It is very telling that Satloff opens with a geopolitical circumstance over 40 years of age.
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Professors Walt and Mearsheimer, who you won�t hear me quote approvingly very often, cite Israel as a U.S. strategic asset during those Nixon years: �By serving as America�s proxy after the Six Day War, Israel helped contain Soviet expansion in the region and inflicted humiliating defeats on Soviet clients like Egypt and Syria." |
No doubt, and then Israel was glorious. But what about now? Israel is shrouded in defeat and oppression.
Perhaps Israel can re-capture her former glory. But not with such unconditional US backing. |
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Summer Wine
Joined: 20 Mar 2005
Location: Next to a River
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| Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 2:42 am Post subject: |
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This Israel/US debate 
I have only one question. Hypothetically, Israel never existed - Who is your most trusted (loyal) friend in the region? |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 3:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Summer Wine wrote: |
This Israel/US debate
I have only one question. Hypothetically, Israel never existed - Who is your most trusted (loyal) friend in the region? |
The United States has a few said allies in the region: Jordan, Israel, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.
How can you exactly answer who is the most trusted friend? Based on what criteria? I would not say Israel is a trusted ally as it has agents who spy on the US, costs tax payers billions every year. Saudi Arabia is an ally, but it is said that some of its religious elements that have been tied to the state, in the past, spread a more puritanical version of religion.
Jordan has support the US for many years.
It hasn't cost as much. It has provided the US with intelligence. Turkey has long been a NATO ally. Countries are not going to simply sacrifice themselves for the sake of the US. Israel is far from that. It uses its influence in the US to ensure it gets a certain amount of aid, it's influences, perhaps, allows AIPAC to not be registered as a foreign lobby.
The US has to deal with Arab allies and Muslim allies, not only Israel.
If Israel's allies in the US get too much of their way, it only harms the US.
As one commander said, the Arab-Israeli conflict makes his job harder.
Peace is in the interest of the US, but Israel's government is clearly interested in Greater Israel and building settlements. That hurts the US.
Jordan does nothing to hurt the US. |
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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 8:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Adventurer wrote: |
| Summer Wine wrote: |
This Israel/US debate
I have only one question. Hypothetically, Israel never existed - Who is your most trusted (loyal) friend in the region? |
The United States has a few said allies in the region: Jordan, Israel, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.
How can you exactly answer who is the most trusted friend? Based on what criteria? I would not say Israel is a trusted ally as it has agents who spy on the US, costs tax payers billions every year. |
Let us not forget the attack on the USS Liberty (or watch Missing Links). |
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Junior
Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Location: the eye
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| Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2010 10:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Bacasper: Asset or liability? |
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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 7:36 am Post subject: |
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| Junior wrote: |
| Bacasper: Asset or liability? |
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