US and Israel, 75 years of relationship at a turning point

USA and Israel celebrate 75 years of relations marked by a close political and military alliance that is at a turning point due to the Gaza war and the disagreements over the future of the Palestinian people.

The US government was the first to recognize ‘de facto’ to the State of Israel just eleven minutes after its founding on May 14, 1948, although it did not formalize such recognition until January 31, 1949.

An alliance more than military

The relationship was lukewarm until the wars of 1967 and 1973 between Israel and its Arab neighbors, when Washington became the greatest political and military supporter of the Jewish State.

Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador in Washington, tells EFE that American support is not only military but also “psychological”Given the “Israel “He does not feel alone having the world’s greatest superpower at his side.”

The commitment to the defense of Israel has endured through successive Democratic and Republican administrations, which have simultaneously played a key role in several peace negotiations, including the 1993 Oslo Accords with the Palestinians.

But the government of Donald Trump (2017-2021) chose to align itself even more with the Jewish State, moved its embassy to Jerusalem and sponsored the Abraham Accords to formalize relations between Israel and several Arab nations, leaving the Palestinian cause in a drawer. .

Before the Gaza war, current US President Joe Biden criticized the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and the democratic regression of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But behind the scenes, Washington was mediating to expand the Abraham Accords and help Israel seal a peace deal with Saudi Arabia, a desired goal for the Israelis.

A turning point

The massacre carried out by Hamas on October 7 in Israel, which left 1,200 people dead, blew up those efforts.

Biden closed ranks with Israel and offered “unwavering support” for its war against the Islamist group, but four months later the Israeli offensive on Gaza has caused more than 26,000 deaths and an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

External and internal pressure has left the president between a rock and a hard place: on the one hand he demands that Israel take care of civilian lives in its operation and on the other he continues to send it weapons and veto a ceasefire at the UN.

The death on Sunday of three American soldiers attacked in Jordan also showed that the war is now a regional conflict.

The American position cannot be explained without understanding that “Biden is personally committed to Israel,” a country that he has admired since he was young, explains Linda Robinson, an expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.

But the situation is already taking its toll on the president, who is seeking re-election in November, with disapproval skyrocketing among young people.

A YouGov poll revealed that the fifty% of citizens who voted for the Democrat in 2020 consider that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

“There is a turning point because we are beginning to see a significant number of citizens and some representatives of Congress who question the ironclad commitment to Israel”says Robinson, who attributes it to the “enormous suffering that the whole world has seen” in Gaza.

Towards a Palestinian State?

Netanyahu does not want to stop the offensive until Hamas is completely eliminated.

Former ambassador Oren also supports the race because he considers that “the national existence” of his country is at risk, but sees “Biden may try to pressure Israel to end the war before the elections” Americans.

In any case, the post-conflict visions are at the opposite end, given that Biden advocates the creation of a Palestinian state, a proposal that Netanyahu categorically rejects.

The ace that Washington has up its sleeve is to revive normalization negotiations with the Saudis in exchange for extracting commitments from Israel to the Palestinian cause.

Robinson maintains that “There is no possible solution to the conflict without a Palestinian State”but this can only happen if there is a change of government in Israel and if pressure from Washington increases, he believes.