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Lazar Ersh

Should Israel reduce the dependence on the main supplier of military ordnance, the United States?

United States is the biggest supplier of the military ordnance and equipment to Israel.

Should Israel reduce this dependence?

The current President of United Stated, Donald Trump, judging by his record during his first term, was the friendliest leader of the free world toward the State of Israel. The Abraham Accord is still amazing achievement, which dramatically changed the political and military dynamics in the Middle East. We can’t forget the transfer of the American embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem or his acknowledgment of the Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. So far there is no indication that Trump’s attitude towards Israel will worsen during coming four years.

Donald Trump, a Republican, took over the Presidency of the United States from a Democrat, Joe Biden. The Presidency of Biden was a continuation of the policies of Barak Hussein Obama. During the Obama and Biden’s presidencies the weapons were withheld from Israel at the critical times and situations for Israelis. Obama was behaving with disdain toward the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. The main dogma of the Democratic Party regarding the resolution of the Palestinian- Israeli conflict is creation of two states: Palestinians and Israelis will live in peace and prosperity while share a common border. The Israel was sharing a common border with Gaza and we know how ‘peacefully’ it was invaded on October 7, 2023 by Hamas and residents of Gaza.

In 2026 the United States of America will celebrate the 250th anniversary of its founding. The first years of the republic saw the formation of two different ideological entities which eventually became parties which pollical historians call ‘The First Party System’. Alexander Hamilton founded the Federalist party between 1789 and 1790.  Thomas Jefferson and James Madison established the Democratic Republican party in the early 1790s. The Federalist party respected and admired the British constitution and its style of the government with bicameral parliament (congress), which manages the taxes and legislations, and separate judiciary. Thomas Jefferson despised all things British but most of all the British monarchy. His ideal was the France’s revolution of 1789. Jefferson’s ideological belief was based on the Enlightenment rationalist theory of John Locke, of the universal reason and universal natural rights of men and social contract which will, in the mind of Thomas Jefferson, lead to a more equitable constitution and more egalitarian life for Americans. The secretary of the Treasury in the government of George Washington Alexander Hamilton, the founder of Federalist party, has produced a Report on the Subject of Manufactures, 1791. Alexander Hamilton presented his vision of the economic success of the United Stated through the realization of three programs: “the federal assumption of state debts, the creation of a Bank of the United States and, support for the new nation’s emerging industries” and also “Through high tariffs designated to protect American industry from foreign competition, government bounties and subsidies, and internal improvement and transportation”. The initiatives stated above coincide with the Trump’s economic policies.

In the paper ‘In Examination Number VIII’ written on January 12, 1802 on the subject of immigration Hamilton stressed:” foreigners will generally be apt to bring with them attachments to the persons they have left behand; to the country to their nativity, and to its particular customs and manners and it is unlikely that they will bring with them that temperate love of liberty, so essential to real republicanism”.

The leader of Democratic Republican Party, Thomas Jefferson, was propagating a policy of open borders. Hamilton responded: “to admit foreigners indiscriminately to the rights of citizens, the moment they put foot in our country, as recommended in Jefferson’s message, would be nothing less than to admit the Grecian horse into the citadel of out liberty and sovereignty”.

President Trump it seems follows the directions provided by the one of the founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton, on the subject of immigration.

The Federalist party was in power for twelve years, two terms of George Washington and one term of John Adams. The Jefferson’s Democratic Republican party defeated the Federalists using negative sentiment of the people of the young republic towards Great Britain, the favorite of the Federalists, and the recent enemy. Thomas Jefferson reversed the initiatives of Federalists-the same way Biden has reversed the polices of Trump, after Trump’s first term, and, now Trump is reversing the policies of Biden. Nothing has changed from the beginning of the republic to the present days. The partisan divisions between the current parties, the Democrats and Republicans, are deep and vicious.

Now, it is friendly Trump in power but in four, eight or twelve years it can be an administration govern by Presidents like Obama or Biden, who took the Jeffersonian ideology to the new and disgraceful heights of extreme liberalism of identity policy and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Who knows what treacherous maneuvers these future American administrations will use to push Israel to accept the two -state solution?

Considering the inevitable fluctuation in the United States political decisions, should Israel be dependent on United States as main supplier of the military ordnance and equipment?

The Israeli’s economic, scientific and technological capabilities are such it can reduce the dependence on U.S. supply of military ordnances and equipment by manufacturing it in the Jewish state. The government and Knesset should provide tax incentives, subsidies and, also, encourage the investment in research and production of military ordnance and equipment locally.

 

 

About the Author
I am a Canadian who is acutely aware of the serious situation the State of Israel is experiences at the present and expresses his concern by writing articles on the current issues.