The Blogs: Why the US Israel Alliance Is Irreplaceable | Mark Ginsberg

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/why-the-us-israel-alliance-is-irreplaceable/

Publish Date: 2026-05-18 11:25:00

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Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points.
In the aftermath of Operation Roaring Lion/Epic Fury, one truth has become impossible to ignore: when the United States needed a dependable ally in the Middle East against a dangerous and expansionist regime, Israel did not hesitate.
While other allies issued carefully worded statements, hedged their bets, or sat on the sidelines waiting to see which way the wind would blow, the Jewish state stood shoulder to shoulder with America.
Together, the United States and Israel confronted a regime that openly seeks regional and global domination, sponsors terror on multiple continents, seeks control of vital global shipping routes, and continues its relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons capability. The operation was not simply about military coordination. It was a reminder of the strategic, moral, technological, and civilizational alliance that binds the two nations together.
At a time when some voices in Washington increasingly question the US-Israel relationship, Operation Roaring Lion/Epic Fury demonstrated something many Americans already instinctively understand: there is no substitute for Israel.
The US-Israel Alliance Is Not a One-Way Relationship
For decades, critics have framed the alliance as though it were a one-way transaction, with America giving and Israel merely receiving. However, this fundamentally misunderstands the relationship. In reality, the alliance pays for itself many times over, strategically, economically, technologically, militarily, and morally.
Former US Secretary of State Alexander Haig famously described Israel as “the largest American aircraft carrier in the world that cannot be sunk.” It was a striking phrase because it captured a basic strategic reality: Israel is America’s most reliable ally in the Middle East.
Nevertheless, today, that description no longer goes far enough.
Israel is not merely a strategic outpost. It is a global incubator of innovation and one of the world’s foremost laboratories for the technologies shaping the future of warfare, medicine, intelligence, cybersecurity, agriculture, water security, and artificial intelligence.
Israeli Innovation Strengthens American Security and Technology
In cybersecurity alone, Israeli firms and researchers help protect major American corporations, financial institutions, infrastructure systems, and government agencies from increasingly sophisticated cyber threats originating from hostile states and criminal networks.
Many of the tools and defensive systems safeguarding American digital infrastructure today were developed in Israel or through US-Israeli cooperation.
The same applies to medicine and biotechnology. Israeli hospitals, universities, and startups have pioneered breakthroughs in trauma care, rehabilitation, diagnostics, AI-assisted medicine, and emergency response systems.
These innovations do not stay within Israel’s borders. They save American lives every day.
From missile defense cooperation to battlefield medicine, from drone technology to intelligence gathering, the benefits flow directly into American national security.
Operation Roaring Lion/Epic Fury again highlighted how deeply intertwined the two countries’ security establishments have become.
Israeli intelligence, operational experience, technological innovation, and regional expertise remain indispensable assets to the United States in a region where American influence has often been challenged and where many supposed allies remain deeply unreliable.
Iran and the Shared Strategic Threat
This is particularly important when confronting Iran. Unlike many Western nations that still speak about Tehran as though it were a misunderstood regional actor, Israel has long understood the true nature of the Iranian regime.
It is not merely a local threat. It is a revolutionary ideological power with global ambitions.
Iran arms proxies across the Middle East, destabilizes governments, targets civilians, threatens Europe with advanced ballistic missile capabilities, and openly seeks to undermine the Western-led international order. Its leaders routinely speak not just about destroying Israel, but about confronting American power itself.
In this struggle, Israel has consistently acted as the forward line of defense for the broader Western alliance.
That reality became unmistakable during Operation Roaring Lion/Epic Fury.
At enormous cost and risk, Israeli forces and intelligence capabilities helped degrade threats that endangered not only Israelis, but American interests and global stability.
Israel did not ask whether acting was politically fashionable. It did not retreat into isolationism or ambiguity. It understood that the threat posed by Iran was civilizational in nature and demanded action.
Alliances Are Proven in Moments of Crisis
This matters because alliances are ultimately tested not in conferences or press releases, but in moments of danger.
In those moments, Israel has repeatedly proven itself.
Contrast this with the behavior of many international actors who routinely lecture the United States and Israel on morality and restraint, yet contribute little when genuine threats emerge.
Some nations enjoy American protection while simultaneously undermining American interests diplomatically. Others seek commercial advantage from both Washington and Tehran while avoiding meaningful responsibility.
Israel is different.
It shares intelligence. It develops joint technologies. It fights common enemies. It strengthens American deterrence. It helps stabilize regional partners. It provides real-world military innovation based on constant operational experience, and unlike many alliances maintained through convenience, the US-Israel relationship is anchored in shared democratic values and a common understanding of freedom.
Shared Democratic Values and Moral Foundations
That moral dimension matters profoundly. Both nations were founded on the revolutionary belief that liberty is not granted by rulers but belongs inherently to individuals. Both societies remain deeply shaped by the Judeo-Christian tradition and by the conviction that human dignity, democracy, and freedom must be defended against tyranny.
That is why the alliance endures.
Operation Roaring Lion/Epic Fury did not create the US-Israel partnership, but it reaffirmed its necessity in a dangerous new era increasingly defined by authoritarian aggression, technological warfare, ideological extremism, and nuclear proliferation.
There Is No Serious Alternative to Israel
Those calling to weaken the alliance should ask a simple question: if not Israel, then who?
Which other country in the region combines military capability, technological leadership, democratic resilience, intelligence excellence, and unwavering alignment with American interests?
There is no serious alternative.
The truth revealed once again after Operation Roaring Lion/Epic Fury is simple: America does not support Israel out of charity. America supports Israel because the alliance makes America stronger, safer, more innovative, and more secure.
In an increasingly unstable world, that partnership is not a burden for the United States.
It is one of its greatest strategic assets.