Israel Matzav

US - Israel military cooperation remains strong

The Wall Street Journal reports that this week's very open meetings between Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates were designed to deter both Iranian (and Syrian and Hezbullah) attacks on Israel and Israeli attacks on Iran by showing that the United States will stand by Israel if it is attacked.

Israel believes Iran and Syria are creating a here-and-now threat by supplying Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip with rockets and, possibly, missiles. But, of course, for Israel the real long-term threat lies in Iran's potential development of nuclear arms.

In the face of those dangers, the crucial question is simply: What are the U.S. and Israel doing about them?

Actually, they're cooperating more than most people think. It's important to note that this cooperation isn't designed to facilitate an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. Actually, it's more the opposite. By making Israel feel its has, on its own and in conjunction with the U.S., the defenses needed to either deter or defend against Iran, the Obama administration undoubtedly hopes to reduce Israel's inclination to launch a pre-emptive strike on Iran, which the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Adm. Mike Mullen, for one, has openly fretted might be ineffective and destabilizing.

Beyond that, making it clear that there is a robust American-Israeli security relationship is one way of preventing miscalculations by the Middle East's more dangerous characters.

If Iran, Syria, Hezbollah or their extremist friends think U.S.-Israeli relations are so strained that Washington is backing away from its commitment to defend Israel, the perception of a newly vulnerable Israel might well invite attacks that could spin out of control.

That's one reason why both Secretary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have gone out of their way in the last two weeks to publicly restate America's commitment to Israeli security.

And in fact, officials from both countries say that military and security cooperation has weathered the political storms of recent months, and in some areas actually thrived. An advanced American radar system, for example, has been deployed to Israel's Negev Desert, whence it can help the burgeoning Israeli missile-defense network.

But that radar system was a parting gift from the Bush administration and is operated by US troops who decide what information to share with Israel....

While I'm happy that there's a perception that the US and Israel are still cooperating militarily, my problem is that all that cooperation is meant to be reactive rather than proactive. No one knows for sure if an Iranian nuclear missile can be shot down. And no one here - at least - wants to let it get to the point where we have to find out. On that score, cooperation between Israel and the United States has been very weak indeed.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:11 AM