Heading into the midterms, almost every American politician asked about Israel faces the same question: Should the United States continue aid to Israel? Or should it be cut, conditioned, or used as leverage to advance American priorities?
This question comes amid rumors that a forthcoming U.S.-Israel memorandum of understanding will curb U.S. aid to Israel.
No matter where you fall on this issue, almost everyone seems to agree on the premise that American support for Israel is a donation, and that the only remaining question is how generous the benefactor should be.
But that premise is wrong. It has been wrong for a long time. And because it is wrong, the debate built on top of it misrepresents to the American people what their money has actually been doing for the past half-century.
I served as Israel’s minister of defense during the most difficult period in our modern history: the seven-front war that began on October 7, 2023. In that first year of war, I sat across the table from American counterparts to discuss our relationship. And I watched, on the battlefield, what American and Israeli capabilities look like when they are combined against a common enemy.
Here is what the U.S.-Israel relationship actually is—and what it is not.
