On the President's Desk: Israel
After the end of the Second World War, the plight of survivors of the Holocaust became a major humanitarian concern throughout the free world. During the war, the Roosevelt administration was reluctant to intervene on behalf of European Jews who were the target of Nazi aggression, despite the urging of Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau. The Department of War was concerned about the possibility of a Soviet-Arab connection and the potential Arab restriction on oil supplies to the US. They advised against US intervention on behalf of the Jews. After the war, as allied armies liberated those held in concentration camps, sympathy for the plight of European Jews became more prominent. President Harry Truman changed course from that taken by the Roosevelt administration and on November 29, 1947, with US support, the United Nations General Assembly adopted as Resolution 181, the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine. The motion passed, but with opposition from the Arab nations.
The decision to recognize the Jewish state was a contentious one, even within Truman's inner circle. His domestic and campaign adviser Clark Clifford supported the position. But Secretary of State George Marshall worried that backing a Jewish state would harm US relations with the Muslim world, limit access to Middle Eastern oil, and destabilize the region. On May 12, 1948, Truman had a meeting in the Oval Office with Secretary of State Marshall, Under Secretary of State Robert A. Lovett, Counsel to the President Clark Clifford, and several others to discuss the Palestine situation. Clifford argued in favor of recognizing the new Jewish state in accordance with the partition resolution. Marshall opposed Clifford's arguments, arguing that they were based on political considerations in the election year, but would have negative consequences. Truman did not clearly state his views in the meeting.
On May 14, 1948, Truman announced that the United States would be the first country to extend any form of recognition to the new state of Israel. This happened within hours of the Jewish People's Council gathering at the Tel Aviv Museum and David Ben-Gurion declaring "the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel".
The United States provided Israel moderate amounts of economic aid. France became Israel's main arms supplier and provided Israel with advanced military equipment and technology, in order to meet the perceived threat from Egypt. During the 1956 Suez Crisis, the Israeli Defense Forces invaded Egypt and were soon followed by French and British forces. France, Israel and Britain allied to topple President Nasser by regaining control of the Suez Canal, following its nationalization by Egypt. They occupied parts of western Sinai in order to bring about free passage of shipping in the Gulf of Aqaba. In response, President Dwight Eisenhower, with support from Soviet Union at the UN, intervened on behalf of Egypt to force a withdrawal. In response, Nasser expressed a desire to establish closer relations with the United States. Eisenhower's motivation was to increase American influence in the region, and prevent Nasser from going over to the Soviet Bloc. Under Eisenhower, US policy was to remain neutral and not become too closely allied with Israel. At this time, the only assistance the US provided Israel was food aid.
In the early 1960s, the US would begin to sell advanced, but defensive, weapons to Israel, Egypt, and Jordan, including Hawk anti-aircraft missiles. During Lyndon B. Johnson's presidency, US support for Israel increased. In the days before the Six-Day War of 1967, the Johnson Administration was sympathetic to Israel's need to defend itself, but it also worried about maintaining regional stability. The Johnson Administration was also concerned that if war broke out in the region, the United States and Soviet Union would be drawn into it. Intense diplomatic negotiations failed to prevent war. During the Six-Day War, Israeli jets and torpedo boats attacked the USS Liberty, a US Navy intelligence ship in Egyptian waters, killing 34 and wounding 171. Israel stated that the Liberty was mistaken as the Egyptian vessel El Quseir, and it was an instance of friendly fire.
Following the war, the perception in Washington was that many Arab states had permanently drifted toward the Soviets. In 1968, with strong support from Congress, Johnson approved the sale of Phantom fighters to Israel, to support Israel. The US also continued to provide military equipment to Arab states such as Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, to counter Soviet arms sales in the region.
On June 19, 1970, Secretary of State William P. Rogers proposed the Rogers Plan, a middle eastern peace proposal which called for a 90-day cease-fire and a military standstill zone on each side of the Suez Canal, to calm the ongoing War of Attrition. It called for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in 1967 and mutual recognition of each state's sovereignty and independence. The Egyptians accepted the Rogers Plan, but the Israelis did not. Menachem Begin and his supporters were adamantly opposed to withdraw from the Palestinian Territories. No breakthrough in negotiations occurred, even after President Sadat of Egypt in 1972 expelled Soviet advisers from Egypt, and advised Washington of his willingness to negotiate.
