From time to time one comes across an article expressing incomprehension as to why the US supports Israeli policy to such an extreme extent.

Behind this real or feigned incomprehension is the assumption that this support is against the real interests of the US ruling class.

And behind this assumption lies the alternative "explanation": the US rulers are acting in the service of some alien interests. (Perhaps a sinister conspiracy of World Jewry, in the spirit of the notorious Protocols of the Elders of Zion?) This actually serves the interest of the US ruling class, as it exculpates it from responsibility for its criminal policy. As Noam Chomsky has pointed out, "it leaves the US government untouched on its high pinnacle of nobility, `Wilsonian idealism,' etc., merely in the grip of an all-powerful force that it cannot escape.'

The present compilation is an antidote to this poisonous conspiracy theory.

The truth is very simple. From the start, Zionism put itself at the service of whichever imperialist power happened to dominate the Middle East at the time. In exchange for vital imperialist sponsorship and protection, Zionism and the state of Israel provide extremely useful services to the dominant imperialist interests.

Of course, this exacerbates hostility to the US in the Arab and Muslim world. But so long as the Arab countries are weak, divided and ruled by corrupt servile regimes ­ a state of affairs Israel helps to maintain ­ this is a price the US rulers are prepared to pay (quite rationally, from their point of view).

The close US­Israel relationship also helps to fuel Islamic terrorism against the US and its allies. But this ­ far from posing a serious major threat to the dominant US interests ­ can be and is exploited by them to their own advantage and provides them with "justification" for their various military campaigns and for curtailing civil liberties.

In the following texts, all remarks in [square brackets] are mine.

Moshé Machover

For Europe we shall serve there as part of the fortified wall against Asia, and function as the vanguard of civilisation against the Barbarians. As a neutral state we shall keep our ties with all the European nations, who will guarantee our existence there. (Theodore Herzl,1 Der Judenstaat [The Jewish State], 1896)

Even though the land could not yet absorb sixteen millions, nor even eight, enough could return, if not to form The Jewish State (which a few extremists publicly demanded), at least to prove that the enterprise was one that blessed him that gave [ie Britain] as well as him that took [ie Zionism] by forming for England "a little loyal Jewish Ulster" in a sea of potentially hostile Arabism. (Ronald Storrs2 on the Balfour Declaration in his memoirs Orientations, definitive Edition, 1943, p. 345)

In those very years of struggle [between Zionism and Britain] there took place a process of a beginning of a new attachment: instead of England­Zion, America­Zion ­ a process that relied on the fact that the US was penetrating the Middle East as a decisive world power. (Michael Assaf, in the Histadrut daily, Davar 2 May, 1952)

No demise as a [US] strategic asset Shlomo Gazit3 Yedioth Aharonoth, 27 April 1992 [Excerpts]

Israel's main task has not changed at all [despite the end of the Cold War], and it remains of crucial importance. The geographical location of Israel at the centre of the Arab- Muslim Middle East predestines Israel to be a devoted guardian of stability in all the countries surrounding it. Its [role] is to protect the existing regimes: to prevent or halt the processes of radicalization, and to block the expansion of fundamentalist religious zealotry. ...

[One of Israel's "red lines" is to prevent] threats of revolt, whether military of popular, which may end up by bringing fanatical and extremist elements to power in the states concerned. The existence of such threats has no connection with the Arab-Israeli conflict. They exist because the regimes [in the region] find it difficult to offer solutions to their socio-economic ills. But any development of the kind described could subvert the existing relations between Israel and one or another of its neighbours. ... Israel's red lines signal to its neighbours that Israel will not tolerate anything that might encourage the extremist forces to go all the way, following in the footsteps of the Iranians in the east or the Algerians in the west.

... In the aftermath of the disappearance of the USSR as a political power with its own interests in the region, a number of Middle-East states have lost a patron guaranteeing their political, military and even economic viability. A vacuum has thus been created, with the effect of adding to the region's instability. Under such conditions, the Israeli role as a strategic asset in guaranteeing a modicum of stability in the entire Middle East, far from dwindling or disappearing, has been elevated to the first order of magnitude. Without Israel, the West would have to perform this role on its own, when none of the existing superpowers could really perform it due to various domestic and international constraints. For Israel, by contrast, the need to intervene is a matter of survival.

Two-way independence By Yoram Ettinger4

English version of Yediot Aharonot 11:35 , 12 May 2005 In many ways, Israel is the giver and the US is the receiver Statements made by and the conduct of Israel's leaders since 1993 create the false impression that Israeli-American ties constitute a one-way relationship.

