OPINION:
Amid China’s drive to stake false claims to new territories, Russia’s unprovoked attacks on citizens of other countries, the efforts of BRICS nations to replace the U.S. dollar and Iran’s support of authoritarian regimes and terrorist elements in many parts of the world, democracies and democratic institutions are under assault.
These challenges to American leadership and interests draw much of our attention. We overlook nations that are closest to us and with whom we share fundamental values. That’s the lesson I took away from a recent trip to Israel on a delegation led by former Ambassador Mark A. Green from the Wilson Center.
In 2004, I worked on writing a law designating Israel as a major strategic partner — the only country in the world with such a designation. Israel has also become a rising diplomatic power. A potential Israeli-Saudi rapprochement seems promising, but American leadership is needed to get it done. These opportunities are possible because Israel is soaring not just militarily, but also economically.
Among countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Israel had the fourth-best-performing economy in 2022, and its vibrant tech industry is one reason why. According to Start Up Nation Central, $27 billion was invested in Israeli tech companies in 2021 and $15.5 billion in 2022. Taking advantage of this economic prowess can help Israel export its private sector and technologies to other regions to showcase the immense opportunities that partnering with Israel has to offer.
This economic integration has now extended to Jordan with the signing of a trilateral water and energy deal. The United Arab Emirates will build a solar power plant in Jordan to export energy to Israel, and in return, Israel will send millions of cubic meters of water to Jordan. In addition, Oman, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have each reached agreements so that Israeli carriers can use their airspace.
In the Wilson Quarterly, the UAE’s minister of trade said that in 2022, non-oil trade with Israel reached $2.5 billion — a 90% increase from 2021. The UAE anticipates that annual bilateral trade will surpass $1 trillion over the next decade.
The United States should leverage economic opportunities to expand the Abraham Accords. An Abraham Accords free trade agreement, for example, could provide powerful proof of the economic benefits of normalizing relations with Israel.
Meanwhile, the debate continues internally regarding judicial reforms. Some naysayers doubt Israel’s democratic future by calling it a dictatorship. This could not be more wrong.
Democracy is alive and well in Israel. Although protests continue for the 23rd straight week relating to the judicial reforms, Israelis protest peacefully without fear of government-sponsored violence. The dictatorships of Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea and Venezuela do not allow protests, and public discontent can lead to imprisonment or even death.
It is encouraging that all sides are providing input as negotiations continue. Judicial reforms are needed in some form to update Israel’s legal system. One problematic provision was for the Knesset to override a decision by the court with a simple majority. Senior government officials we met informed us that this provision has been thrown out.
While Israel’s detractors try to wrongfully paint the country in a negative light, little outrage exists relating to the Palestinian Authority. Mahmoud Abbas is in his 18th year of a four-year term. Mr. Abbas became the so-called leader of the Palestinian Authority in 2005 and has rejected elections ever since.
Israel remains the only democracy in the Middle East, but it faces other important matters, such as threats from Iran and its proxies. The Wilson Center delegation visited Iron Dome batteries that were recently engaged in Operation Shield and Arrow. In the latest attacks from Palestinian Islamic Jihad, known as PIJ, the Iron Dome intercepted about 1,400 missiles from Gaza in just five days with a success rate of 95%.
During this operation, Hezbollah, a designated foreign terrorist organization, expressed solidarity with PIJ. Consequently, the threat remains that Hezbollah will try to infiltrate Israel from Lebanon. That is why during our visit, we toured the elaborate tunnels in northern Israel built by Hezbollah. Due to the complex engineering, Hezbollah spent millions of dollars building these tunnels aimed solely at abducting or killings Israelis.
Behind PIJ, Hezbollah and even Hamas is ultimately the world’s No. 1 sponsor of terrorism: Iran.
Iran recently claimed that it possesses a hypersonic missile and reportedly will have access to between $17 billion and $24 billion in frozen assets as attempts are underway to resuscitate the nuclear deal. Questions remain about whether Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has decided to go from 84% to 90% of enriched uranium, but once a decision is made, Iran can produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon in under 14 days.
During this window, Israel will have to respond to Iranian aggression. As the world saw in 1981, when it used military aircraft to destroy an unfinished nuclear reactor in Iraq, and again in 2007, when it destroyed another nuclear reactor in Syria, Israel has proved that it will do whatever it takes to protect itself. The bigger question is how the U.S. and the international community will respond to Iran.
While I was in Israel, it was clear that skepticism remains about whether America would act. The United States’ failure to respond in 2019 when Saudi Arabia and the UAE were attacked by Iranian drones and its withdrawal from Afghanistan the following year has fueled doubts about its commitment to the Middle East. Yet the international community expressed more outrage over Iran helping Russia build a drone factory and Iranian drones being used by Russia against Ukraine than it did over equally worrisome activities.
Israel and the United States have a symbiotic relationship. The president and Congress should unequivocally — and in a bipartisan manner — support Israel’s right to defend itself. What is good for the United States is good for Israel, and vice versa
As I walked through the Old City in Jerusalem, I saw vendors stocked with the same T-shirt depicting the close bond between both nations. Adorned with an image of a military jet, the shirt reads, “Don’t worry, America, Israel is Behind You.”
• Eddy Acevedo is the chief of staff and senior adviser to former Ambassador Mark Green, the president and CEO of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He was formerly national security adviser at the U.S. Agency for International Development and senior foreign policy adviser for former Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Florida Republican. These opinions are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of the Wilson Center.
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