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Source: https://nypost.com/2026/04/25/opinion/sorry-israel-haters-us-aid-pays-off-big-for-america/
U.S. Military Aid to Israel Pays Off Big for America
(New York Post) Joseph Epstein - U.S. military aid to Israel is the best investment the U.S. government makes. Most of the $3.8 billion must be spent on American-made military equipment. It's a subsidy for our own defense industrial base, with the funds flowing to Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon and General Dynamics. Israel was the first to use the F-35 in combat. Its real-world combat testing fixed critical glitches that U.S. engineers couldn't replicate in a lab. Israel also shares daily operational lessons from every American weapons system it fields, saving years and millions in research and development. In addition, the value of Israel's intelligence assistance brings a return that dwarfs a $3.8 billion investment many times over. All this is without U.S. soldiers stationed there, while in Europe we spend $25 billion to $30 billion a year to station 80,000 troops. Israel's June 2025 air offensive against Iran - featuring 200 U.S.-made F-35s, F-16s and F-15s - was the most consequential live demonstration of American air superiority in a generation. It exposed the vulnerabilities of Russian and Chinese air defenses and became the best sales pitch Lockheed Martin could ever ask for. Beyond defense, Israeli firms are the second-largest source of foreign listings on NASDAQ. In New York alone, 600 Israeli-founded companies generated $19.5 billion in output last year and supported 57,000 jobs. The writer is the director of the Turan Research Center hosted by the Yorktown Institute dedicated to modern-day developments in the Turkic and Persian worlds.