Why Israel is a Great Ally
No other ally provides to the USA what Israel does, including the technology for the Golden Dome Trump is building. Israel is our National Security partner. Israel is preeminent in National Security and military technology.
The reason American taxpayers are not currently paying for Israel’s defense in the same way they are for Ukraine lies in the nature of the U.S.–Israel relationship and how defense assistance to Israel is structured. The U.S. provides long-term, pre-approved military aid to Israel — primarily through the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed under President Obama, which guarantees $3.8 billion annually in military assistance for ten years. This aid is not an open-ended war appropriation like Ukraine’s; rather, it’s a stable, planned security partnership that allows Israel to maintain its own self-defense capabilities rather than rely on American troops or emergency funding each year.
Ukraine, by contrast, receives emergency appropriations voted on by Congress each time Russia escalates its invasion. Those funds go to sustain Ukraine’s military and economy because Ukraine’s defense is almost entirely dependent on outside aid. Israel, on the other hand, manufactures much of its own equipment, including Iron Dome and other advanced systems—many of which are co-developed with the U.S. Israel doesn’t need U.S. soldiers or direct war funding; it needs strategic and technological backing, which it already has.
Israel also functions as a forward defense outpost for U.S. intelligence, cyber security, and counterterrorism operations. American and Israeli defense cooperation directly benefits the U.S. military through shared technology, battlefield testing of systems like missile interceptors, and intelligence gathering against Iran, Hezbollah, and other regional threats.
In short: America doesn’t pay for Israel’s war efforts the way it does for Ukraine because Israel’s defense is already integrated into long-standing, mutually beneficial security arrangements — not a reactive funding measure.
Strategic and Military Cooperation: Israel is one of America’s closest security partners in the Middle East. The relationship includes: Intelligence sharing on terrorism, cyber threats, Iran, and militant groups. Joint military exercises and weapons development. U.S. access to prepositioned military equipment and regional operational cooperation. Testing and refinement of defense technologies under real-world combat conditions.
American officials across multiple administrations have said Israeli intelligence has helped prevent attacks and provided insight into regional threats. Cooperation has been especially strong regarding Iran and Islamist militant organizations.
Technology and Defense Innovation: Israel has a large technology sector relative to its size and is especially strong in: Cybersecurity, Drone technology, Missile defense, Medical technology, Artificial intelligence, Water and agricultural technology. One major example is the Iron Dome missile defense system, jointly supported by the U.S. and Israel. Some technologies developed through cooperation have influenced U.S. defense capabilities. Many American tech companies also maintain research operations in Israel, including Intel, Microsoft, Google, and NVIDIA.
Shared Democratic and Cultural Ties: Israel is a democratic state in a region with many authoritarian governments. It's a country with strong legal institutions, elections, and a free press. A society with substantial cultural and historical ties to the United States. Extensive academic, scientific, and business partnerships.
Regional Stability and Deterrence: Israel acts as a stabilizing military power in a volatile region, counterbalancing Iran and Iranian-backed groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas. Contributes to deterrence against hostile regional actors and shares burdens with the U.S. rather than requiring direct American military deployment in some situations.
Israel’s normalization agreements with several Arab states under the Abraham Accords were viewed by many U.S. policymakers as strategically valuable.
Intelligence Value: U.S. intelligence and military officials have often described Israeli intelligence as highly capable. Israel’s geographic location and regional networks give it access to information the U.S. may not obtain as easily on its own. Areas of cooperation include counterterrorism, Iranian nuclear activities, Cyber warfare, weapons trafficking, regional militant networks.
Economic and Scientific Collaboration: The U.S. and Israel have extensive trade and research relationships: Joint scientific grants and university research, medical and biotech partnerships, venture capital and startup investment, free trade cooperation. Israel is sometimes called the “Startup Nation” because of its unusually high concentration of startups and venture capital activity.