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Source: https://besacenter.org/us-involvement-in-gaza-is-not-a-threat-it-is-a-strategic-opportunity/
U.S. Involvement in Gaza Is a Strategic Opportunity
(Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies-Bar-Ilan University) Prof. Eitan Shamir - For decades, Israel was placed under the U.S. military's European Command, EUCOM. The U.S. announced Israel's move to Central Command, CENTCOM, which oversees the Middle East, in 2021, and by 2022 it was fully implemented. Israel thus became an official component of the regional security architecture that the U.S. had been building for years to counter Iran through shared intelligence, integrated air defense, maritime cooperation, and coordinated operational planning. The U.S. responded to Hamas's Oct. 7 attack with a rapid, large-scale deployment: aircraft carriers, missile defense ships, electronic warfare aircraft, and enhanced intelligence assets, signaling unmistakable deterrence toward Iran and Hizbullah. In response to Iran's large-scale missile and drone attacks on Israel in 2023 and 2024, the regional defensive network was activated for the first time. U.S. aircraft intercepted dozens of drones over Iraq and the Red Sea; American, British, and French ships shot down cruise missiles; Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE provided air corridors and shared tactical intelligence. The result was an unprecedented multinational defensive effort that successfully neutralized what could have been devastating strikes. Following the Trump plan for Gaza, the U.S. and Israel set up a joint command center in Kiryat Gat to implement the plan. This should not be understood as an American takeover of operational decision-making but as a mechanism to deepen coordination. The joint headquarters facilitates real-time intelligence sharing, access to American reconnaissance capabilities, and humanitarian coordination with international actors. The presence of American officers alongside Israeli commanders has also heightened U.S. understanding of Hamas's methods - such as its use of human shields and diversion of humanitarian aid. Israeli defense officials repeatedly emphasize that the current level of cooperation with the U.S. is unprecedented, and no attempt has been made thus far to impose decisions contrary to Israel's security interests. In practice, Israel enjoys the strategic advantages of alliance integration while retaining independent decision-making. The U.S. is re-engaging in the Middle East, strengthening allies and escalating pressure on Iran. In practice, this represents a dramatic enhancement of Israel's strategic position. For the first time, Israel finds itself embedded within a regional defense architecture that magnifies its strengths and compensates for its vulnerabilities. Israel has entered a fundamentally new framework, one in which it operates shoulder-to-shoulder with the U.S. and, increasingly, with key Arab partners. This emerging de facto regional alliance provides Israel with strategic depth, intelligence and logistical support, operational coordination, and a dramatically improved international posture. The writer heads the BESA Center.