Debunking 6 AIPAC Myths About the US-Israel Relationship
Two former US government officials rebut the pro-Israel groupâs false claims and lay out the real cost of unconditional US support for Israel.
On its website, AIPAC lays out several reasons why it claims the Israel-US relationship is a âpartnership that benefits us.â But in examining those claims, none survive even the most cursory of assessments. Building on our recent assessment that unconditional support for Israel is not in Americaâs best interest, we debunk six of AIPACâs biggest claims below:
AIPAC Myth #1
The US-Israel relationship âhelps keep us safeâ because Israeli technology helps secure America, Israeli intelligence sharing pre-empts threats from the Middle East, and Israel deters and defeats our mutual adversaries.
The Facts
Israelâs militarized occupation, including its violent assault on Gaza that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of innocent people, is a driver of insecurity and is itself a causal factor for much of the risk that the US-Israel defense and intelligence-sharing relationship exists to address. Americaâs public association with Israelâs occupation of the Palestinian people, including through the provision of the funding and weaponry that enables it, creates far more challenges for Americaâs national security than it resolves. While the US and Israel do have a robust intelligence-sharing relationship, many, if not most, of the threats this relationship addresses are a function of Israelâs own actions, which generate regional instability as well as global threats to the United States, as the director of the US National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) observed in 2024.
At the same time, the presence of Israeli surveillance technology across America â technology that was tested on an occupied population and has been deployed to enable the murder of thousands of civilians â creates the potential for third-country access to our homeland security infrastructure and thereby is a potential threat to our nation in much the same way that Peopleâs Republic of China technology embedded in US port loading systems does.
AIPAC Myth #2
The US-Israel relationship âpromotes our values and interestsâ because Israel is a democracy that promotes âstabilityâ in the Middle East and creates âlasting peaceâ for the region.
The Facts
Israel is no democracy. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Israeli NGO BâTselem have all said Israel operates in whole or in part as an apartheid system. As Americans, we believe in freedom and liberty, and that all people should be treated equally regardless of ethnicity or religion. These are values that are fundamentally at odds with those demonstrated by Israel, as 5 million Palestinians currently live under Israeli military occupation without the right to vote, due process, and the right to self-determination simply because of their identity.
Furthermore, the notion that Israel joins the US in âpromoting stabilityâ in the Middle East is provably false simply by looking at the multiple conflicts Israel is engaged in â with Palestinians, Lebanon, Syria (portions of which it is currently occupying), Iran, and Yemen.14 Outside of direct conflict, the citizens of nations across the region strongly disapprove of Israelâs actions in Gaza, an obstacle to US goals for normalization of relations between countries in the region and Israel.
AIPAC Myth #3
Israel âprotects [US] troopsâ by being a capable partner that reduces the need for US presence in the Middle East, is a leader in certain defense technologies (air defense, UAS, counter-tunnels), and is also helping the US âprevent and treat PTSD in American troops.â
The Facts
The need for American troops to be present and in harmâs way in the Middle East would be significantly reduced if the US was not constantly engaged in defending Israel from the consequences of the Israeli governmentâs own actions. Just last year, three American soldiers in Jordan â whose mission included interdicting the transfer of weapons intended for use against Israel â were killed and 30 wounded, while numerous American ships have been targeted by missiles as the US carries out strikes (that have not been authorized by Congress) against the Houthis, in a conflict that branched from Israelâs relentless attacks on Gaza. Because of the decision to deploy US assets to defend Israel, the US Defense Department has had to spread itself so thin that for extended periods in the past year, there has been no US Carrier Strike Group in the Pacific due to deployments to the Middle East.
And while it is true that Israel is a leader in certain defense technologies, this is in no small part due to the vast sum of US tax dollars that Israel is allowed to channel directly into its own defense industrial base, to the point that the US subsidizes an industry that competes directly with American companies around the world, at the cost of American jobs. Finally, as to Israelâs contributions to combating military PTSD, which AIPAC vaunts, it is important to add a cautionary note that, as the Israeli media itself reports, the Israeli government has systematically failed to address its own soldiersâ increasing pleas to care for the vast growth in PTSD in their own ranks.
