Israel haters attacking joint US-Israeli defense cooperation, and it isn't because they care about US security

Anti-Israel activists are mobilizing to fight the provisions in the proposed 2027 National Defense Authorization Act that would increase American-Israeli cooperation in military research, technology development and manufacturing.  Some of them are pretending that this is patriotic.

A letter written by Chris Van Hollen, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and nine others said, "The agreements and projects these provisions envision threaten U.S. national security interests by handing Israel leverage over American weapons systems and military technology."

Congressman Thomas Massie described the House defense bill as "a betrayal of American sovereignty."

Congressman Ro Khanna, introducing an amendment to remove the cooperation initiative in June, said, "We need to tell [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu that America calls the shots, not the prime minister of any other country."

AOC said, "This amendment is an existential threat to American sovereignty and democracy," and James Fishback said, "This may be the last straw for American sovereignty."

Wow! A bill to have the US and Israel to cooperate is the beginning of the end of America's very independence!

Activists came up with a catchy name for this cooperation, "Deadly Merger."

There is no merger of the two militaries, of course. This is similar to existing US agreements with the UK. Australia, and Japan. In 2023, the US signed a roadmap with India saying "The United States intends to support the integration of Indian defense industry into global supply chains of U.S. defense and aerospace companies. " The US and Canada have been joined at the hip since the 1950s with projects like NORAD.

Under the AUKUS partnership with Australia and Britain, the United States is already working with those countries on military applications of artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, cyber capabilities, autonomous systems, electronic warfare and hypersonic weapons. The three countries are also sharing some of their most sensitive military technology to enable Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.

Apparently, America's sovereignty can survive sharing nuclear submarine technology with Australia but not jointly developing anti-drone technology with Israel.

There is a hidden assumption here: that Israel is not an ally of the US. Moreover, that Israel is a particularly untrustworthy partner for the US. And by surfacing these bogus "dangers" when the exact same issues do not some up with Australia or India the critics are not defending the US but trying to demonize Israel as a potential enemy.

Military experts scoff at these characterizations of the bill. Politifact writes:

“I don’t see how anyone could read this provision and believe that the two militaries were merging in any way,” said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel and military specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a national security-focused think tank. “The section outlines a process for coordinating technologies between the two countries. We do that with many countries.”

Rhetoric about merging militaries “doesn’t make sense and wouldn’t hold up legally in any sustainable way that I could imagine,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow in the Brookings Institution’s foreign policy program.

Anyone who knows anything about agreements knows that any potential dangerous dependencies can and are dealt with in the contracts. Both sides protect their own interests. That's normal for any agreements, military or corporate or when an athlete signs with a team. 

So why is my inbox filled with emails from anti-Israel organizations who are opposed to the bill? The Adalah Justice Project, a Palestinian lobbying group, is far more honest as they advertise a webinar:

These provisions would expand joint weapons production and military technology development in AI, quantum, and cyber warfare, and integrate the two militaries’ intelligence and surveillance infrastructure through “data fusion.”

We call this initiative The Deadly Merger.

In this webinar, we will examine the true dangers of the Deadly Merger and its role in the Netanyahu-led plan to transform the U.S.-Israel military alliance into a structure that is far more difficult to disrupt and dismantle than traditional military “aid.” 

Isn't that interesting?  The danger is that the United States might benefit so much from its military relationship with Israel that it would become harder for anti-Israel activists to destroy it.

For decades, anti-Israel activists have complained that American taxpayers are subsidizing Israel. 

Now that Israel is looking to transition from military aid to a relationship based on technological partnership, we can see how sincere those arguments were. The activists are horrified at the prospect of a relationship that American military officials and defense experts would support on its own merits.

They are not even pretending here that they are looking out for American interests.

As far as the members of Congress and other politicians using faux patriotism to oppose the measure, they should be asked directly: are similar agreements with the UK and Australia and Japan also a danger to US sovereignty and national security? If not, explain to us in plain English the difference.

Israeli technology already protects American lives and improves the US military. Israeli-developed active protection systems protect the crews of American tanks from anti-tank missiles. Israeli missile defense technology has been tested and acquired by the US Army. The two countries have collaborated on developing laser weapons to shoot down incoming rockets. There are obvious advantages to expanding that cooperation, and there is no reason for the United States to pay to reinvent technologies that Israel has already developed. 

Yes, this saves the US taxpayer money. Wasn't protecting the taxpayer their main argument only a few weeks ago?

If you look at the groups Adalah is partnering with in their webinar, you see that they are all anti-American. Even the graphic shows that they see both the US and Israel as the enemy.

The irony here is striking. The politicians are claiming that increased military cooperation with Israel would weaken America. The activists are afraid that it would strengthen both America and Israel, making the relationship between them much harder to dismantle.

And somehow they all agree on what Congress should do.

If the politicians are really concerned about American sovereignty, they should be demanding that any agreements with Israel include safeguards to protect American interests, just as they would with any other country. If they are really concerned about American national security, they should be looking for opportunities to give American soldiers the best possible technology. If they are really concerned about the American taxpayer, they should be looking for ways to reduce the cost of developing that technology.

But they aren't demanding better agreements with Israel. They are demanding that there be no agreements.

Adalah has explained why it wants to stop American-Israeli defense cooperation. It wants to dismantle the relationship, and it is afraid that the more the United States benefits from that relationship, the harder it will be to destroy.

What's the politicians' excuse?

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Reclaiming the Covenant Protocols He's an Anti-Zionist Too! At Ptach Lo (ebook) The Muslim Question (ebook, $8) Sarah Makes the World Better (ages 3-8)

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