Israel–United States relations

Leaders of Israel and the United States from 1950 ImageSize = width:1400 height:auto barincrement:70 PlotArea = left:80 right:15 bottom:80 top:5 DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Define $start = 01/01/1950 Define $end = 16/10/2025 Period = from:$start till:$end TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:01/01/1955 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/1950 Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom Colors = id:lab value:coral legend:Mapali/Alignment/Labor id:lik value:rgb(0.17,0.5,0.91) legend:Herut/Likud id:oth value:rgb(0.56,0.59,0.16) legend:Others id:dem value:skyblue legend:Democratic_Party_(U.S.) id:gop value:pink legend:Republican_Party_(U.S.) BarData = bar:il text:Israel bar:us text:United States PlotData= align:center mark:(line,black) bar:il from: 29/12/2022 till: $end color:lik text:"Net." from: 30/06/2022 till: 29/12/2022 color:oth text:"L" from: 13/06/2021 till: 30/06/2022 color:oth text:"B" from: 31/03/2009 till: 13/06/2021 color:lik text:"Netanyahu" from: 04/01/2006 till: 31/03/2009 color:oth text:"Olmert" from: 07/03/2001 till: 04/01/2006 color:lik text:"Sharon" from: 06/07/1999 till: 07/03/2001 color:lab text:"Barak" from: 18/06/1996 till: 06/07/1999 color:lik text:"B.N." from: 04/11/1995 till: 18/06/1996 color:lab text:"P" from: 13/07/1992 till: 04/11/1995 color:lab text:"Rabin" from: 20/10/1986 till: 13/07/1992 color:lik text:"Shamir" from: 13/09/1984 till: 20/10/1986 color:lab text:"Peres" from: 10/10/1983 till: 13/09/1984 color:lik text:"S" from: 20/06/1977 till: 10/10/1983 color:lik text:"Begin" from: 03/06/1974 till: 20/06/1977 color:lab text:"Rabin" from: 17/03/1969 till: 03/06/1974 color:lab text:"Meir" from: 26/06/1963 till: 26/02/1969 color:lab text:"Eshkol" from: 11/03/1955 till: 26/06/1963 color:lab text:"Ben-Gurion" from: 12/07/1953 till: 11/03/1955 color:lab text:"M.S." from: $Start till: 12/07/1953 color:lab text:"B-G" bar:us from: 20/01/2025 till: $end color:gop text:"T" from: 20/01/2021 till: 20/01/2025 color:dem text:"Biden" from: 20/01/2017 till: 20/01/2021 color:gop text:"Trump" from: 20/01/2009 till: 20/01/2017 color:dem text:"Obama" from: 20/01/2001 till: 20/01/2009 color:gop text:"G.W.Bush" from: 20/01/1993 till: 20/01/2001 color:dem text:"Clinton" from: 20/01/1989 till: 20/01/1993 color:gop text:"G.H.W.Bush" from: 20/01/1981 till: 20/01/1989 color:gop text:"Reagan" from: 20/01/1977 till: 20/01/1981 color:dem text:"Carter" from: 09/08/1974 till: 20/01/1977 color:gop text:"Ford" from: 20/01/1969 till: 09/08/1974 color:gop text:"Nixon" from: 22/11/1963 till: 20/01/1969 color:dem text:"Johnson" from: 20/01/1961 till: 22/11/1963 color:dem text:"Kennedy" from: 20/01/1953 till: 20/01/1961 color:gop text:"Eisenhower" from: $Start till: 20/01/1953 color:dem text:"Truman" ==History==

Support for Zionism among American Jews was minimal, until the involvement of Louis Brandeis in the Federation of American Zionists, starting in 1912 and the establishment of the Provisional Executive Committee for General Zionist Affairs in 1914; it was empowered by the Zionist Organization "to deal with all Zionist matters, until better times come". Woodrow Wilson, who was sympathetic to the plight of Jews in Europe and favorable to Zionist objectives (giving his assent to the text of the Balfour Declaration shortly before its release) stated on March 2, 1919, "I am persuaded that the Allied nations with the fullest concurrence of our own Government and people are agreed that in Palestine shall be laid the foundation of a future Jewish commonwealth" and on April 16, 1919, corroborated the U.S. government's "expressed acquiescence" in the Balfour Declaration. Wilson's statements did not result in a change in policy of the U.S. State Department in favor of Zionist aims. However, the U.S. Congress passed the Lodge–Fish Resolution, the first joint resolution stating its support for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" on September 21, 1922. The same day, the Mandate of Palestine was approved by the Council of the League of Nations. During World War II, while U.S. foreign policy decisions were often ad hoc moves and solutions dictated by the demands of the war, the Zionist movement made a fundamental departure from traditional Zionist policy and its stated goals, at the Biltmore Conference in May 1942. Previous stated policy towards establishing a Jewish "national home" in Palestine were gone; these were replaced with its new policy "that Palestine be established as a Jewish Commonwealth" like other nations, in cooperation with the United States, not Britain. Two attempts by Congress in 1944 to pass resolutions declaring U.S. government support for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine were objected to by the Departments of War and State, because of wartime considerations and Arab opposition to the creation of a Jewish state. The resolutions were permanently dropped. Following the war, the "new postwar era witnessed an intensive involvement of the United States in the political and economic affairs of the Middle East, in contrast to the hands-off attitude characteristic of the prewar period. In Truman's administration the United States had to face and define its policy in all three sectors that provided the root causes of American interests in the region: the Soviet threat, the birth of Israel, and petroleum." and John F. Kennedy in 1951 The United States was the first country to recognize the State of Israel on May 14, 1948. ==Recognition of the State of Israel==

Previous American presidents, although encouraged by active support from members of the American and world Jewish communities, as well as domestic civic groups, labor unions, and political parties, supported the Jewish homeland concept, alluded to in Britain's 1917 Balfour Declaration, they officially continued to "acquiesce". Throughout the Roosevelt and Truman administrations, the Departments of War and State recognized the possibility of a Soviet-Arab connection and the potential Arab restriction on oil supplies to the U.S., and advised against U.S. intervention on behalf of the Jews. With continuing conflict in the area and worsening humanitarian conditions among Holocaust survivors in Europe, on November 29, 1947, and with U.S. support, the United Nations General Assembly adopted as Resolution 181, the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, which recommended the adoption and implementation of a Plan of Partition with Economic Union. The voting was heavily lobbied by Zionist supporters, which Truman himself later noted, and rejected by the Arabs. (right) and Abba Eban (center) As the end of the mandate approached, the decision to recognize the Jewish state remained contentious, with significant disagreement between President Truman, his domestic and campaign adviser, Clark Clifford, and both the State Department and Defense Department. Truman, while sympathetic to the Zionist cause, was most concerned about relieving the plight of the displaced persons; Secretary of State George Marshall feared U.S. backing of a Jewish state would harm relations with the Muslim world, limit access to Middle Eastern oil, and destabilize the region. On May 12, 1948, Truman met in the Oval Office with Secretary of State Marshall, Under Secretary of State Robert A. Lovett, Counsel to the President Clark Clifford, and several others to discuss the Palestine situation. Clifford argued in favor of recognizing the new Jewish state in accordance with the partition resolution. Marshall opposed Clifford's arguments, contending that they were based on domestic political considerations in the election year. Marshall said that, if Truman followed Clifford's advice and recognized the Jewish state, then he would vote against Truman in the election. Truman did not clearly state his views in the meeting. Two days later, on May 14, 1948, the United States, under Truman, became the first country to extend any form of recognition. This happened within hours of the Jewish People's Council gathering at the Tel Aviv Museum and David Ben-Gurion declaring "the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel". The phrase "in Eretz Israel" is the only place in the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel containing any reference to the location of the new State. The text of the communication from the provisional government of Israel to Truman was as follows: The text of the United States recognition was as follows: With this unexpected decision, U.S. representative to the United Nations Warren Austin, whose team had been working on an alternative trusteeship proposal, shortly thereafter left his office at the UN and went home. Secretary of State Marshall sent a State Department official to the United Nations to prevent the entire United States delegation from resigning. De jure recognition came on January 31, 1949. Following UN mediation by American Ralph Bunche, the 1949 Armistice Agreements ended the 1948 Arab Israeli War. Related to enforcement of the armistice, the United States signed the Tripartite Declaration of 1950 with Britain and France. In it, they pledged to take action within and outside the United Nations to prevent violations of the frontiers or armistice lines; outlined their commitment to peace and stability in the area and their opposition to the use or threat of force; and reiterated their opposition to the development of an arms race in the region. Under rapidly changing geopolitical circumstances, U.S. policy in the Middle East was generally geared toward supporting Arab states' independence; aiding the development of oil-producing countries; preventing Soviet influence from gaining a foothold in Greece, Turkey, and Iran; and preventing an arms race and maintaining a neutral stance in the Arab–Israeli conflict. U.S. policymakers initially used foreign aid to support these objectives. ==Foreign policy of the U.S. government==

Eisenhower administration (1953–1961) in 1960 During these years of austerity, the United States provided Israel moderate amounts of economic aid, mostly as loans for basic foodstuffs; a far greater share of state income derived from German war reparations (86% of Israeli GDP in 1956) which were used for domestic development. France became Israel's main arms supplier at this time and provided Israel with advanced military equipment and technology. This support was seen by Israel to counter the perceived threat from Egypt under President Gamal Abdel Nasser with respect to the "Czech arms deal" of September 1955. During the 1956 Suez Crisis, the Israeli Defense Forces invaded Egypt and were soon followed by French and British forces. For differing reasons, France, Israel and Britain signed a secret agreement to topple Nasser by regaining control of the Suez Canal, following its nationalization, and to occupy parts of western Sinai assuring free passage of shipping (for Israel) in the Gulf of Aqaba. In response, the U.S., with support from the Soviet Union at the UN intervened on behalf of Egypt to force a withdrawal. Afterward, Nasser expressed a desire to establish closer relations with the United States. Eager to increase its influence in the region, and prevent Nasser from going over to the Soviet Bloc, U.S. policy was to remain neutral and not become too closely allied with Israel. At this time, the only assistance the U.S. provided Israel was food aid. In the early 1960s, the U.S. would begin to sell advanced, but defensive, weapons to Israel, Egypt, and Jordan, including Hawk anti-aircraft missiles. Kennedy and Johnson administrations (1961–1969) , Memorial to John F. Kennedy, located in the Jerusalem Forest As president, Kennedy initiated the creation of security ties with Israel, and he was the founder of the U.S.