AIPAC Myth #4
The US-Israel relationship âaddresses 21st century challengesâ like âcyber-security, healthcare, artificial intelligence, water scarcity, food security, climate change and renewable energy.â
The Facts
In just the first 120 days of Israelâs war on Gaza, greenhouse gases from Israelâs military operations exceeded the annual total emissions for 26 countries and territories, one study found.
US subsidies to Israelâs defense sector also defray the cost for Israel to deliver universal healthcare to Israeli citizens â at the same time that Congress is considering proposals to cut $880 billion in federal spending, likely meaning significant cuts to the Medicaid program that supports 72 million Americans. Rather than defraying the costs of Israelâs free healthcare system, the nearly $18 billion in taxpayer funds given to Israel for its defense last year alone could have provided healthcare for more than 6 million American children living below the poverty line.
While Israel has made technological innovations when it comes to managing water scarcity, these advances are not cost-free to the US â they, like other âjoint technological developmentâ benefits, are sold back to the US for profit, typically via private Israeli companies. These opportunities would exist without unconditional support and billions of US taxpayer dollars.
AIPAC Myth #5
Israel âinvests in [the US] economy,â supporting nearly 100,000 American jobs, and is âthe second-largest source of foreign listings on the NASDAQ after China.â
The Facts
The US suffers from a trade deficit with Israel. The US invests over $40 billion annually in Israel in return for Israeli foreign direct investment into the US of only $22 billion. By comparison, Ireland, which recently joined South Africaâs genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, contributes $322 billion to the US economy in foreign direct investment, while Spain, a country that the US is exploring sanctions against due to its refusal to permit arms headed for Israel to transit its ports, contributes $81 billion annually in foreign direct investment to the US. While AIPACâs NASDAQ citation is factually accurate, if viewed through the lens of direct foreign investment, the US loses money every year on Israel, while other countries contribute much more to our economy.
AIPAC Myth #6
The US and Israel confront âcommon threats,â including WMD proliferation, âstate-sponsored terrorism,â and âIslamic radicalism.â
The Facts
Israel is the only undeclared nuclear weapons state in the world that has not ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the US Congress Office of Technology Assessment has named Israel as a country âgenerally reported as having undeclared offensive chemical warfare capabilities,â and âgenerally reported as having undeclared offensive biological warfare programs.â In addition to terrorizing the Palestinian population under its control, Israel has a well-known assassination program that targets civilians, including scientists, and has also bombed civilian infrastructure in Yemen.
Israelâs actions are a primary driver of recruitment for armed groups in the Middle East, the threat of which to the US would be greatly reduced absent our continued military, political, and diplomatic support for Israel. In short, when it comes to the âcommon threatsâ that AIPAC identifies, Israel is either, in some cases, out of sync with longstanding US goals, or, in the others, a major contributing factor to the generation of those threats.
Rather than being a strategic benefit, US support for Israel in its current form comes at a net cost to America. And none of the limited benefits the United States may accrue from this relationship require that we support it unconditionally. A more balanced and reciprocal arrangement, as we have with all other nations, would serve both US and Israeli interests. By prioritizing our national interest and curbing the worst impulses of Israelâs extreme right, the US would cut diplomatic, military, and economic costs to ourselves, save thousands of Palestinian lives, and also substantively and strategically advance Israelâs own goal for its people to live in peace within the broader Middle East. That would be a loss for AIPACâs propaganda and political machine, but for Palestinians, Israelis, and Americans, it would deliver, finally, a strategic benefit that is real.
Josh Paul and Tariq Habash are co-founders of A New Policy. Josh Paul spent over 11 years working as a Director in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs at the State Department, which is responsible for U.S. defense diplomacy, security assistance, and arms transfers. He previously worked on security sector reform in both Iraq and the West Bank, with additional roles in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and U.S. Army Staff. Tariq Habash served for three years as a political appointee and policy advisor in the U.S. Department of Educationâs Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development.
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