President Richard Nixon proffered another peace initiative on February 28, 1973, during a visit in Washington, D.C. by Israeli prime minister Golda Meir, Meir agreed with National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger's peace proposal, which proposed that Israel would accept Egyptian sovereignty over all Sinai, while Egypt would accept Israeli presence in some strategic positions in the Sinai. The proposal was unacceptable to Egypt and in October 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked Israeli forces occupying their territory since the 1967 war, beginning what became the Yom Kippur War. Meir had decided not to launch a pre-emptive strike for fear of alienating the United States, if Israel started another war. Israel relied on US support. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said that if Israel had attacked first, they would not have received "so much as a nail". On October 6, 1973, during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, Egypt and Syria, with backing from the Soviet Union, launched simultaneous attacks against Israel. The Egyptian Army was initially able to breach Israeli defenses, advance into the Sinai, and establish defensive positions along the east bank of the Suez Canal. They were later repulsed in a massive tank battle. The Israelis then crossed the Suez Canal. Israel also gained the upper hand in the air and at sea early in the war. The Soviets began to resupply Arab forces. Meir asked Nixon for help with military supply. After Israel went on full nuclear alert and loaded their warheads into waiting planes, Nixon ordered the delivery of weapons and supplies to Israel.By the time the supplies arrived, Israel was gaining the upper hand. The US and Soviets feared that they would be drawn into a Middle East conflict. After the Soviets threatened intervention on the behalf of Egypt. As a result, the US convinced the Israelis to refrain from destroying the trapped Egyptian army. In response, the Egyptians withdrew their request for Soviet support. Kissinger pressured the Israelis to withdraw from Arab lands, resulting in a lasting Israeli-Egyptian peace.
President Jimmy Carter was very active in the Middle East peace process. In May of 1977, Menachem Begin was elected as Prime Minister of Israel, after 30 years of leading the Israeli government opposition. The Carter-initiated Camp David process was viewed by right-wing elements in Israel as the US pressuring Israel to withdraw from the captured Palestinian territories for the sake of peace with Egypt. The Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty was signed at the White House on March 26, 1979. It led to Israeli withdrawal from Sinai by 1982.
When Ronald Reagan became President, concerns arose in Israel , in part because several Presidential appointees had ties or past business associations with key Arab countries. Secretaries Caspar Weinberger (Defense) and George P. Shultz (State) were officers in the Bechtel Corporation, which has strong links to the Arab world. President Reagan expressed personal support for Israel, and US-Israeli relations strengthened because of the compatibility between Israeli and US positions on terrorism, security cooperation, and the Soviet threat. In 1981, Weinberger and Israeli Minister of Defense Ariel Sharon signed the Strategic Cooperation Agreement, establishing a framework for continued consultation and cooperation on matters affecting the national security of both countries. In November 1983, the two sides formed a Joint Political Military Group to implement most provisions of that agreement. Joint air and sea military exercises began in June 1984. US–Israeli ties strengthened during the second Reagan term. Israel was granted "major non-NATO ally" status in 1989, giving it access to expanded weapons systems and opportunities to bid on US defense contracts. The United States maintained aid to Israel at $3 billion annually and implemented a free trade agreement in 1985, eliminating all customs duties between the two trading partners.
Relations suffered when Israel carried out Operation Opera, an Israeli airstrike on the Osirak nuclear reactor in Baghdad. Reagan suspended a shipment of military aircraft to Israel, and was harshly critical of the action. Relations worsened during the 1982 Lebanon War, when the United States contemplated sanctions following the Israeli Siege of Beirut. Weaponry provided by the US was intended to be used for defensive purposes only. The US suspended shipments of cluster munitions to Israel. Although critical of Israeli actions, the United States vetoed a Soviet-proposed United Nations Security Council resolution to impose an arms embargo on Israel. At the end of the second Reagan term, the United States opened a dialogue with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in December 1988.