–Israeli military alliance. Kennedy, basing his policy decision on his White House advisors, avoided the State Department with its greater interest in the Arab world. A central issue was the status of Palestinians, split among Israel, Egypt and Jordan. By 1961 there were 1.2 million Palestinian refugees living in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt. The Soviet Union, although it initially supported the creation of Israel, was now an opponent, and looking to the Arab world to build support. The United Nations General assembly was generally anti-Israel, but all decisions were subject to American veto power in the Security Council. According to international law, UNGA resolutions are not legally binding while UNSC resolutions are. Kennedy tried to be evenhanded, but domestic political pressures pushed him to support Israel. Kennedy ended the arms embargo that the Eisenhower and Truman administrations had enforced on Israel. Describing the protection of Israel as a moral and national commitment, he was the first to introduce the concept of a 'special relationship' (as he described it to Golda Meir) between the U.S. and Israel. President John F. Kennedy in 1962 sold Israel a major weapon system, the Hawk antiaircraft missile. Professor Abraham Ben-Zvi of Tel Aviv University argues that the sale resulted from Kennedy's "need to maintain – and preferably broaden and solidify – the base of Jewish support of the administration on the eve of the November 1962 congressional elections." As soon as the decision was made White House officials told American Jewish leaders about it. However, historian Zachary Wallace argues that the new policy was driven primarily by Kennedy's admiration of the Jewish state. It deserved American support in order to achieve stability in the Middle East. meeting Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, 1964 Kennedy warned the Israeli government against the production of nuclear materials in Dimona, which he believed could instigate a nuclear arms-race in the Middle East. After the existence of a nuclear plant was initially denied by the Israeli government, David Ben-Gurion stated in a speech to the Israeli Knesset on December 21, 1960, that the purpose of the nuclear plant at Beersheba was for "research in problems of arid zones and desert flora and fauna." When Ben-Gurion met with Kennedy in New York, he claimed that Dimona was, for the time being, being developed to provide nuclear power for desalinization and other peaceful purposes. In 1962, the Israeli and U.S. governments agreed to an annual inspection regime. Despite this inspection policy [agreement], Rodger Davies, the director of the State Department's Office of Near Eastern Affairs, concluded in March 1965 that Israel was developing nuclear weapons. He reported that Israel's target date for achieving nuclear capability was 1968–1969. killing 34 and wounding 171. Israel, which stated the Liberty had been mistaken as the Egyptian vessel El Quseir, claimed it was an instance of friendly fire. The U.S. government accepted it as such, although the incident raised much controversy, and some still believe it to be deliberate: Thomas Hinman Moorer, 7th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, famously accused President Johnson of having covered up that the attack was a deliberate act, calling it "one of the classic all-American cover-ups". Prior to the Six-Day War, U.S. administrations had taken considerable care to avoid giving the appearance of favoritism. Writing in American Presidents and the Middle East, George Lenczowski notes, "Johnson's was an unhappy, virtually tragic presidency", regarding "America's standing and posture in the Middle East", and marked a turning point in both U.S.–Israeli and U.S.–Arab relations. He characterizes the Middle Eastern perception of the U.S. as moving from "the most popular of Western countries" before 1948, to having "its glamour diminished, but Eisenhower's standing during the Arab–Israeli Suez Crisis convinced many Middle Eastern moderates that, if not actually lovable, the United States was at least a fair country to deal with; this view of U.S. fairness and impartiality still prevailed during Kennedy's presidency; but during Lyndon B. Johnson's presidency America's policy took a definite turn in the pro-Israeli direction". He added: "The June war of 1967 confirmed this impression, and from 1967 on [writing in 1990] the United States emerged as the most distrusted if not actually hated country in the Middle East." Following the war, the perception in Washington was that many Arab states (notably Egypt) had permanently drifted toward the Soviets. In 1968, with strong support from Congress, Johnson approved the sale of Phantom fighters to Israel, establishing the precedent for U.S. support for Israel's qualitative military edge over its neighbors. However, the U.S. continued to provide military equipment to Arab states such as Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, to counter Soviet arms sales in the region. During the Israeli–Egyptian War of Attrition, Israeli commandos captured a Soviet-built P-12 radar station in an operation code-named Rooster 53. Previously unknown information was subsequently shared with the U.S. When the French government imposed an arms embargo on Israel in 1967, Israeli spies procured designs of the Dassault Mirage 5 from a Swiss Jewish engineer in order to build the IAI Kfir. These designs were also shared with the United States. Qualitative Military Edge According to the pro-Israel American think tank Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), Qualitative Military Edge (QME) is a concept in U.S. foreign policy. The U.S. commits itself to maintain Israel's qualitative military edge (QME) – that is, the technological, tactical, and other advantages that allow it to deter numerically superior adversaries according to the WINEP. This policy is defined in current U.S. law. 1963 standoff between Israel and United States and Ben-Gurion in 1961 Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported in 2019 that, throughout the spring and summer of 1963, the leaders of the United States and Israel – President John F. Kennedy and prime ministers David Ben-Gurion and Levi Eshkol – were engaged in a high-stakes battle of wills over Israel's nuclear program. The tensions were invisible to the publics of both countries, and only a few senior officials, on both sides, were aware of the severity of the situation. According to Yuval Ne'eman, Eshkol, Ben-Gurion's successor, and his associates saw Kennedy as presenting Israel with a real ultimatum. According to Ne’eman, the former Israel Air Force commander Maj. Gen. (res.) Dan Tolkowsky, seriously entertained the fear that Kennedy might send U.S. airborne troops to Dimona, the home of Israel's nuclear complex. On March 25, 1963, President Kennedy and CIA Director John A. McCone discussed the Israeli nuclear program. According to McCone, Kennedy raised the "question of Israel acquiring nuclear capability," and McCone provided Kennedy with Kent's estimate of the anticipated negative consequences of Israeli nuclearization. According to McCone, Kennedy then instructed National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy to guide Secretary of State Dean Rusk, in collaboration with the CIA director and the AEC chairman, to submit a proposal "as to how some form of international or bilateral U.S. safeguards could be instituted to protect against the contingency mentioned." That also meant that the "next informal inspection of the Israeli reactor complex [must] ... be undertaken promptly and ... be as thorough as possible." As Yuval Ne’eman stated, it was immediately apparent to Eshkol and his advisers that Kennedy's demands were akin to an ultimatum, and thus constituted a crisis in the making. A stunned Eshkol, in his first and interim response, on July 17, requested more time to study the subject and for consultations. The premier noted that while he hoped that U.S-Israeli friendship would grow under his watch, "Israel would do what it had to do for its national security and to safeguard its sovereign rights." Barbour, apparently wanting to mitigate the bluntness of the letter, assured Eshkol that Kennedy's statement was "factual": Critics of strong U.S.-Israel relations might complicate the diplomatic relationship if Dimona was left uninspected. The Egyptians accepted the Rogers Plan, but the Israelis were split and did not; they failed to get sufficient support within the "unity government". Despite the Labor-dominant Alignments, formal acceptance of UN 242 and "peace for withdrawal" earlier that year, Menachem Begin and the right wing Gahal alliance were adamantly opposed to withdraw from the Palestinian Territories; the second-largest party in the government resigned on August 5, 1970. Ultimately, the plan also failed due to insufficient support from Nixon for his secretary of state's plan, preferring instead the position of his National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger, not to pursue the initiative. No breakthrough occurred even after President Sadat of Egypt in 1972 unexpectedly expelled Soviet advisers from Egypt, and again signaled to Washington his willingness to negotiate. On February 28, 1973, during a visit in Washington, D.C., the then Israeli prime minister Golda Meir agreed with the then U.S. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger's peace proposal based on "security versus sovereignty": Israel would accept Egyptian sovereignty over all Sinai, while Egypt would accept Israeli presence in some of Sinai strategic positions. The Soviets began to resupply Arab forces, predominantly Syria. Meir asked Nixon for help with military supply. After Israel went on full nuclear alert and loaded their warheads into waiting planes, Nixon ordered the full scale commencement of a strategic airlift operation to deliver weapons and supplies to Israel; this last move is sometimes called "the airlift that saved Israel". However, by the time the supplies arrived, Israel was gaining the upper hand. Again, the U.S. and Soviets feared that they would be drawn into a Middle East conflict. After the Soviets threatened intervention on the behalf of Egypt, following Israeli advances beyond the cease-fire lines, the U.S. increased the Defense Condition (DEFCON) from four to three, the highest peacetime level. This was prompted after Israel trapped Egypt's Third Army east of the Suez canal. Kissinger realized the situation presented the United States with a tremendous opportunity—Egypt was totally dependent on the U.S. to prevent Israel from destroying the army, which now had no access to food or water. The position could be parlayed later into allowing the United States to mediate the dispute, and push Egypt out of Soviet influences. As a result, the United States exerted tremendous pressure on the Israelis to refrain from destroying the trapped army. In a phone call with Israeli ambassador Simcha Dinitz, Kissinger told the ambassador that the destruction of the Egyptian Third Army "is an option that does not exist". The Egyptians later withdrew their request for support and the Soviets complied. After the war, Kissinger pressured the Israelis to withdraw from Arab lands; this contributed to the first phases of a lasting Israeli-Egyptian peace. American support of Israel during the war contributed to the 1973 OPEC embargo against the United States, which was lifted in March 1974. The Reassessment Crisis In early 1975, the Israeli government turned down a U.S. initiative for further redeployment in Sinai. President Ford responded on March 21, 1975, by sending Prime Minister Rabin a letter stating that Israeli intransigence has complicated U.S. worldwide interests, and therefore the administration will "reassess" its relations with the Israeli government. In addition, arms shipments to Israel halted. The reassessment crisis came to an end with the Israeli–Egyptian disengagement of forces agreement of September 4, 1975. Carter administration (1977–1981) in 1978 The Carter administration was characterized by very active U.S. involvement in the Middle East peace process. With the May 1977 election of Likud's Menachem Begin as prime minister, after 29 years of leading the Israeli government opposition, major changes took place regarding Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories. This led to friction in U.S.–Israeli bilateral relations. The two frameworks included in the Carter-initiated Camp David process were viewed by right-wing elements in Israel as creating U.S. pressures on Israel to withdraw from the captured Palestinian territories, as well as forcing it to take risks for the sake of peace with Egypt. The Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty was signed at the White House on March 26, 1979. It led to Israeli withdrawal from Sinai by 1982. Likud governments have since argued that their acceptance of full withdrawal from the Sinai as part of these accords and the eventual Egypt–Israel peace treaty fulfilled the Israeli pledge to withdraw from Sinai. U.S.