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Israel Has Become America's Not-So-Secret Weapon
(Bloomberg) Hal Brands - The ongoing war against Iran highlights the rise of a full-blown warfighting alliance between Israel and the U.S. By binding closer together a regional military hegemon and a global superpower, that alliance has put America and Israel in a commanding position to remake the Middle East. Fear of offending Israel's Arab enemies, and Israel's insistence that it be able to defend itself by itself, meant that the two countries mostly kept their distance when it came to military operations. In 1991, the U.S. pushed to keep Israel out of the war against Iraq's Saddam Hussein. Over the past decade, however, the threat posed by Iran and its regional proxies have reshaped the U.S.-Israel relationship. The current conflict has brought an entirely new level of cooperation. U.S. and Israeli officials methodically planned a combined offensive meant to wipe out Iran's leadership and cripple its military. Israeli and American agencies have reportedly shared sensitive targeting intelligence. U.S. planes and tankers fly from Israeli bases. Other forms of cooperation are likely hidden from public view. This war, then, is a coming-out party for a pact that fuses Israeli tenacity and risk-taking to American global reach. Israel is a force multiplier, not a free rider. It possesses tremendous military, intelligence and technological strengths of its own. Little wonder that Trump's administration has labeled Israel a "model ally," an example to which other countries that seek U.S. support should aspire. In an unsettled region, what team would you rather be on? The writer is a professor at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.