President George H. W. Bush angered the Israeli government on March 3, 1991, when he said that East Jerusalem was occupied territory and not a sovereign part of Israel. Israel had annexed East Jerusalem in 1980. During the Iraq-Kuwait crisis and the Iraqi threats against Israel, Bush repeated the US commitment to Israel's security. Israeli–US tension eased after the start of the Persian Gulf war on January 16, 1991, when Israel became a target of Iraqi Scud missiles. The United States urged Israel not to retaliate against Iraq. The US believed that the attacks were Iraq's attempt to goad Israel into the conflict and force coalition members Egypt and Syria to quit the coalition and join Iraq in a war against Israel. Israel did not retaliate, and gained US support for its restraint.
After the Gulf War, President Bush attempted to reignite the Arab-Israeli peace process. On March 6, 1991, President Bush addressed Congress announced his goal of achieving an Arab–Israeli treaty based on the territory-for-peace principle and the fulfillment of Palestinian rights. As a first step, Bush announced his intention to reconvene the international peace conference in Madrid. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir requested for $10 billion in US loan guarantees. Bush convenedg the Madrid peace conference in October 1991 and persuaded all the parties to engage in the subsequent peace negotiations.
Israel and the PLO exchanged letters of mutual recognition on September 10, 1993, and signed the Declaration of Principles on September 13, 1993. President Bill Clinton announced that the United States and the PLO would reestablish their dialogue. On October 26, 1994, President Clinton witnessed the Jordan–Israeli peace treaty signing, and President Clinton, Egyptian President Mubarak, and King Hussein of Jordan witnessed the White House signing of the September 28, 1995, Interim Agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
President Clinton attended the funeral of assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in Jerusalem in November 1995. Following a March 1996 visit to Israel, President Clinton offered $100 million in aid for Israel's anti-terror activities, another $200 million for Arrow anti-missile deployment, and about $50 million for an anti-missile laser weapon. Clinton opposed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policy of expanding Jewish settlements in the occupied territories. Clinton hosted negotiations at the Wye River Conference Center in Maryland, ending with the signing of an agreement on October 23, 1998. Israel suspended implementation of the Wye agreement in early December 1998, when the Palestinians violated the Agreement by threatening to declare statehood. In January 1999, the Wye Agreement was delayed until the Israeli elections in May.
Ehud Barak was elected Prime Minister on May 17, 1999, and won a vote of confidence for his government on July 6, 1999. President Clinton mediated meetings between Prime Minister Barak and Chairman Arafat at the White House, Oslo, Shepherdstown, Camp David, and Sharm al-Shaykh.
President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon established good relations when they met in March and June of 2001 meetings. On October 4, 2001, shortly after the September 11 attacks, Sharon accused the Bush Administration of appeasing the Palestinians at Israel's expense in a bid for Arab support for the US anti-terror campaign. The White House called the remark was unacceptable. In 2003, after a sharp economic downturn in Israel, the US provided Israel with $9 billion in conditional loan guarantees made available through 2011 and negotiated each year at the US–Israel Joint Economic Development Group.
Israeli–US relations came under increased strain during Prime Minister Netanyahu's second administration and the new Obama administration. After he took office, President Barack Obama made achieving a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians a major goal. He pressured Prime Minister Netanyahu into accepting a Palestinian state and entering negotiations. In accordance with US wishes, Israel imposed a ten-month freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank. The freeze did not include East Jerusalem, which Israel regards as its sovereign territory, or the 3,000 pre-approved housing units already under construction, or the failure to dismantle already-built Israeli outposts. The Palestinians rejected the freeze as inadequate, and refused to enter negotiations for nine months.
In March 2010, Israel announced that it would continue to build 1,600 new homes that were already under construction in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Israel's move "deeply negative" for US–Israeli relations. East Jerusalem is considered by the international community to be occupied territory, while Israel disputes this. President Obama instructed Secretary Clinton to present Netanyahu with a four-part ultimatum: (1) that Israel cancel the approval of the housing units, (2) freeze all Jewish construction in East Jerusalem, (3) release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and (4) agree to discuss a partition of Jerusalem and a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem during the negotiations. Obama threatened that neither he nor any senior administration official would meet Netanyahu and his senior ministers during their upcoming visit to Washington.