–Israeli ties strengthened during the second Reagan term. Israel was granted "major non-NATO ally" status in 1989, giving it access to expanded weapons systems and opportunities to bid on U.S. defense contracts. The United States maintained grant aid to Israel at $3 billion annually and implemented a free trade agreement in 1985. Since then all customs duties between the two trading partners have been eliminated. However, relations soured when Israel carried out Operation Opera, an Israeli airstrike on the Osirak nuclear reactor in Baghdad. Reagan suspended a shipment of military aircraft to Israel, and harshly criticized the action. Relations also soured during the 1982 Lebanon War, when the United States even contemplated sanctions to stop the Israeli siege of Beirut. The U.S. reminded Israel that weaponry provided by the U.S. was to be used for defensive purposes only, and suspended shipments of cluster munitions to Israel. Although the war exposed some serious differences between Israeli and U.S. policies, such as Israel's rejection of the Reagan peace plan of September 1, 1982, it did not alter the Administration's favoritism for Israel and the emphasis it placed on Israel's importance to the United States. Although critical of Israeli actions, the United States vetoed a Soviet-proposed United Nations Security Council resolution to impose an arms embargo on Israel. Michael Oren summarizes the speech, saying: "The president proceeded to outline his plan for maintaining a permanent U.S. naval presence in the Gulf, for providing funds for Middle East development, and for instituting safeguards against the spread of unconventional weapons. The centerpiece of his program, however, was the achievement of an Arab–Israeli treaty based on the territory-for-peace principle and the fulfillment of Palestinian rights." As a first step, Bush announced his intention to reconvene the international peace conference in Madrid. Bush and Baker were thus instrumental in convening the Madrid peace conference in October 1991 and in persuading all the parties to engage in the subsequent peace negotiations. It was reported widely that the Bush Administration did not share an amicable relationship with the Likud government of Yitzhak Shamir. However, the Israeli government did win the repeal of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379, which equated Zionism with racism. After the conference, in December 1991, the UN passed United Nations General Assembly Resolution 46/86; Israel had made revocation of resolution 3379 a condition of its participation in the Madrid peace conference. After the Labor Party won the 1992 election, U.S.–Israel relations appeared to improve. The Labor coalition approved a partial housing construction freeze in the occupied territories on July 19, something the Shamir government had not done despite Bush Administration appeals for a freeze as a condition for the loan guarantees. Clinton administration (1993–2001) , Bill Clinton, and Yasser Arafat during the Oslo Accords on September 13, 1993. Israel and the PLO exchanged letters of mutual recognition on September 10, and signed the Declaration of Principles on September 13, 1993. President Bill Clinton announced on September 10 that the United States and the PLO would reestablish their dialogue. On October 26, 1994, President Clinton witnessed the Jordan–Israeli peace treaty signing, and President Clinton, Egyptian president Mubarak, and King Hussein of Jordan witnessed the White House signing of the September 28, 1995, Interim Agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. The White House said that the remark was unacceptable. Rather than apologize for the remark, Sharon said that the United States failed to understand him. Also, the United States criticized the Israeli practice of assassinating Palestinians believed to be engaged in terrorism, which appeared to some Israelis to be inconsistent with the U.S. policy of pursuing Osama bin Laden "dead or alive". Nonetheless, it was later revealed that Sharon obtained an understanding from the Bush administration that the U.S. government would provide support for Israel while it undertook an extensive campaign of targeted assassinations against Palestinian militants, in exchange for an Israeli undertaking to desist from continuing with the creation of further settlements in the West Bank. In 2003, in the middle of the Second Intifada and a sharp economic downturn in Israel, the U.S. provided Israel with $9 billion in conditional loan guarantees made available through 2011 and negotiated each year at the U.S.–Israel Joint Economic Development Group. All recent U.S. administrations have disapproved of Israel's settlement activity as prejudging final status and possibly preventing the emergence of a contiguous Palestinian state. However, President Bush noted in an April 14, 2002, Memorandum which came to be called "the Bush Roadmap" (and which established the parameters for subsequent Israel-Palestinian negotiations) the need to take into account changed "realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli population centers", as well as Israel's security concerns, asserting that "It is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949." He later emphasized that, within these parameters, details of the borders were subjects for negotiations between the parties. At times of violence, U.S. officials have urged Israel to withdraw as rapidly as possible from Palestinian areas retaken in security operations. The Bush Administration insisted that United Nations Security Council resolutions be "balanced" by criticizing Palestinian as well as Israeli violence, and it vetoed resolutions which did not meet that standard. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did not name a Special Middle East Envoy and did not say that she would not get involved in direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations of issues. She said that she preferred to have the Israelis and Palestinians work together, traveling to the region several times in 2005. The Administration supported Israel's disengagement from Gaza as a way to return to the Road Map process to achieve a solution based on two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security. The evacuation of settlers from the Gaza Strip and four small settlements in the northern West Bank was completed on August 23, 2005. During 2006 Israel–Lebanon conflict Military relations and George W. Bush On July 14, 2006, as the 2006 Lebanon War broke out, the U.S. Congress was notified of a potential sale of $210 million worth of jet fuel to Israel. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency noted that the sale of the JP-8 fuel, should it be completed, will "enable Israel to maintain the operational capability of its aircraft inventory", and that "The jet fuel will be consumed while the aircraft is in use to keep peace and security in the region". It was reported on July 24 that the United States was in the process of providing Israel with "bunker buster" bombs, which would allegedly be used to target the leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrilla group and destroy its trenches. in July 2007. American media also questioned whether Israel violated an agreement not to use cluster bombs on civilian targets. Although many of the cluster bombs used were advanced M-85 munitions developed by Israel Military Industries, Israel also used older munitions purchased from the U.S. Evidence during the conflict, hitting civilian areas, although the civilian population had mostly fled. Israel asserts that civilian damage was unavoidable, as Hezbollah ensconced itself in highly populated areas. Simultaneously, indiscriminate Hezbollah rocket fire turned many of its northern towns into virtual ghost towns, in violation of international law. Many bomblets remained undetonated after the war, causing hazard for Lebanese civilians. Israel said that it had not violated any international law because cluster bombs are not illegal and were used only on military targets. Opposing immediate unconditional ceasefire On July 15, the United Nations Security Council again rejected pleas from Lebanon that it call for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the U.S. was the only member of out the 15-nation UN body to oppose any council action at all. On July 19, the Bush administration rejected calls for an immediate ceasefire. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that certain conditions had to be met, not specifying what they were. John Bolton, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, rejected the call for a ceasefire, on the grounds that such an action addressed the conflict only superficially: "The notion that you just declare a ceasefire and act as if that is going to solve the problem, I think is simplistic." On July 26, foreign ministers from the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East that met in Rome vowed "to work immediately to reach with the utmost urgency a ceasefire that puts an end to the current violence and hostilities". However, the U.S. maintained strong support for the Israeli campaign, and the conference's results were reported to have fallen short of Arab and European leaders' expectations. U.S. veto of Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities In September 2008, The Guardian reported that the U.S. vetoed Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert's plan to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities the previous May. Obama administration (2009–2017) and Benjamin Netanyahu in 2009 Israeli–U.S. relations came under increased strain during Prime Minister Netanyahu's second administration and the new Obama administration. After he took office, President Barack Obama made achieving a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians a major goal, and pressured Prime Minister Netanyahu into accepting a Palestinian state and entering negotiations. Netanyahu eventually conceded on July 14, 2009. In accordance with U.S. wishes, Israel imposed a ten-month freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank. As the freeze did not include East Jerusalem, which Israel regards as its sovereign territory, or 3,000 pre-approved housing units already under construction, as well as the failure to dismantle already-built Israeli outposts, the Palestinians rejected the freeze as inadequate, and refused to enter negotiations for nine months. Palestinian negotiators signaled a willingness to enter into negotiations weeks before the end of the construction freeze if they were to be extended, but this was rejected by the Israelis. In 2009, Obama became the first U.S. president to authorize the sale of bunker buster bombs to Israel. The transfer was kept secret to avoid the impression that the United States was arming Israel for an attack on Iran. In February 2011, the Obama administration vetoed a UN resolution declaring Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal. In 2011, the Obama administration paved the way for the development and production of the Iron Dome missile defense system for Israel, contributing $235 million to its funding. In March 2010, Israel announced that it would continue to build 1,600 new homes that were already under construction in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo, during Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Israel. The incident was described as "one of the most serious rows between the two allies in recent decades". Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Israel's move was "deeply negative" for US–Israeli relations. East Jerusalem is widely considered by the international community to be occupied territory, while Israel disputes this, as it annexed the territory in 1980. Shortly afterward, President Obama instructed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to present Netanyahu with a four-part ultimatum: that Israel cancel the approval of the housing units, freeze all Jewish construction in East Jerusalem, make a gesture to the Palestinians that it wants peace with a recommendation on releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and agree to discuss a partition of Jerusalem and a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem during the negotiations. Obama threatened that neither he nor any senior administration official would meet Netanyahu and his senior ministers during their upcoming visit to Washington. On March 26, 2010, Netanyahu and Obama met in the White House. The meeting was conducted without photographers or any press statements. During the meeting, Obama demanded that Israel extend the settlement freeze after its expiration, impose a freeze on Jewish construction in East Jerusalem, and withdraw troops to positions held before the start of the Second Intifada. Netanyahu did not give written concessions on these issues, and presented Obama with a flowchart on how permission for building is granted in the Jerusalem Municipality to reiterate that he had no prior knowledge of the plans. Obama then suggested that Netanyahu and his staff stay at the White House to consider his proposals so that he could inform Obama right away if he changed his mind, and was quoted as saying: "I'm still around, let me know if there is anything new". Netanyahu and his aides went to the Roosevelt Room, spent a further half-hour with Obama, and extended his stay for a day of emergency talks to restart peace negotiations, but left without any official statement from either side. In July 2010, a 2001 video of citizen Netanyahu surfaced; he was speaking to a group of bereaved families in Ofra about relations with the United States and the peace process, and reportedly unaware he was being recorded. He said: "I know what America is; America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction. They won't get in their way." He also bragged how he undercut the peace process when he was prime minister during the Clinton administration. "They asked me before the election if I'd honor [the Oslo accords]," he said. "I said I would, but ... I'm going to interpret the accords in such a way that would allow me to put an end to this galloping forward to the '67 borders." While it created little stir in the press, it was heavily criticized among the Left in Israel. with mutually agreed land swaps. On May 19, 2011, Obama made a foreign policy speech in which he called for a return to the pre-1967 Israeli borders with mutually agreed land swaps, to which Netanyahu objected. The Republicans criticized Obama for the speech. The speech came a day before Obama and Netanyahu were scheduled to meet. In an address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on May 22, Obama elaborated on his May 19 speech: In his speech to a joint session of congress on May 24, Netanyahu adopted some of Obama's earlier language: Now the precise delineation of those borders must be negotiated. We'll be generous about the size of the future Palestinian state. But as President Obama said, the border will be different than the one that existed on 4 June 1967. Israel will not return to the indefensible boundaries of 1967. In October 2011, the new American defense secretary, Leon Panetta, suggested that Israeli policies were partly responsible for its diplomatic isolation in the Middle East. The Israeli government responded that the problem was the growing radicalism in the region, rather than their own policies. In 2012, President Obama signed into law a bill that would extend by another three years the program of United States guarantees for Israeli government debt. Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor to then-U.S. vice president Joe Biden, lamented in 2012 a tendency by U.S. politicians to use the debate over policy toward Israel for political purposes. Until then, Israel had been a bastion of bipartisan consensus in the U.S. In 2010 and again in July–August 2012, Israeli exports to the United States surpassed those to the European Union, usually the top destination for Israeli exports. Reaction in Israel was mixed to the Geneva interim agreement on the Iranian nuclear program. Prime Minister Netanyahu strongly criticized it as a "historic mistake", and finance minister Naftali Bennett called it a "very bad deal". However, Kadima Party leader Shaul Mofaz, opposition leader Isaac Herzog, and former Aman chief Amos Yadlin voiced some measure of support for the agreement and suggested that it was more important to maintain good ties to Washington than to publicly rebuke the agreement. According to CNN reporter, Stephen Collinson, Netanyahu's years of meddling in U.S. politics on Iran nuclear program, have alienated many Democrats, and their party's shift to the left has further eroded support for Israel. with Prime Minister Netanyahu, at the latter's residence in Jerusalem, November 24, 2015 On April 2, 2014, U.S. ambassador to the UN Samantha Power reaffirmed the administration's stand that the U.S. opposes all unilateral Palestinian moves to statehood. During the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, United States temporarily halted a supply of Hellfire missiles to Israel, sparking tensions between the two countries. In December 2014, Congress passed the United States–Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2013. This new category is one notch above the Major Non-NATO Ally classification and adds additional support for defense, energy, and strengthen cooperation business and academics. The bill additionally calls for the U.S. to increase their war reserve stock in Israel $1.8 billion. Bar Ilan's Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies conducted a study in November 2014 which showed that 96% of the Israeli public feels that the country's relations with the United States are important or very important. It was also felt that Washington is a loyal ally and that America will come to Israel's aid against existential threats. On the other hand, only 37% believe that President Obama has a positive attitude towards Israel (with 24% saying that his attitude is neutral). On December 23, 2016, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution calling for an end to Israeli settlements; the Obama administration's UN ambassador, Samantha Power, was instructed to abstain—although the U.S. had previously vetoed a comparable resolution in 2011. President-elect Donald Trump attempted to intercede by publicly advocating the resolution be vetoed and successfully persuading Egypt's Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to temporarily withdraw it from consideration. The resolution was then "proposed again by Malaysia, New Zealand, Senegal and Venezuela"—and passed 14 to 0. Netanyahu's office alleged that "the Obama administration not only failed to protect Israel against this gang-up at the UN, it colluded with it behind the scenes," adding: "Israel looks forward to working with President-elect Trump and with all our friends in Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, to negate the harmful effects of this absurd resolution." On December 28, 2016, U.S. secretary of state John Kerry strongly criticized Israel and its settlement policies in a speech. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly criticized the UN Resolution and Kerry's speech. On January 6, 2017, the Israeli government withdrew its annual dues from the organization, which totaled $6 million in United States dollars. On January 5, 2017, the United States House of Representatives voted 342–80 to condemn the UN Resolution. U.S.–Israel civilian nuclear deal 2010 According to Army Radio, the U.S. has reportedly pledged to sell Israel materials used to produce electricity, nuclear technology, and other supplies. First Trump administration (2017–2021) and Benjamin Netanyahu. February 15, 2017, in the White House. Trump was inaugurated as U.S. president on January 20, 2017; he appointed a new ambassador to Israel, David M. Friedman. On January 22, 2017, in response to Trump's inauguration, the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his intention to lift all restrictions on construction in the West Bank. Former United States secretary of state Rex Tillerson has said that on May 22, 2017, Benjamin Netanyahu showed Donald Trump a fake and altered video of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas calling for the killing of children. This was at a time when Trump was considering if Israel was the obstacle to peace. Netanyahu had showed Trump the fake video to change his position in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In September 2017 it was announced that the U.S. would open their first permanent military base in Israel. On December 6, 2017, President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The U.S. Embassy was opened in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018, the 70th anniversary of the Independence of Israel. Pastor John Hagee with Rabbi Shlomo Riskin and Israel's deputy foreign minister Tzipi Hotovely in November 2018 In May 2018, President Trump withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal a few days after Netanyahu gave a presentation in which he revealed documents that Mossad smuggled out of Tehran, purportedly showing that Iran lied about its nuclear program. This was followed by a renewal of U.S. sanctions on Iran. On March 25, 2019, President Trump signed the United States recognition of the Golan Heights as part of Israel, in a joint press conference in Washington with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, making the U.S. the first country other than Israel themselves to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Israeli officials had lobbied the United States into recognizing "Israeli sovereignty" over the territory. In August 2020, Trump, Netanyahu and Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan jointly announced the establishment of formal Israel–United Arab Emirates relations. This was followed by Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco establishing relations with Israel through U.S. mediation. Biden administration (2021–2025) during an official visit to Israel in July 2022 Early in the Biden administration, the White House confirmed that the U.S. Embassy would remain in Jerusalem, which would remain recognised as the Capital. The administration also expressed support for the Abraham Accords while wanting to expand on them, although it shied away from using that name, instead referring to it simply as "the normalization process". On May 13, 2021, in the aftermath of the Al-Aqsa mosque conflict, the Biden administration was accused of being indifferent towards the violent conflict between Israeli statehood and the Palestinian minority there. Critics on both sides have identified the reaction by the White House as "lame and late". On May 21, 2021, a ceasefire was brokered between Israel and Hamas after eleven days of clashes. According to Biden, the U.S. will be playing a key role to rebuild damaged infrastructure in the Gaza alongside the Palestinian authority. In July 2022, President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel as part of a trip to the Middle East. During the official state visit in Jerusalem, Biden and then-Prime Minister Yair Lapid signed a joint declaration extending a 10-year, $38 billion defense package to Israel that had been signed in 2016 under the Obama administration. In addition, the declaration addressed global security issues, such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine and committed both sides to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. In an interview on Israel's Channel 12, Biden stated that "if that was the last resort" the United States would use force to achieve this and that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps would remain on the United States' Foreign Terrorist Organizations list even if that meant Iran did not return to the JCPOA under which Iran limited its nuclear program to slow its nuclear weapon program, in return for relief from economic sanctions. Biden and Lapid also opened the first meeting of I2U2 forum, together with the president of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, in a virtual conference during which the four countries agreed to collaborate further on issues including food security, clean energy, technology and trade, and reaffirmed their support for the Abraham Accords and other peace and normalization arrangements with Israel. The UAE pledged $2 billion for agricultural development in India using Israeli technologies. and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 18, 2023 On December 29, 2022, after Netanyahu's right-wing government took office and approved the plan to change the structure of the Israeli judiciary, the value gap between many American Jews and Israel increased. On March 22, 2023, the Biden administration summoned Israel's ambassador to the United States to the State Department, voicing its displeasure following the Knesset's passage of a law allowing the resettlement of illegal settlements in critical areas of the occupied West Bank that were evacuated in 2005. The Israeli press considered such a meeting between the two countries very