Elad Israeli
The approaching close to 2025 is not just the end of a calendar year, but also the halfway point of a calendar decade. Now is an opportunity to get a sense of where our world is headed. How different are things from the way they were five years ago? What can these changes teach us, and what hints do they contain about what’s yet to come? For Israel and its standing in Washington, these five years have been the first part of what can be seen as a transitional decade.
It seems that on both ends of the political spectrum, Israel has taken some hits. The margins, continuously devolving into identity politics (or an identity crisis) are happy to portray the country as an oppressive villain in the Middle East, a puppet master in the United States, or both. Most of all, a growing number of Americans are asking their elected officials: “What is it that we’re gaining from this relationship?”
Yet warning signs are not all that Jerusalem should be seeing from Washington. From time
to time, America provides us not just with a diagnosis but with a prescription. For Israel, a clear understanding of what America wants and where it expects this to go is a critical tool for approaching talks with Washington. This includes the now imminent negotiations on a renewed Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries. One recently published official document forms an arrow pointing in the direction the United States would like to see this relationship go.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration published its National Security Strategy. This document gets published towards the end of every year by successive U.S. administrations. This year’s analysis, the first to be published by the second Trump administration, speaks candidly about the evolution of America’s position on the Middle East. It describes three reasons that drew America’s focus to the region for the better part of the last century: energy, which the Mideast is no longer the primary supplier of; global power struggles, which have shifted substantially since the end of the Cold War; and conflict, which still poses a threat, yet not as big as it once was. On the last point, the administration credits Israel’s actions over the last two years, particularly against Iran, in contributing to threat reduction.
The document goes on to say just what it is America wants to achieve in the Middle East at this point. It predicts that “the region will increasingly become a source and destination of international investment, and in industries well beyond oil and gas, including nuclear energy, AI and defense technologies.” This new take can be seen not just in the document but in practice with the recent multibillion- and even trillion-dollar deals signed with entities from Saudi Arabia to Qatar and beyond.
The United States is gradually shifting its view of the Middle East from a troubled region to an emerging one. This forming zeitgeist is exactly where Jerusalem must meet Washington. Israel cannot offer luxury planes or other expensive gifts, much less free oil. What it can offer is a realization of America’s vision for the Mideast, a source and destination of investments.
Unlike its neighbors, Israel’s greatest asset is its people and their minds. Israeli innovation has produced an exceptionally high number of companies that are traded on American stock markets. Tel Aviv’s stock exchange is one of the best-performing in the world, especially considering the circumstances of the last half-decade. In the wake of the two-year, seven-front war, the country’s defense exports have reached an all-time high, with its missile-defense systems utilized throughout much of the world.
To an extent, Israel is already offering the United States access to much of this. Many Israeli-origin defense articles are developed and produced jointly with the United States. The two nations work together to engage in research that enables the creation of cutting-edge technologies, ensuring a mutual qualitative edge. Israeli entrepreneurs will try their luck in Silicon Valley or on Wall Street long before they’ll do so in any European or Asian capital. What’s missing is a greater governmental commitment to these efforts.
The message from Washington is clear: America wishes to see Israel elevated to the level of an equal partner and ally.
U.S. diplomats visit the country, see construction booms in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and rightfully conclude that it is capable of this. Israeli governments, whoever might lead them in the future, should step up to this moment and pursue extensive business diplomacy with the United States. Their primary task is to make sure that every emerging American entrepreneur is fully aware of just what it is — and just how much of it — Israel can provide.
Since the “classic” American reasons for maintaining a strong relationship with Israel seem to lose validity with each passing year, it is on Jerusalem to create new ones. To that end, it must showcase its advantages and make certain that they work in America’s favor. While this most recent prescription was jotted by the Trump administration, a proper Israeli response will resonate on both sides of the aisle and can define the relationship between the two countries for decades to come.
Elad Israeli is the director of legislative affairs at the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET).