On 26 March 2010, Netanyahu and Obama met in the White House. During the meeting, Obama demanded that Israel extend the settlement freeze after its expiration, impose a freeze on Jewish construction in East Jerusalem, and withdraw troops to preset locations. Netanyahu did not give any concessions on these issues. Obama then suggested that Netanyahu and his staff stay at the White House to consider his proposals so that he could inform Obama right away if he changed his mind, and was quoted as saying: "I'm still around, let me know if there is anything new". Netanyahu and his aides went to the Roosevelt Room, spent a further half-hour with Obama, and extended his stay for a day to restart peace negotiations, but left without any official statement from either side.
On May 19, 2011, Obama called for a return to the pre-1967 Israeli borders with mutually agreed land swaps. Netanyahu objected. The speech came a day before Obama and Netanyahu were scheduled to meet. On September 20, 2011, President Obama declared that the US would veto any Palestinian application for statehood at the United Nations, asserting that "there can be no shortcut to peace". In 2012, President Obama signed into law a bill that would extend by another three years the program of United States guarantees for Israeli government debt.
Reaction in Israel was mixed to the President Obama's Geneva interim agreement on the Iranian nuclear program. Prime Minister Netanyahu strongly criticized it as a "historic mistake". However, Kadima Party leader Shaul Mofaz, opposition leader Isaac Herzog, and former Aman chief Amos Yadlin voiced some support for the agreement, stating that it was more important to maintain good ties to Washington than to rebuke the agreement.
On December 23, 2016, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution calling for an end to Israeli settlements. The Obama administration's UN ambassador, Samantha Power, was instructed to abstain. President-elect Donald Trump attempted to intercede by publicly advocating the resolution be vetoed. The resolution passed 14 to 0. Netanyahu said "the Obama administration not only failed to protect Israel against this gang-up at the UN, it colluded with it behind the scenes. Israel looks forward to working with President-elect Trump and with all our friends in Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, to negate the harmful effects of this absurd resolution." On December 28. 2016, US Secretary of State John Kerry strongly criticized Israel and its settlement policies. On January 5, 2017, the United States House of Representatives voted 342–80 to condemn the UN Resolution.
After President Donald Trump's inauguration, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his intention to lift all restrictions on construction in the West Bank. In September 2017 it was announced that the US would open their first permanent military base in Israel. On December 6, 2017, President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The US Embassy was opened in Jerusalem (while keeping the offices in Tel-Aviv) on May 14, 2018, the 70th anniversary of the Independence of Israel.
Currently, Israel receives $3 billion annually in US assistance through Foreign Military Financing (FMF). Seventy-four percent of these funds must be spent on the acquisition of US defense equipment, services, and training.
The United States views the growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank as an impediment to the success of peace negotiations, acknowledging that most world powers view the settlements as illegal. Israel, on the other hand, views the land as a security bulwark and religious Jewish Israelis consider the land to be a God-given inheritance.
After capturing East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel annexed it and incorporated it into the Jerusalem Municipality, and has built neighborhoods and homes in Arab neighborhoods there, along with government offices. Israel has insisted that Jerusalem is its eternal and indivisible capital. Until recently, the United States did not agree with this position. In 1995, however, both houses of Congress overwhelmingly passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act to move the embassy to Jerusalem, no later than May 31, 1999. Executive branch opposition to such a move delayed the move by all successive administrations. On December 6, 2017 President Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital and announced his intention to move the American embassy to Jerusalem. On January 22, 2018 Vice President Mike Pence in an address to the Israeli Knesset announced that the embassy would be moved before the end of 2019. On October 18, 2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the US Consulate-General in Jerusalem would be merged into the US Embassy in Jerusalem.
