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Israeli Experts Oppose a Formal Defense Alliance with the U.S.
(Israel Hayom) Nadav Shragai - "The U.S. is weakened and withdrawing into itself," says Professor Eytan Gilboa, an expert on the U.S. and international relations at Bar-Ilan University. President "Obama said it as clearly as possible - America cannot and does not want to be the world's policeman." "Support for us has waned, and will wane further. As someone who has been examining U.S. conduct for decades, I am now seeing significant weakness," Gilboa says. "They are still investing in us, a lot. In the longer term, what I described is the true direction, and we should internalize that." "A defense pact wouldn't be worth the paper it's written on," Gilboa thinks. "If there is a pact and they don't want to help, they won't. And if there is an acute need for their aid and they do want to help, they will, even without a pact....A defense pact adds commitments we don't need, and could limit us, such as on the Golan Heights or in Gaza. Imagine what would have happened if [Menachem] Begin had needed to consult with the U.S. and get its permission before deciding to bomb the Iraqi nuclear reactor?" Maj.-Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen says such a pact would "completely bind Israel to American interests." The U.S. wants Israel to "comply with their view of Israel's defense needs and forgo our vital interests according to their wishes....The Arabs might take into account that America supposedly stands behind us and will be somewhat more deterred, but we would pay too high a price for what we would get." Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, former head of Israel's National Security Council, said, "Israel was built on the binding statement of its founders that we will fight on our own, and will not ask foreign soldiers, especially not Americans, to defend us. A defense pact...would hurt our commitment to defend ourselves and one of our strongest points in dealing with the U.S. Israel shouldn't do that to itself, and moreover, we want to retain our freedom of action." "To prevent threats against us from becoming an actuality, we take action in places, at times and in ways that no other country does, do crazy things. According to foreign reports, we are constantly carrying out strikes in other states....If there were a defense pact...we couldn't go nuts when we needed to, and wouldn't be free to act. So there are more disadvantages than advantages to an alliance like that....Our strength - at home and abroad - is that we fight independently, and so are also independent when it comes to our decision-making and operations." Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, formerly head of the Military Intelligence Research Division and now a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, said, "The truth is, even when it came to countries with which the U.S. had actual pacts, when it didn't want to take action, it didn't. The latest example, of course, is Ukraine. The U.S .and Britain signed the Budapest Memorandum in 1994 and committed to helping Ukraine if it were attacked in exchange for Ukraine giving up its stocks of nuclear weapons. But when that was tested, Ukraine was left on its own."