unusual and it reflects the deterioration of relations between the Biden government and the Netanyahu government. On March 29, 2023, Biden announced that he does not intend to invite Netanyahu to the White House "in the near term". Several pro-Israel organizations, spearheaded by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), have invested tens of millions of dollars in the lead-up to the 2024 election targeting congressional candidates, primarily Democrats, who do not demonstrate adequate support for Israel. Gaza war , Washington DC, late 2023 After Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel in October 2023, Biden issued a statement condemning the attacks and saying he was ready to offer "all appropriate means of support to the Government and people of Israel". Twice in the two months following the attack, Biden publicly declared himself to be a Zionist. On October 18, 2023, President Biden arrived in Israel and was received at Ben Gurion Airport by Israeli president Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Netanyahu. In October 2023, President Biden called on Congress to pass $14.3 billion in emergency military aid to Israel in its war with Hamas. Israel launched a massive bombardment and an invasion of Gaza. The U.S. vetoed three United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire, for various reasons. Domestically, the war began to fracture the left and unite the right. Republicans largely supported Israel's counteroffensive and Netanyahu's government, while Democrats were divided over calls to pressure Israel for a ceasefire. Many Democrats are debating making future U.S. military aid conditional on Israel's behavior in the West Bank and Gaza. According to Steven A. Cook, for the United States, a more normal bilateral relationship with Israel is likely to reduce the moral costs of military aid. Josh Paul, the former director of congressional and public affairs for the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, resigned in October 2023 in response to the Biden administration's decision to continue arms transfers to Israel amid the Gaza war, which he argued violated existing U.S. law. Additionally, Mike Casey, the State Department's former "lead political reporting officer on internal politics and security issues in the Gaza Strip and on Palestinian reconciliation issues" resigned in July 2024 over what he described as the U.S. government's unwavering support for Israel. Casey argued the U.S. government pursues Israel's interests more than its own. showing U.S. change from majority approval (Nov. 2023) to majority disapproval (March 2024) of Israeli military action in Gaza. , January 2024 As the war went on, Israel–U.S. relations began to become strained. The U.S. government became more critical of Israel and its stance slowly began to change as Palestinian civilian casualties rose and opposition grew. On February 8, 2024, Biden called Israel's actions in Gaza "over the top". Following this, the Biden administration issued a national security directive requiring written assurances from Israel (and other countries) that it was using U.S.-supplied weapons in line with international law. On February 20, the U.S. proposed a draft UN Security Council resolution, calling for a "temporary ceasefire in Gaza as soon as practicable, based on the formula of all hostages being released". It stated that an Israeli offensive on Rafah would have "serious implications" and "should not proceed under current circumstances". On March 4, U.S. vice president Kamala Harris called for "an immediate ceasefire" because of "the immense scale of suffering in Gaza". She said Israel must let more aid into Gaza and was imposing "unnecessary restrictions". In a speech on March 14, the U.S. Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, berated Netanyahu as an "obstacle to peace". He said that Netanyahu "has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza" and that "Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah". Schumer added that if Netanyahu stayed in power after the war, "the United States will have no choice but to play a more active role in shaping Israeli policy by using our leverage to change the present course". President Biden praised the speech and said Schumer's "serious concerns" are shared by many Americans. The Israeli government berated the U.S. for not voting against the resolution, and called off a meeting between an Israeli delegation and U.S. officials in Washington. The U.S. has also voiced its opposition to much of Israel's post-war plan for Gaza. According to CNN's Stephen Collinson, there is a long-standing suspicion among observers in Washington that Netanyahu has a strong personal interest in continuing the war to make amends for his failure to prevent the October 7 attacks and to delay his legal process, as he is facing serious criminal charges. On April 24, 2024, Biden signed a $95 billion security package which included around $17 billion in military aid for Israel. In June 2024, the United States officially signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance, allowing Israel to purchase 25 additional Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter jets for $3 billion. On August 9, 2024, the Department of State said the United States would send Israel an additional $3.5 billion to spend on US-made weapons and military equipment. On August 13, 2024, the Department of State announced that the U.S. had approved a $20 billion weapons package sale to Israel, which included fighter jets and advanced air-to-air missiles. Second Trump administration (2025–present) and Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House, February 4, 2025. Trump has taken a pro-Israel stance and increased support for Israel in the Gaza war. Upon his second inauguration as president, Trump lifted sanctions on Israeli settlers and Biden's hold on delivering 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, while expressing his lack of confidence that the ceasefire would last, despite claiming credit for brokering the agreement between Israel and Hamas. In February 2025, the United States approved a $3 billion arms sale to Israel. In early September, Trump and his administration were reportedly blindsided by the Israeli attack on Qatar that reportedly targeted Hamas leadership. Trump used Truth Social that the attacks did not advance any of the goals of Israeli or the United States. On September 29, 2025, Trump held a joint conference with Netanyahu, where they jointly pledged to support a US plan to end the Gaza war and have all the hostages released. Prior to the meeting the White House had released the Trump 21-Point Gaza Peace Plan which called for the war to be ended, boost humanitarian aid in Gaza, and would require Hamas to release all Israeli hostages within 72-hours. On October 23, 2025, the Knesset passed a bill that would extend Israeli sovereignty to all Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The bill was condemned by Vice President JD Vance as a "very stupid political stunt" and by Secretary of State Marco Rubio as "counterproductive" to Trump's Gaza peace plan. Trump added that "Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened." In late 2025, reports surfaced of a disagreement between the United States and Israel regarding sanctions on Syria. According to multiple media outlets, Washington declined an Israeli request to maintain certain economic restrictions, despite Israeli concerns that easing sanctions could empower hostile actors in the region. In February 2026, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem announced it would offer routine passport and consular services to American citizens in the West Bank settlement of Efrat for the first time, with a pop-up event in late February. The embassy described the initiative as part of efforts "to reach all Americans abroad," with additional pop-up services planned in 2026 for Beitar Illit, Ramallah, and locations in Israel. In April 2026 Britain’s ambassador to Washington said that America’s only “special relationship” is “probably Israel” - not the United Kingdom. == Economic relations ==

The United States and Israel's economic relations are currently centered around technology, with aircraft, machinery, diamonds, optic and medical instruments and agricultural products being the main sectors of American-Israeli trade. The United States has provided economic aid to Israel from its founding, until the maturing and success of the Israeli economy with the hightech boom in the 1990s with the U.S. providing $30 billion until 2008 when the last batch of economic aid was provided. Israel is the United States's 23rd largest trade partner as of 2015. Bilateral trade volume in goods amounted to around $35 billion in 2023 and the U.S. is Israel's most important trading partner. Israel, accounting for 2.5% of the Middle East's population, imports 20% of American exports in the region according to the WINEP. The United States is the most significant investor in Israel and in turn Israeli investment in the United States amounts to $41.6 billion as of 2021. In California alone, in 2021 there were 140 Israeli companies, employing 6248 people, and paying around $615 million in salaries. Israel accounts for 50% of the Middle East's investment in the United States. In 2017, the United States Chamber of Commerce launched "Business Israel" to enhance the commercial ties of all 50 states with Israel. Joint American Israeli projects such as BIRD, BARD and BSF which include scientific collaboration on various fields such as agriculture research and industrial research are held. BIRD received a $2 million investment, its projects have returned $1.7 to the U.S. economy. Technology Silicon Valley and Israel's Silicon Wadi have had interchangeable relations from the 1970s at least. American technology companies have been prominent in Israel since that time, with Motorola being the first company to have entered Israel. 300 American companies have established research and development centers in Israel, including Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Cisco and IBM. Israeli cooperation with the United States ranges from defense to agricultural research. ==Current affairs==

United States aid report titled "U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel". (FMF). Seventy-four percent of these funds must be spent on the acquisition of U.S. defense equipment, services, and training. Thus, "United States military aid to Israel is seen by many as a subsidy for U.S. industries", according to Kenneth M. Pollack. FMF is intended to promote U.S. national security by contributing to global stability, strengthening military support for democratically elected governments and containing transnational threats, including terrorism and trafficking of weapons. In 1998, Israeli, congressional, and Administration officials agreed to reduce US$1.2 billion in Economic Support Funds (ESF) to zero over ten years, while increasing FMF from $1.8 billion to $2.4 billion. Separate from the scheduled cuts, there was an extra $200 million in anti-terror assistance, $1.2 billion to implement the Wye agreement, and the supplemental appropriations bill assisted for another $1 billion in FMF for the 2003 fiscal year. For the 2005 fiscal year, Israel received $2.202 billion in FMF, $357 million in ESF, and migration settlement assistance of $50 million. For 2006, the Administration has requested $240 million in ESF and $2.28 billion in FMF. H.R. 3057, passed in the House on June 28, 2005, and in the Senate on July 20, approved these amounts. House and Senate measures also supported $40 million for the settlement of immigrants from the former Soviet Union and plans to bring the remaining Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Obama's Fiscal Year 2010 budget proposed $53.8 billion for appropriated international affairs' programs. From that budget, $5.7 billion was appropriated for foreign military financing, military education, and peacekeeping operations. From that $5.7 billion, $2.8 billion, almost 50%, was appropriated for Israel. Israel also has available roughly $3 billion of conditional loan guarantees, with additional funds coming available if Israel meets conditions negotiated at the U.S.