In January of 2018, the Trump administration withheld more than half of the funds to the UN agency in charge of Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. The US was the largest donor to UNRWA up to that point. In June, White House senior advisor Jared Kushner pressed Jordan to strip more than 2 million Palestinians of their refugee status so that UNRWA would no longer need to operate there. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas criticized the policy and accused the US of trying to liquidate the issue of the Palestinian refugees before negotiations between Israel and Palestinians. In August, the Trump administration reiterated its calls for a change of mandate of UNRWA and called its financial situation "unsustainable". Then in late August 2018, the Trump administration cut off all aid to UNRWA.
The Trump administration has adopted a strongly pro-Israel position appears to be a major change from previous administrations which, to varying degrees, sought to strike a balance between the competing interests in the region. Relations with Israel will continue to be a pressing issue on the President's desk.
The decision to recognize the Jewish state was a contentious one, even within Truman's inner circle. His domestic and campaign adviser Clark Clifford supported the position. But Secretary of State George Marshall worried that backing a Jewish state would harm US relations with the Muslim world, limit access to Middle Eastern oil, and destabilize the region. On May 12, 1948, Truman had a meeting in the Oval Office with Secretary of State Marshall, Under Secretary of State Robert A. Lovett, Counsel to the President Clark Clifford, and several others to discuss the Palestine situation. Clifford argued in favor of recognizing the new Jewish state in accordance with the partition resolution. Marshall opposed Clifford's arguments, arguing that they were based on political considerations in the election year, but would have negative consequences. Truman did not clearly state his views in the meeting.
On May 14, 1948, Truman announced that the United States would be the first country to extend any form of recognition to the new state of Israel. This happened within hours of the Jewish People's Council gathering at the Tel Aviv Museum and David Ben-Gurion declaring "the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel".
The United States provided Israel moderate amounts of economic aid. France became Israel's main arms supplier and provided Israel with advanced military equipment and technology, in order to meet the perceived threat from Egypt. During the 1956 Suez Crisis, the Israeli Defense Forces invaded Egypt and were soon followed by French and British forces. France, Israel and Britain allied to topple President Nasser by regaining control of the Suez Canal, following its nationalization by Egypt. They occupied parts of western Sinai in order to bring about free passage of shipping in the Gulf of Aqaba. In response, President Dwight Eisenhower, with support from Soviet Union at the UN, intervened on behalf of Egypt to force a withdrawal. In response, Nasser expressed a desire to establish closer relations with the United States. Eisenhower's motivation was to increase American influence in the region, and prevent Nasser from going over to the Soviet Bloc. Under Eisenhower, US policy was to remain neutral and not become too closely allied with Israel. At this time, the only assistance the US provided Israel was food aid.
In the early 1960s, the US would begin to sell advanced, but defensive, weapons to Israel, Egypt, and Jordan, including Hawk anti-aircraft missiles. During Lyndon B. Johnson's presidency, US support for Israel increased. In the days before the Six-Day War of 1967, the Johnson Administration was sympathetic to Israel's need to defend itself, but it also worried about maintaining regional stability. The Johnson Administration was also concerned that if war broke out in the region, the United States and Soviet Union would be drawn into it. Intense diplomatic negotiations failed to prevent war. During the Six-Day War, Israeli jets and torpedo boats attacked the USS Liberty, a US Navy intelligence ship in Egyptian waters, killing 34 and wounding 171. Israel stated that the Liberty was mistaken as the Egyptian vessel El Quseir, and it was an instance of friendly fire.
Following the war, the perception in Washington was that many Arab states had permanently drifted toward the Soviets. In 1968, with strong support from Congress, Johnson approved the sale of Phantom fighters to Israel, to support Israel. The US also continued to provide military equipment to Arab states such as Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, to counter Soviet arms sales in the region.
On June 19, 1970, Secretary of State William P. Rogers proposed the Rogers Plan, a middle eastern peace proposal which called for a 90-day cease-fire and a military standstill zone on each side of the Suez Canal, to calm the ongoing War of Attrition. It called for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in 1967 and mutual recognition of each state's sovereignty and independence. The Egyptians accepted the Rogers Plan, but the Israelis did not. Menachem Begin and his supporters were adamantly opposed to withdraw from the Palestinian Territories. No breakthrough in negotiations occurred, even after President Sadat of Egypt in 1972 expelled Soviet advisers from Egypt, and advised Washington of his willingness to negotiate.
