As the war between Israel and Hamas rages on, the US has been unwavering in its support for the former.
Recently, the US’ Republican party sought and acquired US$14.3 billion more to send to Israel.
“The Senate and White House cannot let this moment pass, and I urge them to act swiftly and pass this bill,” wrote Republican House Speaker, Mike Johnson on X (formerly Twitter).
This huge sum of money will be used for air and missile defence systems, including the Iron Dome (an Israeli mobile all-weather air defence system).
However, the state of Israel has been condemned by most of the global South, with South Africa withdrawing its Israeli embassy.
The US’ support for Israel is not new and goes back to World War II. In 75 years, it has given the Israeli government close to $130 billion.
This has led to netizens saying this is equivalent to “funding Israel’s war machine” and “the US having Palestinians’ blood on its hands”.
“Most US assistance comes in the form of weapons grants, and more than 80% of Israel's weapons imports came from the U.S. between 1950 and 2020. Israel is also given access to the most advanced military equipment in the world, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter,” reported Axios.
“In addition to the aid, Israel and the U.S. have conducted several military drills together, holding their largest one ever in January 2023,” Axios said.
But how did these countries become such staunch allies?
On November 29, 1947, the United Nations elected to divide the then British Mandatory Palestine into Jewish and Arab states.
Although opposed by many Arab nations in the Middle East, Israel was formed in 1948 with Harry Truman, US president at the time becoming the first to acknowledge the state on the very same day.
This led to an eight-month long war. During this period conflict, Israel extended its UN-allotted land while more than 760,000 Palestinians were forced out.
“American support for Israel was not engineered by domestic lobbies or the American Jewish population but emerged as a strategic relationship during the Cold War era,” wrote Union College.
In 1950, the Tripartite Declaration (a joint declaration issued by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France to maintain the geographical status quo established by the 1949 Arab-Israeli Armistice Agreement) was put in place.
This would help to control the contribution of weapons into the Middle East to retain Western control in the region.
As the Cold War went on, the US saw Israel as a means to keep anti-communist rhetoric out of the state and deepened ties through financial and military aid.
IOL