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Israel and the U.S.: 40 Years of Manna in the Wilderness
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14619 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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5 / 1988 |
2,558 Words |
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Moshe Zak
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"Even though Pakistan has a defense treaty with the United States, we didn't receive one rifle from America during the India-Pakistan War. You, on the other hand, have no formal treaty, yet there was a massive arms airlift to you during the 1973 war." This was the thrust of a complaint that the Pakistan Prime Minister Ali Zulfikar Bhutto made to Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban during a chance meeting at the UN.
Indeed, to this day there is no written defense treaty between Israel and the United States. Of course, over the years there have been suggestions for the signing of a written treaty with the United States that would ensure the security of Israel and its borders. In the fifties, when Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was setting up a network of defense alliances between the United States and the countries of the Free World, Israel tried to join the Western alliances, but was not accepted. Senator Fulbright proposed the "deal" that Israel withdraw from the territories in return for an American guarantee of security. President Jimmy Carter at one time proposed a similar idea to Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Israel, apparently, was more convinced by the arguments of Dr. Henry Kissinger and believed that a formal agreement would be of little weight. Allegedly, Kissinger had asked "What would you do with it if attacked? Turn to the International Court of Justice in the Hague to force the United States to intervene militarily on your behalf?" He also reminded Israel that "during the Yom Kippur War you received large amounts of aid, in spite of the absence of a written defense treaty between Israel and the United States."
Abba Eban and Ali Bhutto never met again, but the sorry end of the Pakistani leader holds the key to the differing attitudes of the American public to the two countries. The transfer of power in Pakistan was effected by Ali Bhutto's execution, whereas the Israeli Foreign Minister was replaced through the ballot box in democratic elections. American public opinion identifies with the basic democratic fabric of Israeli society to such an extent that it will support it in periods of trouble. Even during trying times, such as the Palestinian uprisings, Israel remains an open society, standing by the principles of morality and combating any nonrepresentative instances of infringements on human rights. Even the American media reports that it expects Israel to display a higher moral standard than other countries around it. The awareness of this compliment to the unique nature of Israel must influence the attitudes of the administration and Congress.
Consequently, there has only been one single instance when an American administration cut back economic aid to Israel--to force Israel to comply with the American view regarding cessation of digging of the Jordan River Waterway near the B'noth Ya'akov bridge. This happened in October 1953, when the sum total of U.S. economic aid to Israel was only $23 million per annum, and when Israel did not receive any American military aid. These were the first years of Israel's independence. In subsequent years the American administration did not act in this way, not even when American economic aid reached $1.2 billion annually, not when the differences between Washington and Jerusalem became most pronounced.
Solid ties that bind
As President Reagan later declared, "Disagreements between good friends do not alter the unique and sturdy foundation of our
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