Did the U.S. just create a new category for best-friend allies?
Did the United States just create a new designation for its special relationship with Israel? Some news sources seem to think so. The National put it succinctly: It was widely reported last week that this year’s Aipac conference, which ends tomorrow, will culminate in a mass lobbying effort by attendees to persuade law makers to ...
Did the United States just create a new designation for its special relationship with Israel? Some news sources seem to think so. The National put it succinctly:
Did the United States just create a new designation for its special relationship with Israel? Some news sources seem to think so. The National put it succinctly:
It was widely reported last week that this year’s Aipac conference, which ends tomorrow, will culminate in a mass lobbying effort by attendees to persuade law makers to officially designate Israel a major strategic ally of the United States, a designation that until now has never been awarded.
So does the bill, the "U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership Act," actually make a new class of alliance for Israel? Is the House about to name Israel a super-best-friend-for-life ally of the United States?
No. They’re not.
The bill, which can be accessed online here, simply states that, "Congress declares that Israel is a major strategic partner of the United States." Nowhere in the bill does it define or codify this terminology; it doesn’t grant special privileges like, say, being the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid or being permitted nuclear weapons without pressure to sign conventions regulating them, both of which are already part of U.S.-Israel policy. It is just a "declaration of policy," much in the way that last year’s "U.S.-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act of 2012" stated:
It is the policy of the United States to reaffirm our unwavering commitment to the security of the State of Israel as a Jewish state. As President Barack Obama stated on December 16, 2011, "America’s commitment and my commitment to Israel and Israel’s security is unshakeable." And as President George W. Bush stated before the Israeli Knesset on May 15, 2008, on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, "The alliance between our governments is unbreakable, yet the source of our friendship runs deeper than any treaty."
The new legislation, which extends existing legislation on military, cyber, and energy cooperation, does not alter Israel’s formal designation as a "major non-NATO ally" of the United States (other major non-NATO allies make for some strange bedfellows, including Egypt, Afghanistan, and Pakistan). At this point, in other words, there’s no need for other U.S. allies to start getting jealous about new official labels — there aren’t any.
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