Thread by @shevereshtus

People who have never studied the subject, who are completely oblivious to the history of American-Israeli relations, are fine with jettisoning a relationship that has favored America far more than Israel due to their ignorance.

A short thread.

https://twitter.com/history__speaks/status/1950346208225993195

General George Keegan was the head of the US Air Force Intelligence. He claimed that Israel gave to America more intelligence on the Soviets and their weapons than he would have received if he had five CIAs.

And that’s not all he said:

He also mentioned that while America received a little over $18 billion over 25 years, the return on interest was that Israel provided the U.S. with the equivalent of up to $80 billion in R&D savings, intelligence and captured Soviet weapon systems in the same period of time.

In fact, while Israel’s role during the Cold War was kept on the hush-hush, it was central to America’s effort to counter and eventually defeat the USSR

For example, in ‘67 Israel provided seized SAM-2, SAM-12, a full squadron of MiG-21s and Soviet T-54 tanks for the US to study

And Israel didn’t just deliver Soviet weapon systems to America. It actually tested America reactions to Soviet weapon systems in the field.

For example, America gave the Israeli Air Force American aircraft to attack and destroy a Soviet air defense system, which it did.

The U.S. military was then able to use the data to help fight Soviet air-defense systems all over the world.

Israel also helped save American lives by going behind enemy lines and capturing vital equipment like the P-2 radar so the US would know how to evade them.

This continued in the ‘70s as well, when, in the midst of the Yom Kippur War, Israel captured and shared all the Soviet gear it captured, including the famous T-62 battle tank.

In the 80s, Israel once again destroyed Soviet anti-aircraft batteries, and promptly shared their data

Thanks to Israel not only doing the legwork but sharing what they found out, they ended up saving America billions in R&D and finding ways to counter it themselves.

This kind of relationship explains what Joseph Sisco, a U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, told Shmuel Katz:

“I want to assure you, Mr. Katz, that if we were not getting full value for our money, you would not get a cent from us.”

America’s relationship with Israel was never based on benevolence. It was based on a mutually beneficent relationship where America has gotten a great deal.

Not only in relations with the Soviet, but Israel was the only place (and is the only place) in the Middle-East which is stable and serves as a safe haven for American ships, planes and equipment for landing & maintenance.

Not having to build a base has saved America billions.

Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig has called Israel America’s largest American aircraft carrier.

The VP of General Dynamics has stated that Israel provided for free over 600 improvements in the plane’s systems, saving them billions of dollars and dozens of R&D years.

Israel has also helped America in its own conflicts, or acted when America couldn’t.

The destruction of the nuclear programs of Iraq, Syria and Iran are a good example of that, but are far from the only ones.

In 1970, at US request, Israel prevented the fall of Jordan to Syria

During the Gulf War, not only did Israel not retaliate in any way per US requests, but constantly provided intelligence, air cover for military cargo, and had IDF members in the Iraqi desert there to pick up downed American pilots.

Although the Israeli government was very skeptical and even opposed to the 2003 Iraqi war, the Israeli government still provided America with intelligence, air coverage, and anything else it requested during that conflict as well.

That’s what real friends and allies do.

In fact, it saved the lives of countless America soldiers when it came to fight the insurgency.

Soldiers trained in IDF facilities, were shown how to combat suicide bombers and desert asymmetrical warfare, and Israeli drones were providing intelligence in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Israel has shared so much intelligence and technology with America that, according to Senator Daniel Inouye, Israel did not just save the US billions in R&D but provided America more information than all NATO countries combined.

Yes, you read that right. More than all of NATO.

It’s impossible to tally everything that Israel has contributed to America and the rest of the world. And in a sense, it’s their fault for not being quite good enough at PR to point it out.

Between this thread and those 100 examples, this is a good place to begin:

https://twitter.com/shevereshtus/status/1907166238188675502

Needless to say, between this thread and the last one I linked, this is more than enough information for you to safely disregard the opinion on Israel of anyone who ever claims that Israel is not contributing anything to America, and it wouldn’t be a loss if it stopped.

Addendum: And when I say that there’s so much more that I am not covering, I am serious.

Trade between America and Israel are over $50 billion daily. Almost 300,000 American jobs in America exist because of it. The R&D alone has created close to another 200,000 additional jobs.

Almost the entirety of US aid to Israel has to be spent on US companies, and all R&D tech developed for those weapons has to be shared with America, so this is another industry that has benefitted immensely. It employs Americans, improves US weaponry, which saves American lives.

You could literally write a series of books detailing how, not just at the height of the Cold War, but today, America benefits from Israel.

Maybe more than ever.