Israel is not an American vassal state

Two news articles in today’s press about Israel’s relationship with the United States give us an opportunity to explore two different aspects of the bilateral relationship and its meaning.

The first was the issuances of a directive yesterday by Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s Minster of Finance, stating that Israel will officially drop all tariffs on products imported from the US.  When asked, Smotrich opined that given the good relationship between Israel and the US, it makes eminent good sense that we not levy tariffs on US-made products imported here.

However, there is, as always, more to the story.  Opinion editors were quick to point out that given the fact that US President Trump will, later today, announce his plans to impose new and higher tariffs on products coming into America from various countries, that it is simply good business for Israel to pre-empt any concern about us being slapped with retaliatory tariffs scheduled to be unveiled in the Rose Garden ceremony where the program will be unveiled.

Truth be told, the story is nowhere as big as it appears to be. Israel and the US signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 1985 during the Reagan presidency, which was actually the very first such agreement ever signed by the US in modern history.  Menachem Begin was Israel’s Prime Minister at the time and left the negotiations to others as, according to stories told by them, Begin’s eyes would glass over whenever the details of the FTA were presented to him.  Qualified as he was to be Prime Minister, his strength was bot in international finance.  The agreement allowed bilateral trade between the two countries to grow exponentially over these past years and has been updated over time as well.

In its original form there were certain products that were excluded, many in the agricultural sector.  US tomato growers, for example, were deathly afraid of what would happen to their domestic market if Israel were to be able to export tomatoes to America.  Therefore, it was some years before tomatoes were also covered under the agreement.  Similarly, California garlic growers fought to have garlic excluded as well, even though Israel did not have a large garlic growing capability.   On the Israeli side, imported dairy products were not originally covered under the agreement and it was many years, for example, before importers could bring in Kraft’s Philadelphia Cream Cheese duty free.

At the point yesterday when Finance Minister Smotrich issued his directive, 98% of US imports into Israel were already covered by the existing FTA.  So, effectively, all Israel did was to remove any remaining limitations.  The directive needs parliamentary approval which it is anticipated will pass without objection.   All in all, this was probably a good political move on Israel’s part.

In the “other” related story, yesterday, Prime Minister Netanyahu withdrew his nomination of Eli Sharvit to be the next heat of the Shin Bet, Israel’s equivalent of the US’ CIA.  While there was a significant amount of noise in Israel over the last week about both Netanyahu’s dismissal of former Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar and appointment of Eli Sharvit to be his successor, there was also a voice out of Washington against Sharvit’s appointment.

As reported in Times of Israel, US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should rethink his pick for Shin Bet chief and “do better vetting.”  Seems that Sharvit earlier participated in anti-government rallies and penned an opinion piece criticizing President Trump for his climate policies.

“While it is undeniably true that America has no better friend than Israel, the appointment of Eli Sharvit to be the new leader of the Shin Bet is beyond problematic,” Graham posted on X.  “There has never been a better supporter for the State of Israel than President Trump. The statements made by Eli Sharvit about President Trump and his polices will create unnecessary stress at a critical time,” Graham said.  “My advice to my Israeli friends is change course and do better vetting,” he said.

To this writer, it seems that Graham overstepped his bounds in interfering with the internal politics of Israel in its choice of a new head of the Shin Bet.  And for what reason?  Because someone in the Israel government had the audacity to criticize the climate policies of a US President who believes climate change is a hoax?  While sharing an opinion that is critical of a sitting president may, sadly, be enough to get people pushed out of their jobs in the US, thankfully in Israel we still have the right, and often the obligation, to criticize the government and not be penalized for that criticism.

It seems to me that every thinking Israeli should be disturbed by this unwarranted meddling in the internal affairs of state by another government who is one of our most important allies.  In spite of the strong bonds between our two countries along with our continued interdependence in our defense sectors, we need to resist becoming a vassal state of the US.

There is no doubt that it is important for us to maintain positive and productive relations with the US.  But we should neither be asked nor voluntarily agree to sacrifice our democratic values on the altar of fealty to the leader of an ally.  Those values, once lost, are most difficult to recoup. Better to preserve them even in the face of such pressure.