–Israel Joint Economic Development Group. But Eli Lake, the national security correspondent of The Washington Times, reported on September 23, 2011, that Obama had authorized at the beginning of his presidency "significant new aid to the Israeli military that includes the sale of 55 deep-penetrating bombs known as bunker busters". Former head of the Israeli Air Force, retired major general Eitan Ben Eliyahu, has called the American sale of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II nuclear capable stealth fighter bombers to Israel a key test of the relationship. While United States law forbids the use of offset agreements on FMF sales, Israel's Industrial Cooperation Authority attempts to secure industrial participation contracts of around 35 percent of such sales. addresses a joint session of Congress in Washington, D.C., July 24, 2024 In fiscal year 2013, the automatic U.S. budget sequestration process took effect as required by the Budget Control Act of 2011. The process cut appropriations for certain discretionary spending, which reduced foreign military aid to Israel by $157 million, and also reduced funding for Israeli and Israeli–U.S. missile defense programs by $32.7 million. In November 2013, Steven Strauss (a faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School) published an editorial calling for the United States to phase out all grant aid to Israel. Strauss argues that the United States should retain a close relationship with Israel, but that Israel is affluent enough to pay for the military equipment it needs. In 2023, citing "the alarming actions of the new extreme right-wing Israeli government" against Palestinians, U.S. Representative Jamaal Bowman (NY-16) and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) released a letter signed by a dozen of congressional colleagues and supported by numerous advocacy organizations demanding the Biden administration to review the billions of dollars in largely unconditional arms support that the United States provides Israel annually. The Republican plan, approved by the United States House of Representatives, allocates $14.5 billion in military aid for Israel. Also, Israel has received the highest amount of military assistance from the U.S. compared to any other nation since World War II, with aid exceeding $124 billion. Settlements settlement in the Golan Heights named after President Trump The United States views the growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank as an impediment to the success of peace negotiations, acknowledging that most world powers view the settlements as illegal. Israel, on the other hand, views the land as a security bulwark and religious Jewish Israelis hold the land is a God-given inheritance. Israel says that it plans to retain blocs of settlements in any peace treaty. In January 2015, Jewish settlers at the "Adei Ad illegal outpost" threw stones at diplomats from a U.S. delegation who had arrived to inspect vandalism reported at a grove of Palestinian-owned trees in the occupied West Bank. It was reported that recently settlers were suspected of uprooting thousands of olive tree saplings, some of which had been planted in honor of senior Palestinian official Ziad Abu Ein, who collapsed and died after an altercation with an Israeli soldier. The American consulate came to inspect the grove because some of the land owners claim U.S. citizenship. No injuries were reported. A U.S. State Department spokesman, Jeff Rathke, said: "We can confirm a vehicle from the Consulate General was pelted with stones and confronted by a group of armed settlers today in the West Bank, near the Palestinian village of Turmus Ayya." He added that the U.S. is "deeply concerned" about the attack and that the Israeli authorities recognize "the seriousness of the incident". A police spokeswoman said the police were investigating the incident and no arrests had been made. The U.S. State Department has offered the Israeli authorities a videotape of the incident showing no American drew weapons. Yossi Dagan, head of the Shomron Regional Council, urged Interior Minister Gilad Erdan to expel the American delegation, stating that they were spies. The incident is expected to chill the relationship between the United States and Israel, which is already strained, although this is the first known physical attack against American diplomatic staff. Nearly 90 US lawmakers sent a letter to Biden in late October 2024 asking him to sanction two far-right Israeli ministers for encouraging violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank. It is estimated that about 60,000 American citizens live in West Bank settlements. Washington pressure towards peace talks with Syria Syria has repeatedly requested that Israel re-commence peace negotiations with the Syrian government. There is an ongoing internal debate within the Israeli government regarding the seriousness of this Syrian invitation for negotiations. Some Israeli officials asserted that there had been some unpublicized talks with Syria not officially sanctioned by the Israeli government. The United States demanded that Israel desist from even exploratory contacts with Syria to test whether Damascus is serious in its declared intentions to hold peace talks with Israel. U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice was forceful in expressing Washington's view on the matter to Israeli officials that even exploratory negotiations with Syria must not be attempted. For years, Israel obeyed Washington's demand to desist from officially returning to peace talks. However, around May 2008, Israel informed the U.S. that it was starting peace talks with Syria brokered by Turkey. Syria withdrew from the peace talks several months later in response to the Gaza War. Washington brokers "peace process" is the first U.S. peace proposal ever to contain a map with borders for a future State of Palestine. The United States has taken on the preeminent role in facilitating peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The U.S. has been criticized as acting as the attorney of the Israeli government rather than as an honest broker, catering and coordinating with the Israeli government at the expense of advancing the peace talks. For example, under the U.S.–Israeli "no surprises" policy, the U.S. government must first check with the Israeli government any ideas for advancing the negotiations before publicly proposing them, which allegedly may have stripped the U.S. of the "independence and flexibility required for serious peacemaking". Democracy Murtaza Hussain of The Intercept argues that the crackdown on campus protests and other speech opposing Israel in the United States represents an attack on American democracy. He cites a Human Rights Watch statement of concern about the crackdown on these peaceful protests in the United States. Hamid cites this as a source of tension between the United States and Israel over the last 20 years. Jerusalem in Jerusalem, nearby the Temple Mount, which is the most important Jewish religious site and Ivanka Trump attended the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem After capturing East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel annexed it and incorporated it into the Jerusalem Municipality, and has built neighborhoods as well as homes in Arab neighborhoods there, along with government offices. Israel has insisted that Jerusalem is its eternal and indivisible capital. The United States does not agree with this position and believes the permanent status of Jerusalem is still subject to negotiations. According to the WINEP, this is based on the UN's 1947 Partition plan for Palestine, which called for separate international administration of Jerusalem which was accepted at the time by most UN countries and the Zionist leadership, but rejected by the Palestinian Arab leadership as well as Arab countries. Most countries had located their embassies in Tel Aviv before 1967; Jerusalem was also located on the contested border. The Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo Accords signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in September 1993 similarly state that it is a subject for permanent status negotiations. U.S. administrations have consistently indicated, by keeping the Embassy of the United States in Israel in Tel Aviv, that Jerusalem's status is unresolved. In 1999 both chambers of Congress recognized Jerusalem as the capital and in 2017, the United States president recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the embassy was moved to Jerusalem. In March 2010, General David Petraeus was quoted by Max Boot saying the lack of progress in the Middle East peace process has "fomented anti-Americanism, undermined moderate Arab regimes, limited the strength and depth of U.S. partnerships, increased the influence of Iran, projected an image of U.S. weakness, and served as a potent recruiting tool for Al Qaeda". When questioned by journalist Philip Klein, Petraeus said Boot "picked apart" and "spun" his speech. He believes there are many important factors standing in the way of peace, including "a whole bunch of extremist organizations, some of which by the way deny Israel's right to exist". He continued: "There's a country that has a nuclear program who denies that the Holocaust took place. So again we have all these factors in there. This [Israel] is just one." U.S.–Israel relations came under strain in March 2010, as Israel announced it was building 1,600 new homes in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo as Vice President Joe Biden was visiting. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the move as "insulting". On January 22, 2018 Vice President Mike Pence in an address to the Israeli Knesset announced that the embassy would be moved before the end of 2019. On October 18, 2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. Consulate-General in Jerusalem would be merged into the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. Hitherto, the consulate general had been responsible for conducting U.S. relations with the Palestinians. In early March 2019, the consulate general was formally merged into the U.S. Embassy, ending the U.S. practice of assigning separate missions to the Israelis and Palestinians. The consulate general's former Agron Street site will be repurposed as the embassy's new Palestinian Affairs Unit. In October 2024, the Knesset passed a bill banning the creation of new consulates in Jerusalem, in a move interpreted as blocking the creation of consular services for Palestinians in the city. Immigration Israel is in large part a nation of Jewish immigrants. Israel has welcomed newcomers inspired by Zionism, the Jewish national movement. Zionism is an expression of the desire of many Jews to live in their historical homeland. The largest numbers of immigrants have come to Israel from countries in the Middle East and Europe. The United States has played a special role in assisting Israel with the complex task of absorbing and assimilating masses of immigrants in short periods of time. Soon after Israel's establishment, President Truman offered $135 million in loans to help Israel cope with the arrival of thousands of refugees from the Holocaust. Within the first three years of Israel's establishment, the number of immigrants more than doubled the Jewish population of the country. Mass immigrations have continued throughout Israeli history. Since 1989, Israel absorbed approximately one million Jews from the former Soviet Union. The United States worked with Israel to bring Jews from Arab countries, Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union to Israel, and has assisted in their absorption into Israeli society. In addition, there has been immigration between the two countries, with many American Jews immigrating to Israel annually, while the United States is the top destination for Israelis emigrating abroad (yerida) permanently or for an extended stay. Corporate exchange Several regional America–Israel Chambers of Commerce exist to facilitate expansion by Israeli and American companies into each other's markets. American companies such as Motorola, IBM, Microsoft and Intel chose Israel to establish major R&D centers. Israel has more companies listed on the NASDAQ than any country outside North America. Strategic cooperation The U.S. and Israel are engaged in extensive strategic, political and military cooperation. This cooperation is broad and includes American aid, intelligence sharing, and joint military exercises. American military aid to Israel comes in different forms, including grants, special project allocations, and loans. President Obama pledged to maintain Israel's "QME" over the other countries in the region. Memorandum of Understanding on security To address threats to security in the Middle East, including joint military exercises and readiness activities, cooperation in defense trade and access to maintenance facilities. The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding marked the beginning of close security cooperation and coordination between the American and Israeli governments. Comprehensive cooperation between Israel and the United States on security issues became official in 1981 when Israel's defense minister Ariel Sharon and American secretary of defense Caspar Weinberger signed a Memorandum of Understanding that recognized "the common bonds of friendship between the United States and Israel and builds on the mutual security relationship that exists between the two nations". The memorandum called for several measures. Missile defense program One facet of the U.S.