President Richard Nixon proffered another peace initiative on February 28, 1973, during a visit in Washington, D.C. by Israeli prime minister Golda Meir, Meir agreed with National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger's peace proposal, which proposed that Israel would accept Egyptian sovereignty over all Sinai, while Egypt would accept Israeli presence in some strategic positions in the Sinai. The proposal was unacceptable to Egypt and in October 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked Israeli forces occupying their territory since the 1967 war, beginning what became the Yom Kippur War. Meir had decided not to launch a pre-emptive strike for fear of alienating the United States, if Israel started another war. Israel relied on US support. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said that if Israel had attacked first, they would not have received "so much as a nail". On October 6, 1973, during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, Egypt and Syria, with backing from the Soviet Union, launched simultaneous attacks against Israel. The Egyptian Army was initially able to breach Israeli defenses, advance into the Sinai, and establish defensive positions along the east bank of the Suez Canal. They were later repulsed in a massive tank battle. The Israelis then crossed the Suez Canal. Israel also gained the upper hand in the air and at sea early in the war. The Soviets began to resupply Arab forces. Meir asked Nixon for help with military supply. After Israel went on full nuclear alert and loaded their warheads into waiting planes, Nixon ordered the delivery of weapons and supplies to Israel.By the time the supplies arrived, Israel was gaining the upper hand. The US and Soviets feared that they would be drawn into a Middle East conflict. After the Soviets threatened intervention on the behalf of Egypt. As a result, the US convinced the Israelis to refrain from destroying the trapped Egyptian army. In response, the Egyptians withdrew their request for Soviet support. Kissinger pressured the Israelis to withdraw from Arab lands, resulting in a lasting Israeli-Egyptian peace.
President Jimmy Carter was very active in the Middle East peace process. In May of 1977, Menachem Begin was elected as Prime Minister of Israel, after 30 years of leading the Israeli government opposition. The Carter-initiated Camp David process was viewed by right-wing elements in Israel as the US pressuring Israel to withdraw from the captured Palestinian territories for the sake of peace with Egypt. The Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty was signed at the White House on March 26, 1979. It led to Israeli withdrawal from Sinai by 1982.
When Ronald Reagan became President, concerns arose in Israel , in part because several Presidential appointees had ties or past business associations with key Arab countries. Secretaries Caspar Weinberger (Defense) and George P. Shultz (State) were officers in the Bechtel Corporation, which has strong links to the Arab world. President Reagan expressed personal support for Israel, and US-Israeli relations strengthened because of the compatibility between Israeli and US positions on terrorism, security cooperation, and the Soviet threat. In 1981, Weinberger and Israeli Minister of Defense Ariel Sharon signed the Strategic Cooperation Agreement, establishing a framework for continued consultation and cooperation on matters affecting the national security of both countries. In November 1983, the two sides formed a Joint Political Military Group to implement most provisions of that agreement. Joint air and sea military exercises began in June 1984. US–Israeli ties strengthened during the second Reagan term. Israel was granted "major non-NATO ally" status in 1989, giving it access to expanded weapons systems and opportunities to bid on US defense contracts. The United States maintained aid to Israel at $3 billion annually and implemented a free trade agreement in 1985, eliminating all customs duties between the two trading partners.
Relations suffered when Israel carried out Operation Opera, an Israeli airstrike on the Osirak nuclear reactor in Baghdad. Reagan suspended a shipment of military aircraft to Israel, and was harshly critical of the action. Relations worsened during the 1982 Lebanon War, when the United States contemplated sanctions following the Israeli Siege of Beirut. Weaponry provided by the US was intended to be used for defensive purposes only. The US suspended shipments of cluster munitions to Israel. Although critical of Israeli actions, the United States vetoed a Soviet-proposed United Nations Security Council resolution to impose an arms embargo on Israel. At the end of the second Reagan term, the United States opened a dialogue with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in December 1988.
