Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger | “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative” | October 24, 2026
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*In September 2026, Israel’s intelligence provided a real-time warning, which foiled an Iranian-engineered terrorist plot against England’s Fairford Royal Air Force base, that serves as a forward-operating base for US heavy bombers and combat aircraft. The Israeli tip-off led to the arrest of the terrorists before they could inflict severe casualties and target US aircraft.
*Israel serves as:
^The most effective source of game-changing, human and signals intelligence on anti-US Shiite and Sunni terrorism, and on Chinese and Russian – as well as British, French and other competitors’ – military systems, which is estimated to be the equivalent of a few CIAs;
^The most valuable combat-tested innovation center for the US military, leveraging Israel’s battle experience to enhance battle tactics of the US Air Force, Army, Special Operation units, urban warfare, etc.;
^The largest research & development center and battle-tested laboratory of the US defense/aerospace industries (2.5 million employees), saving the US mega billions of dollars in the cost of research & development of US-made combat aircraft and dozens of additional advanced US military systems, while upgrading their capabilities;
^The most intense export-boosting showroom of US military systems, which has expanded the US base of employment, and increase corporate and individual income tax revenues;
^A platform for over 250 US high tech giants’ research and development centers, boosting US global superiority;
^The most effective beachhead, reinforcing the US’ posture with no need for US combat soldiers, while exposingthe flaws of Chinese and Russian military systems, and constraining their regional and global posture.
^An organic “unsinkable US aircraft carrier,” deployed in the area of the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf, which is the epicenter of anti-US Islamic terrorism, the platform of 48% of global oil reserves, and critical trade routes and air corridors. The cost of one advanced US aircraft carrier is $10bn-$13bn (340% R-o-I on the $3.8bn “foreign aid”).
^The first line of defense against Islamic terrorism, which aimsto overwhelm West Europe, and proceed to the USA, as mandated by its 1,400-year-old ideology.
Unlike other US allies:
*The June 2025 Israeli high-precision air offensive on the Ayatollah regime dismantled the regime’s air defenses and air force, and destroyed much of its missile development and production infrastructure. The surgical Israeli operation enabled the US Air Force to devastate much of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, unimpeded by the Ayatollah’s interception capabilities. No other ally could plausibly have conducted deep stealth penetration strikes into Iran, neutralized its air-defense architecture, and sustained a multi-domain campaign against Iranian missile, drone, nuclear, and leadership infrastructures.
*Israel operates as a net exporter of national and homeland security to the US, with no need for forward US military bases. Israel has proven its willingness to flex effective muscles against Sunni and Shiite terrorism, irrespective of Left, Right, or Center governments.
*Israel is a unique force and dollar multiplier for the US, yielding an unprecedent high Return-on-Investment, exponentially higher than the scope of annual US “foreign aid,” which is actually an annual investment.
*In 1981 – in defiance of a brutal US pressure – Israel destroyed Saddam Hussein’s France-erected nuclear reactor, sparing the US a potential nuclear confrontation during the 1991 First Gulf War, and snatching the pro-US oil-producing Arab regimes from the jaws of the pro-Soviet Saddam.
*In 2007 – in defiance of a mild US pressure – Israel destroyed Bashar Assad’s, North Korean-built and largely Iranian-financed nuclear reactor, sparing the world a nuclear civil war (2011-2025) and nuclearized Sunni terrorism.
*Israeli intelligence shared with the US pre-empted a series of Ayatollah-controlled terrorist attacks on US installations and personalities in the Persian Gulf area, Jordan, Syria and on US soil. Israel has, also, provided the US with crucial intelligence on ISIS activities, such as the identity of Westerners who joined ISIS, and drone-gathered intelligence over ISIS-controlled areas, which enhanced US airstrikes. Israel maintains the deepest operational intelligence focus on Iran’s leadership, proliferation network, and regional proxy system.
*In 2017, Israel shared intelligence about an ISIS bomb plot – centered in Syria – involving explosives camouflaged as laptop batteries, designed to fool US airports x-ray machines, leading to the tightening of US airport security, and averting the devastation of airport and midair explosions.
*In 2018, Israel’s intelligence thwarted a terror plot to blow up an Etihad Airways plane on its way from Sydney to Abu Dhabi.
*Co-Developing Air Defenses like Arrow 2, Arrow 3, and David’s Sling, which are co-developed (largely by Israel) and co-funded, co-manufactured and co-exported (largely by the US). Lessons learned from real-world ballistic missile intercepts directly inform U.S. homeland defense and regional threat theater shields.
*While 100,000-150,000 US boots are on the ground in West Europe, South Korea and Japan (with $40bn-$45bn annual funding), there are no combat US soldiers in Israel (with $3.8bn annual investment/credit, earmarked to the acquisition of US-made military systems).
The Bottom Line
*The assertion that Israel represents a financial burden on the US taxpayer has mischaracterized the highest ever return on US investment, which is a low-no-risk-investment.When measured against the costs of maintaining forward-deployed US forces in Europe and East Asia, US “foreign aid” to Israel delivers an asymmetric Return-on-Investment (R-o-I) across advanced commercial and military systems, which are critical to the future of the US economy and defense.
*Israel offers a non-substitutable niche: it is the only U.S. partner that combines persistent confrontation with Iran, deep regional intelligence access, advanced indigenous defense technology, and recent high-intensity combat experience against Iranian systems and proxies.
*US-Israel defense and commercial cooperation is a mutually-beneficial two-way-street, which has delivered unprecedent windfall to the US taxpayer.
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