–Israel strategic relationship is the joint development of the Arrow Anti-Ballistic Missile Program, designed to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles. This development is funded by both Israel and the United States. The Arrow has also provided the U.S. with the research and experience necessary to develop additional weapons systems. So far, the development cost has been between $2.4 and $3.6 billion, with the United States picking up 50 percent of the final costs. The U.S. has notably provided funding for Israel's Iron Dome short-range missile defense system: from 2011 until 2022, the United States contributed a total of US$2.6 billion to the Iron Dome defense system. Counter-terrorism and Israeli president Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv, Israel, January 2024 In April 1996, President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Shimon Peres signed the US–Israel Counter-terrorism Accord. The two countries agreed to further cooperation in information sharing, training, investigations, research and development and policymaking. Homeland security At the federal, state and local levels there is close Israeli–American cooperation on homeland security. Israel was one of the first countries to cooperate with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in developing initiatives to enhance homeland security. In this framework, there are many areas of partnership, including preparedness and protection of travel and trade. American and Israeli law enforcement officers and Homeland Security officials regularly meet in both countries to study counter-terrorism techniques and new ideas regarding intelligence gathering and threat prevention. In December 2005, the United States and Israel signed an agreement to begin a joint effort to detect the smuggling of nuclear and other radioactive material by installing special equipment in Haifa, Israel's busiest seaport. This effort is part of a nonproliferation program of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration that works with foreign partners to detect, deter, and interdict illicit trafficking in nuclear and other radioactive materials. US police have trained in Israel. Military bases The United States maintains six War Reserve Stocks inside Israel, at Airwing 7 air base and maintains some $300 million in military equipment at these sites. The equipment is owned by the United States and is for use by American forces in the Middle East, but can also be transferred to Israeli use during a time of crisis. The United States is also alleged to keep fighter and bomber aircraft at these sites, and one of the bases is thought to contain a 500-bed hospital for U.S. Marines and Special Forces. According to the American military journalist and commentator William Arkin in his book Code Names, the U.S. has prepositioned in at least six sites in Israel, munitions, vehicles, and military equipment, and even a 500-bed hospital, for use by U.S. Marines, Special Forces, and Air Force fighter and bomber aircraft in a wartime contingency in the Middle East. Arkin in his book writes that some of the sites are located at Ben Gurion Airport, Nevatim, Ovda air base, and in Herzliya Pituah. The sites are numbered as "site 51," "site 53," "site 54," "site 55" and "site 56." Some of the depots are underground, others were built as open hangars. According to Arkin, site 51 holds ammunition and equipment in underground depots. Site 53 is munitions storage and war reserve vehicles at Israeli Air Force bases, site 54 is an emergency military hospital near Tel Aviv with 500 beds, and sites 55 and 56 are ammunition depots. However, Israel is not the only country in the Middle East to host U.S. military bases; there are American facilities in Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia (mostly withdrawn from in 2003), Oman, and the Persian Gulf states of Kuwait, Bahrain (headquarters of the United States Fifth Fleet), Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. The Bahrain headquarters of the United States Fifth Fleet is meant to act as a watchdog and deterrent to potential Iranian aggression in the Persian Gulf region. The Dimona Radar Facility is an American radar facility in the Negev desert of southern Israel, located near Dimona. The facility has two radar towers designed to track ballistic missiles through space and provide ground-based missiles with the targeting data needed to intercept them. It can detect missiles up to away. The facility is owned and operated by the U.S. military, and provides only second-hand intelligence to Israel. The towers of the facility are the tallest radar towers in the world, and the tallest towers in Israel. Intelligence relations The United States and Israel have cooperated on intelligence matters since the 1950s. Israel was behind the disclosure of Nikita Khrushchev's secret speech denouncing Stalin in 1956. Throughout the Cold War, Israel provided the U.S. with information on Soviet-built weapons systems captured from the Arabs. Israel also provides the U.S. with much of its Middle Eastern human intelligence. The CIA became more reliant on Israeli intelligence following the Iranian Revolution and the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing. Meanwhile, the U.S. provided Israel with satellite imagery, and in the early 1980s, the CIA reportedly began giving Israel intelligence that it denied its closest NATO allies. In particular, Israel received almost unlimited access to intelligence from the KH-11 Kennan military satellite, though Israeli access was more restricted following Operation Opera. The National Security Agency has acknowledged that it provides to Israel raw unfiltered information intercepts that include private details and messages of American citizens. American espionage against Israel Despite intense intelligence cooperation, both countries have been heavily engaged in espionage operations against one another. The United States has mainly tried to penetrate Israel's political, military and intelligence circles and gather information on Israel's alleged nuclear and non-conventional capabilities, while Israel has also penetrated the U.S. government, and has engaged in industrial espionage in the United States in an attempt to boost its military and alleged nuclear capabilities. In 1996, two espionage scandals broke. It was revealed that the National Security Agency wiretapped the phone lines to Israel's embassy in Washington and broke the Israeli security code, exposing Israel's deepest policy secrets to the United States. The wiretapping was discovered following the widely publicized "Mega Scandal", when a phone call intercepted by the NSA became public. Due to Israel's expertise in computers and electronics and the sophistication of its electronic code system, it was widely believed that the NSA used an Israeli mole to obtain the security code. The resulting "Mega Scandal" was the allegation that Israeli intelligence had a highly placed mole within the U.S. government. On November 10, 2004, a U.S. submarine entered Israeli territorial waters eighteen kilometers off the coast of Haifa. The submarine's mission was never revealed. It was thought to have been trying to gather intelligence on the city's naval base and headquarters and other vital infrastructure, and was also suspected of intending to intercept Israeli naval electronic signals and test Israel's response to an intrusion. It also may have been trying to install sensors near Israeli naval headquarters and other vital installations. Minutes after it entered Israeli waters, the submarine was detected and tracked by the Israeli Navy. The submarine was initially identified as belonging to a NATO power, and later confirmed to be American. The Israeli General Staff refrained from ordering an attack on what was considered the asset of a friendly nation. After several hours, the submarine submerged and fled, presumably determining that it was under surveillance. The Israeli Navy then sent fast patrol craft, missile boats, and helicopters in pursuit. The submarine was not found, but military sources maintained that the submarine had failed to complete its mission. According to Israeli officials, such spy missions were common, and Western spy submarines had been intercepted by Israel before. In December 2013, documents released by whistle-blower Edward Snowden revealed that in January 2009 the NSA and its British counterpart GCHQ had spied on an email address belonging to Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, and had monitored email traffic between then-Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak and his chief of staff, Yoni Koren. Israeli espionage against the United States Shortly after Rafael Eitan visited Inslaw in February 1983, the software PROMIS was allegedly stolen and copied by the United States Department of Justice, which triggered years of litigation. Earl W. Brian and Edwin Meese, two men with close ties to Reagan, are said to have sold or given the software to over 80 countries, with a “back door” built into the program, which allowed for espionage. Two versions of the software are said to have been sold: an American one for the CIA and an Israeli one for the Mossad. The software with the built-in back door is said to have reached the KGB via the British publisher Robert Maxwell, a Mossad agent. Maxwell was also able to sell the bugged Israeli version of PROMIS to Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory, two of the most important nuclear research and national security facilities in the United States. He is said to have been assisted by John Tower. Jonathan Pollard, a civilian analyst working for U.S. naval intelligence, was arrested in 1985 and charged with conveying highly classified documents to Israeli agents after shopping it around to a host of other countries. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to deliver national defense information to a foreign government, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Israel later granted him citizenship, and he was released in 2015. According to journalist Daniel Halper, Israel blackmailed US President Bill Clinton in 1998 with the release of incriminating conversations with Monica Lewinsky in order to secure the release of Pollard. Israel is said to have obtained the Lewinsky recordings by monitoring White House phone lines. "The Israelis are pretty aggressive" when it comes to espionage, including against the United States. "They're all about protecting the security of the Israeli state and they do whatever they feel they have to achieve that objective," according to a former senior U.S. intelligence official. In May 2014, a U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) document leaked by Edward Snowden and published by journalist Glenn Greenwald revealed the CIA was concerned that Israel had set up an extensive spying network in the United States. Defense secretaries from both countries denied the claim with Chuck Hagel saying he had no facts to substantiate the report, while Moshe Ya'alon said he was never allowed to spy on the United States while he was head of the Israeli intelligence services, "and as defense minister I don't allow spying on the United States whatsoever." After a careful study over a two-year period ending in September 2019, the United States intelligence community and FBI concluded that it "was pretty clear that the Israelis were responsible" for cellphone surveillance devices near the White House and other sensitive Washington, D.C.