Israel
Jacob Eilon, Channel 10 | June 2003
Channel 10's Jacob Eilon outlines how important the U.S. is to Israel.
"For Israeli governments and the general public, the U.S. has been not only an ally, but rather its only real friend and supporter."
The relationship between the United States and Israel, known here as "the friendship," goes back to shortly after the birth of the Jewish nation.
It is a mixture of strategic, economic, military and cultural closeness that has dominated Israeli society since the 1950s.
During the Cold War, when most Arab nations sided with the Soviet Union, it was only natural for Israelis to look at the Middle East in terms of "us and America versus them and the U.S.S.R."
For Israeli governments and the general public, the U.S. has been not only an ally, but rather its only real friend and supporter.
In more than 50 years, you could rarely find an Israeli politician who would seriously criticize the U.S., or would dare to confront it.
Of course, there were tensions, but polite ones.
Some proud Israelis used to say that America has benefited from Israeli intelligence and expertise during the Cold War more than Israel has benefited from America.
But the consensus is that without the U.S., Israel would have found it much more difficult to exist.
In the past decade, Israel and the United States have been involved in tenacious peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Sometimes that has caused frictions.
Cultural closeness
As America further pressures both sides to compromise, Israel's political right becomes more and more aggressive towards the sitting U.S. president.
But it is always very hard for right-wing politicians to create widespread anti-American sentiment.
As a whole, Israelis feel close to American culture, consumer products, music, movies and values.
Many Israelis have relatives living overseas, and young Israeli men and women find it almost obligatory to spend some time in New York or in one of the U.S. universities.
^TOP
External Links