While the United States did not become Israel’s dominant arms supplier until after the 1967 war, it has been clear to all in the region since at least the Kennedy era that Washington was in Israel’s corner — despite strong Arab opposition, Israel’s wars on and with its neighbors, and its ongoing and often brutal struggle to deny the national aspirations of the Palestinian people in the name of ensuring its own security.
No matter the circumstances, from Tel Aviv’s secret nuclear weapons program in the early 1960s to the building of illegal settlements on the Golan Heights, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Washington has responded with more weapons, and more money for Israel — and has ensured Israel a Qualitative Military Edge
Despite this largess, Israeli leaders have often defied U.S. presidents and policy, raising questions about the balance in the relationship, or, as President Bill Clinton once indelicately put it after meeting with Israel’s longest-serving and current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, “Who’s the f……. Superpower here?”
But after a year of war in which more than 41,000 Palestinians are dead, with more starving and homeless and a war now raging in Lebanon, with US feebly standing by, the relationship appears at a critical juncture. Or is it? We asked 16 historians, journalists and former diplomats the question: is the relationship permanently changed, if so, how, if not, why?
Walt, Bacevich, Levy, Aronson, Menon, Whitson, Suskind, Zogby, Hunter (s), DePetris, Slavin, Simon, Sheline, Pillar, Bessner: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/october-7-anniversary-israel/
Please check it out!
Kel