US-Israel Alliance in Crisis: George Friedman Explains
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Why does the United States care so much about Israel?
Hello and welcome to this podcast from Geopolitical Futures. I'm Christian Smith. Reports emerged this week of an explosive conversation between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The president was not pleased that Israel's renewed attacks on Lebanon over the weekend threatened to collapse the tenuous ceasefire between Iran and the US. Now all relationships have their spats, but what does this moment tell us about Israel and America's? Well, on this edition of the podcast we discuss the US relationship with Israel, what both sides want out of the war with Iran from here, and the future of Israel's place in the Middle East. And to do so, I am joined by Geopolitical Futures Chairman and Founder, George Friedman.
Hello, George. Hi. George, I wanna really I wanna go back to first principles to start off with here. Why does the US care so much about Israel?
Well, we have to go back to the founding of Israel. The United States voted for the founding but did not provide very much help. To Israel. The country that made the most help to Israel was believe it or not, France. And for the decades before the French were there. What happened was, however, the Suez crisis. The Suez crisis was that Egypt seized control tried to seize control of the Suez Canal, which would be like taking control of the Hormuz Straits is today. The British, the French, and And they recruited the Israelis. To take back Suas Knell to block Nasser from doing that. After that happened. The Egyptians shifted their interest, and the United States, by the way, intervened to stop them. Not to be able to do that.
Vasser turned to the Soviets. For h for help and became a lie. So did Syria, so did other countries in the region. So there was a Cold War that extended to the Middle East. And in that Cold War, a number of critical Arab countries were were under profound Russian influence. Not control, but influence. The Russians armed them, trained them, and everything else like that. It was after that that the United States really started to turn to Israel. Because We didn't the countries that were allied with us did not have major military force. Israel was a major military power, and so the United States became involved with Israel. So for example, in nineteen seventy three, what was called the Yom Kipper War involved an attack by Egypt and Syria on Israel.
The weapons were all Soviet. The training is all Soviet. The planning had a great deal to do with the Soviets. In that war, the United States became a major supplier of goods. This was a short war, a week or so, but Massively shifted. uh weapons and everything to Israel. So one of the things to understand is that the US Israeli relationship developed at the heights of the Cold War. With Russia having penetrated many of the Middle Eastern countries, particularly Syria and Egypt, critical countries. Egypt became a tool for the United States. It was a way for them to supply weapons, not get involved on the ground. Keeping them at bay. With the fall of the Soviet Union Okay, that Базикли ремайд і п'я.
After that the United States became more concerned with things like bombing Yugoslavia, things of that sort. Then something happened. 911. So the US relationship with Israel did not cool, did not intensify, but after nine eleven. And the attack by Al Qaeda and so on, the United States suddenly was involved in the Middle East, such as with the Iraq War, the uh involvement in Kuwait and everything else. In those wars. The Israelis were very useful. Both in providing intelligence, providing covert operations and so on and so forth. So during the period after nine eleven, the United States itself became dependent to a great extent on Israel and the Isra the relationship Maintain itself. Well, we're far beyond that point at this point.
That the US commitment to Israel is There it is not as imperative as it was And as Trump So nicely pro pointed out. It's at a point where There's a possibility of a difference. in how we relate. But that is United States Was committed to Israel was not the case.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why does the United States care so much about Israel?
0:06–6:01
2
How did the Suez Crisis shape early US‑Israel cooperation?
6:01–10:59
3
What changed the US‑Israel relationship during the Cold War?
10:59–15:53
4
How did 9/11 and the Iraq wars deepen US reliance on Israel?
15:53–20:20
5
Why is Israel’s strategic burden a problem for regional stability?
20:20–24:35
6
What are the implications of Trump’s clash with Netanyahu for the alliance?
24:35–28:51
7
Can the United States step back from Israel without endangering its interests?
28:51–33:12
8
Will the US‑Israel alliance survive the shifting Middle‑East geopolitics?
33:12–37:47