-area locations, according to several former senior U.S. officials. According to him, Epstein's activities as a spy served to gather compromising material on powerful people in order to blackmail them. Epstein's victim Virginia Giuffre also alleged Epstein to be an intelligence asset, linking on Twitter to a Reddit page, that alleged Epstein being a spy, running a blackmail operation. Surverillance The US has at times both used and opposed Israeli surveillance companies including NSO Group and Paragon Solutions. Visa Waiver Program Israel applied to join the U.S. government's Visa Waiver Program in 2005. Under this program, citizens of selected countries can enter the United States for up to 90 days for tourism and business purposes without having to apply for an entry visa. The House of Representatives approved the bid, but the Senate rejected it. Israel failed to fulfill two basic requirements; not all citizens owning a biometric passport, and the entry visa rejection rate for Israelis exceeded 3%. In addition, the United States insisted that Palestinian Americans entering Israel not be subjected to any more security checks than other U.S. citizens. In January 2013, a new bill was submitted to the House calling for Israel's inclusion, with its supporters saying Israel now meets the program's current criteria. As of 2014, Israel regularly bars the entry of American citizens. In 2023, Israel joined the Visa Waiver Program. Israeli judicial reform The Biden administration objects to the Netanyahu government's plans for a "judicial reform", and has expressed as much on several occasions. US citizens The IDF has killed US citizens Rachel Corrie in 2003, Furkan Doğan in 2010, and Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022. In 2022, Omar Assad died in Israeli custody. During Israel's War on Gaza, US citizens Amer Rabee, Ayşenur Eygi, Mohammad Khdour, Sayfollah Musallet, and Tawfic Abdel Jabbar were killed in the West Bank. Jacob Flickinger was killed in Gaza. In 2025, the detention of Muhammad Zaher Ibrahim, a 15-year-old Palestinian-American from the West Bank, raised concerns among U.S. lawmakers, civil society organizations, and the State Department, which sought updates on his well-being and legal status. He was released in November 2025 after approximately nine months in Israeli custody. == Public opinion ==

In the United States Since 1948 with Israeli and American flagsFrom the creation of Israel in 1948 until the 2020s, American public opinion had consistently favoured Israel over the Palestinians. Many in the United States question the levels of aid and general commitment to Israel, and argue that a U.S. bias operates at the expense of improved relations with various Arab states. Others maintain that democratic Israel is a helpful and strategic ally, and believe that U.S. relations with Israel strengthen the U.S. presence in the Middle East. A 2002–2006 Gallup Poll of Americans by party affiliation (Republican/Democratic) and ideology (conservative/moderate/liberal) found that, although sympathy for Israel is strongest amongst the right (conservative Republicans), the group most on the left (liberal Democrats) also have a greater percentage sympathizing with Israel. Although proportions are different, each group has most sympathizing more with Israel, followed by both/neither, and lastly more with the Palestinians. These findings support the view that support for Israel in the U.S. is bipartisan. A 2007 Gallup World Affairs poll included the annual update on Americans' ratings of various countries around the world, and asked Americans to rate the overall importance to the United States of what happens in most of these nations, according to that poll, Israel was the only country that a majority of Americans felt both favorably toward (63%) and said that what happens there is vitally important to the United States (55%). 2010s A 2013 Gallup poll finds 64% of Americans sympathize with Israelis and 12% with Palestinians. Analysis of the poll data showed that Republicans, conservatives and older Americans were more likely to be partial to Israel. Republicans (78%) were much more likely to sympathize with Israel than Democrats (55%). Democratic support for Israel has increased by four percent since 2001, while Republican support for the Jewish state has jumped 18 percentage points in the same period. The percentage of respondents favoring the Palestinians increases with formal education, ranging from 8% of those with no college experience to 20% of postgraduates. According to Gallup, Palestinians receive the highest sympathy from Democrats, liberals, and postgraduates, but even among these, support tops off at 24%. According to a 2013 BBC World Service Poll, the United States is the only Western country surveyed holding favorable views of Israel, and the only country in the survey with a majority of positive ratings, with 51% of Americans viewing Israel's influence positively and 32% expressing a negative view. has passed, is pending, or has failed as of November 2023A 2012 report from The David Project, an Israel advocacy organization in the U.S., found that the strongest anti-Israel behaviour in America is found in universities. Quoting the experience of Jewish students who felt largely comfortable in American universities, the report denied that anti-Israeli feelings were based on antisemitism, as commonly believed. Instead the problem was said to lie in a "drip-drip negativity" about Israel that threatened to erode support over the long term, and might eventually spread from campuses to the population at large. Amongst ethnic groups, the Hispanic and Latino population is believed to be the most hostile towards Israel, according to the Israel Project (TIP), a U.S. nonprofit organization active in Israel advocacy. According to TIP, Israel is more popular among older Americans, Republicans, conservatives and Evangelicals and less popular among "liberal elites", African Americans and Democrats. Mark Heller, the lead research associate at Tel Aviv's Institute for National Security Studies believes that the American public opinion has shifted over time against Israel and predicts that the relations between the country with the U.S. will deteriorate in the future. To compensate for this loss, he suggests that Israel should strengthen its ties with key Asian countries instead, because, in his view, the major Asian countries "don't seem to indicate much interest about how Israel gets along with the Palestinians, Arabs, or anyone else." He believes that countries like China, India and Singapore would be less committed to the types of liberal and humane concerns that occasionally affect Western policy and are less inclined to protest Israel's settlement construction and its policies towards Palestinians. In 2012 tensions emerged between the Emergency Committee for Israel and other Jewish charities it argued are hostile to Israel. According to Paul Berger, The group's advertisements against Jewish charities it accuses of supporting anti-Israel organizations seemed unsuccessful. Several people quoted in the Emergency Committee for Israel's New York Times advertisement immediately distanced themselves from the publicity campaign. The Jewish groups the ads targeted reported little change in donor support. A 2015 Bloomberg Politics poll of Americans asked "When it comes to relations between the U.S. and Israel, which of the following do you agree with more?" 47% of respondents chose "Israel is an ally but we should pursue America's interests when we disagree with them." 45% of respondents chose "Israel is an important ally, the only democracy in the region, and we should support it even if our interests diverge." 8% were unsure. 2020s at Columbia University, March 2024. According to a 2023 Brookings Institution report, released prior to the Gaza war, American popular support for Israel has declined in recent years. A March 27 – April 5, 2023 Ipsos/University of Maryland poll found that Americans most commonly describe Israel as either "a flawed democracy" or "a state with segregation similar to apartheid." In November 2023, a Gallup poll found that 50% of respondents in the United States supported Israel's actions in Gaza, while 45% disapproved. The Marist Poll published on November 15 found that American respondents were more likely to sympathize with Israelis (61%) than Palestinians (30%). According to the poll conducted by the Harvard CAPS–Harris Poll on January 17–18, 2024, 67% of American respondents said that a ceasefire in Gaza should only happen after all Israeli hostages are released and Hamas is removed from power. 74% of American respondents believed that the Hamas attack was genocidal, while 34% of respondents believed that Israel was committing genocide., October 10, 2023 in the annual Assyrian New Year march in Chicago, where they express support for Israel (April 2025)According to a November 2023 poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, Americans are divided over whether Israel has gone too far in its response to last month's attack. American public opinion has grown more negative towards Israel since the October 7 attacks and the subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza. In a May 2024 survey by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, 30% of Jewish Americans agreed that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza (including 38% under the age of 44, and 22% over), while 51% disagreed and 19% neither agreed nor disagreed. 34% characterised the 2024 pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses as "anti-war, pro-peace", 28% as "anti-Israel", 25% as both, and 12% as neither. 52% agreed with Biden's stated position of withholding arms shipments if Israel invaded Rafah, 22% disagreed and 25% neither agreed nor disagreed. In a March 2025 survey by Pew Research Center, 53% of Americans held a negative opinion of Israel, increasing from 42% in March 2022. A February 2026 Gallup poll found that 41% of Americans say they sympathize more with the Palestinians in the Middle East situation, while 36% sympathize more with the Israelis. A similar poll conduct the year before (February 2025), showed that 46% sympathized more with the Israelis and 33% with the Palestinians. Gallup stated: "For the first time in Gallup’s annual measurement since 2001, Americans’ sympathies no longer lie more with the Israelis than the Palestinians." Additional findings include: 46% of Americans viewing Israel favorably and 37% viewing the Palestinian Territories favorably (a new high for the latter), and 57% of Americans favor an independent Palestinian state. In March 2026, a Manhattan Institute survey about Democratic voters in the United States found that attitudes vary across age groups, political activists, and general voters. According to the survey, while most Democrats continue to support the U.S.–Israel relationship overall, many of them expressed mixed opinions on Israeli government policies. According to a 2026 Gallup poll, 46% of Americans have favorable opinions of Israel, while 48% have an unfavorable opinion. According to a March 2026 survey by Pew Research Center, 60% of Americans had an unfavorable opinion of Israel, while 37% had a favorable opinion. The survey also found that 80% of Democrats and 70% of Americans aged 18-49 had an unfavorable view of Israel. 44% of Republicans had a negative opinion of Israel, while 45% had a positive opinion; in addition, 58% of Republicans aged 18-49 had an unfavorable opinion of Israel. 59% of Americans did not have confidence in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while 27% of Americans did. In Israel Israeli attitudes toward the U.S. are largely positive. In several ways of measuring a country's view of America (American ideas about democracy; ways of doing business; music, movies, and television; science and technology; and spread of U.S. ideas), Israel came on top as the developed country who viewed it most positively. In December 2014, a public opinion poll of Israelis showed a majority of Israelis believe Israel's relationship with the U.S. is "in crisis". The survey found that 61.7 percent of respondents said there was a crisis in U.S.–Israel relations. Less than one quarter of respondents said the relations were "stable and good." A majority of people polled said that Netanyahu's government had "harmed" the relationship. Despite the positive attitudes towards the U.S., the poll found that Israelis are generally mistrustful of the U.S. president, with only 37 percent of respondents calling Obama's views of Israel "positive," while 61% characterized his attitude towards Israel as "negative" or "neutral." ==See also==