The presumption is that America gives and Israel receives, leading to Israel's inferior position and the alleged compulsion to follow the State Department dictates. However, Former Secretary of State and NATO forces commander Alexander Haig5 refuted this claim, saying he is pro-Israeli because Israel is the largest American aircraft carrier in the world that cannot be sunk, does not carry even one American soldier, and is located in a critical region for American national security.

On our 57th Independence Day, Israel and the United States enjoy a two-way relationship. Israel is like a start-up company that enjoys the kindness of the American investor, but yields much greater profits than the investment.

Every day, Israel relays to the U. S. lessons of battle and counter-terrorism, which reduce American losses in Iraq and Afghanistan, prevent attacks on US soil, upgrade American weapons, and contribute to the US economy.

Senator Daniel Inouye recently argued Israeli information regarding Soviet arms saved the US billions of dollars. The contribution made by Israeli intelligence to America is greater than that provided by all NATO countries combined, he said.

Innovative Israeli technologies boost US industries Meanwhile, the vice president of the company that produces the F16 fighter jets told me Israel is responsible for 600 improvements in the plane's systems, modifications estimated to be worth billions of dollars, which spared dozens of research and development years.

Israel's utilization of American arms guarantees our existence, but at the same time gives US military industries a competitive edge compared to European industries, while also boosting American military production, producing American jobs, and improving America's national security.

Japan and South Korea, for example, preferred the "Hawkeye" spy plane and the MD-500 chopper, both purchased and upgraded by Israel, over comparable British and French aircraft. Indeed, innovative Israeli technologies have a similar effect on American civilian and agricultural industries, which view Israel as a successful research and development site. As early as 1952, US Army Chief-of-Staff Omar Bradley called for the integration of Israel into the Mediterranean basin area, in light of the country's location and unique capabilities.

In 1967, Israel held back a radical Arab, pro-Soviet offensive, which threatened to bring about the collapse of pro-American Arab regimes and disrupt oil supply, thus severely undermining the American standard of living. In 1970, Israel brought about the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Jordan, at a time when the US was tied up by wars in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, thus preventing the fall of the pro-American Hashemite regime and a possible domino effect that could have reached Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. Israel shares counter-terror lessons

The 1976 raid in Uganda that freed Israeli passengers of an Air France flight hijacked by terrorists provided America with a backwind in the war on international terror, while in 1977 Israeli intelligence provided the intelligence information that foiled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's plan to assassinate Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

Notably, Sadat would later go on to make peace with Israel, paving the way for other agreements between Israel and the Arabs.

In 1982, Israel destroyed Soviet anti-aircraft batteries in Lebanon that were considered immune to American weapons. Israel promptly shared the operation's lessons, estimated to be worth billions of dollars, changing entirely the global balance of power in the process and contributing to the Soviet Union's eventual disintegration.

In 1981, Israel bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor, providing the US with the option of engaging in conventional wars with Iraq in 1991 and 2003 and preventing a possible nuclear war and a terrible price of thousands killed.

In 2005, Israel provides America with the world's most extensive experience in homeland defence and warfare against suicide bombers and car bombs.

American soldiers train in IDF facilities and Israeli-made drones fly above the "Sunni Triangle" in Iraq, as well as in Afghanistan, providing US Marines with vital intelligence. Without Israel, the US would have been forced to deploy tens of thousands of American troops in the eastern Mediterranean basin, at a cost of billions of dollars a year.

Had Israel been located in the Persian Gulf, the US would have been spared the need to send hundreds of thousands of soldiers to the region, thanks to Israel's deterrence and operational capabilities.

Indeed, Congress leaders, Vice President Cheney, and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld are aware of Israel's unique contribution to US interests. In fact, they all wonder why the post-1993 Israel does not use its impressive contribution as leverage, in sharp contrast to the pre-1993 Israel.

References

1 Founder of political Zionism.
2 British colonial administrator, served in the Middle East and Cyprus. In 1917, served briefly with the secretariat of the British war. After Britain's conquest of Palestine, appointed first military Governor of Jerusalem. In 1920 became Jerusalem's first Civil Governor.
3 Gen. Sholomo Gazit was Chief of Israel's Military Intelligence.
4 Yoram Ettinger is a consultant on US­Israel relations, Chairman of Special Projects at the Ariel Center for Policy Research and frequent contributor to Yedioth Ahronoth.
5 Alexander Haig was Richard Nixon's White House Chief of Staff (1973­74), NATO Supreme Allied Commander (1974­79), Ronald Reagan's Secretary of State (1981­82).