PURELY COMMENTARY

4 | NOVEMBER 14 • 2024 J
N

opinion

How America Benefits from its 
Security Partnership with Israel
A

nyone who has spent time 
on a playground knows 
it is good to have friends 
when bullies come along. That also 
holds true in international relations.
China, Russia, Iran and North 
Korea are increasingly 
cooperating to 
undermine the United 
States and its interests. 
Unfortunately, despite 
our large economy and 
powerful military, the 
United States lacks 
sufficient resources 
to confront this growing axis of 
aggressors alone.
Fortunately, the United States has 
an unparalleled network of allies 
with whom we can work to defend 
common interests and counter 
common adversaries. In the Middle 
East, America’s most reliable, 
capable and motivated ally is Israel.
Years ago, while working as a 
Senate national security adviser 
accompanying a congressional 
delegation to Israel, I asked a U.S. 
military colonel assigned as an 
attaché to the Israeli military what 
Americans should know about our 
ties with Israel. He told me that we 
Americans get far more than we give 
in the relationship with Israel. 
The more I have learned since 
then, the more I understand 
how right he was and how 
supporting Israel is a wise American 
investment.
Consider two categories: enemies 
and military technology.
All of Israel’s enemies are 
America’s enemies. Washington has 
no more capable or determined ally 
than Israel when it comes to going 
after that subset of U.S. adversaries, 
including Iran and its terror 

network.
More than 100 Israeli fighter jets, 
air refuelers and reconnaissance 
aircraft conducted a complex, 
long-range military operation 
last month that severely 
degraded Iran’s strategic air-
defense capabilities and destroyed 
a significant portion of its missile-
production capabilities.
For years, U.S. administrations 
of both parties have said that the 
United States will not allow Iran to 
acquire a nuclear weapon. 
If Iran decides to make a sprint 
for a nuclear weapon and leaves 
the United States no choice but 
to intervene, Israel just made the 
mission for the U.S. Department of 
Defense easier.
In addition to the skill of 
the Israeli pilots, Israel just 
demonstrated the superiority of 
American aircraft and weapons 
over Russian air- and missile-
defense systems. The Israelis used 
American-made F-15I, F-16I 
and F-35I aircraft (with Israeli 

enhancements) in the strikes against 
Russian-made S-300 air-defense 
systems.
Any country that has ordered 
Russian air and missile defenses 
may want to request a refund. That 
would deprive dictator Vladimir 
Putin of revenue for his war of 
aggression in Ukraine and increase 
orders for American weapons. That 
will employ more Americans, bolster 
our economy and help revitalize 
our defense industrial base. Thank 
you, Israel.
Moreover, American engineers, 
military planners and pilots will 
undoubtedly draw from their Israeli 
counterparts the lessons learned 
in the recent military operation 
on improving U.S. technologies, 
systems, operations, tactics, 
techniques and procedures. That 
will save American lives in the 
next conflict. Israel brings the 
same effectiveness when it comes 
to battling Iran’s terror network, 
including groups such as Hamas 
and Hezbollah, which have killed 

hundreds of U.S. citizens and service 
members.
Consider the case of Fuad Shukr. 
He was a top Hezbollah commander 
who the U.S. government says 
played a key role in the 1983 Beirut 
U.S. Marine barracks bombing that 
resulted in the deaths of 241 U.S. 
military personnel.
As part of the Rewards for Justice 
Program, the United States offered 
a $5 million reward for information 
that would bring him to justice. 
That U.S. effort did not yield any 
results. But, on July 30, as part 
of its military operations against 
Hezbollah, Israel killed Shukr. He 
will never again harm American 
troops — thanks to the Israelis.
Israel also helps Americans when 

it comes to military technology. 
It may not have one of the largest 
economies in the world and it is not 
an industrial superpower, but it’s a 
technology powerhouse. It consis-
tently creates world-class weapons 
and capabilities and exhibits an 
impressive ability to field them 
quickly.
Technologies, for example, 
that Israel developed and honed 
years ago to detect, map and destroy 
Hezbollah and Hamas tunnels 
were shared with Americans. The 
United States then used these Israeli 
technologies to find and neutralize 
drug-smuggling tunnels under our 
southern border that could also be 
used by terrorists to infiltrate the 
United States. These same technolo-
gies developed in Israel also helped 
U.S. troops deployed to the Middle 
East to defeat the Islamic State group 
and other terrorists that use tunnels 
to approach, surveil and attack U.S. 
military bases.
Due to necessity, culture and 

Bradley 
Bowman
JNS.org

An F-15I RAAM from 69 squadron armed with practice bombs takes part in an Israeli 
Air Force air show during the graduation ceremony for soldiers who have completed 
the IAF Flight Course, at the Hatzerim Air Base in the Negev desert, June 29, 2023. 

OFER ZIDON/FLASH90

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