President George H. W. Bush angered the Israeli government on March 3, 1991, when he said that East Jerusalem was occupied territory and not a sovereign part of Israel. Israel had annexed East Jerusalem in 1980. During the Iraq-Kuwait crisis and the Iraqi threats against Israel, Bush repeated the US commitment to Israel's security. Israeli–US tension eased after the start of the Persian Gulf war on January 16, 1991, when Israel became a target of Iraqi Scud missiles. The United States urged Israel not to retaliate against Iraq. The US believed that the attacks were Iraq's attempt to goad Israel into the conflict and force coalition members Egypt and Syria to quit the coalition and join Iraq in a war against Israel. Israel did not retaliate, and gained US support for its restraint.
After the Gulf War, President Bush attempted to reignite the Arab-Israeli peace process. On March 6, 1991, President Bush addressed Congress announced his goal of achieving an Arab–Israeli treaty based on the territory-for-peace principle and the fulfillment of Palestinian rights. As a first step, Bush announced his intention to reconvene the international peace conference in Madrid. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir requested for $10 billion in US loan guarantees. Bush convenedg the Madrid peace conference in October 1991 and persuaded all the parties to engage in the subsequent peace negotiations.
Israel and the PLO exchanged letters of mutual recognition on September 10, 1993, and signed the Declaration of Principles on September 13, 1993. President Bill Clinton announced that the United States and the PLO would reestablish their dialogue. On October 26, 1994, President Clinton witnessed the Jordan–Israeli peace treaty signing, and President Clinton, Egyptian President Mubarak, and King Hussein of Jordan witnessed the White House signing of the September 28, 1995, Interim Agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
President Clinton attended the funeral of assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in Jerusalem in November 1995. Following a March 1996 visit to Israel, President Clinton offered $100 million in aid for Israel's anti-terror activities, another $200 million for Arrow anti-missile deployment, and about $50 million for an anti-missile laser weapon. Clinton opposed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policy of expanding Jewish settlements in the occupied territories. Clinton hosted negotiations at the Wye River Conference Center in Maryland, ending with the signing of an agreement on October 23, 1998. Israel suspended implementation of the Wye agreement in early December 1998, when the Palestinians violated the Agreement by threatening to declare statehood. In January 1999, the Wye Agreement was delayed until the Israeli elections in May.
Ehud Barak was elected Prime Minister on May 17, 1999, and won a vote of confidence for his government on July 6, 1999. President Clinton mediated meetings between Prime Minister Barak and Chairman Arafat at the White House, Oslo, Shepherdstown, Camp David, and Sharm al-Shaykh.
President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon established good relations when they met in March and June of 2001 meetings. On October 4, 2001, shortly after the September 11 attacks, Sharon accused the Bush Administration of appeasing the Palestinians at Israel's expense in a bid for Arab support for the US anti-terror campaign. The White House called the remark was unacceptable. In 2003, after a sharp economic downturn in Israel, the US provided Israel with $9 billion in conditional loan guarantees made available through 2011 and negotiated each year at the US–Israel Joint Economic Development Group.
Israeli–US relations came under increased strain during Prime Minister Netanyahu's second administration and the new Obama administration. After he took office, President Barack Obama made achieving a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians a major goal. He pressured Prime Minister Netanyahu into accepting a Palestinian state and entering negotiations. In accordance with US wishes, Israel imposed a ten-month freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank. The freeze did not include East Jerusalem, which Israel regards as its sovereign territory, or the 3,000 pre-approved housing units already under construction, or the failure to dismantle already-built Israeli outposts. The Palestinians rejected the freeze as inadequate, and refused to enter negotiations for nine months.
In March 2010, Israel announced that it would continue to build 1,600 new homes that were already under construction in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Israel's move "deeply negative" for US–Israeli relations. East Jerusalem is considered by the international community to be occupied territory, while Israel disputes this. President Obama instructed Secretary Clinton to present Netanyahu with a four-part ultimatum: (1) that Israel cancel the approval of the housing units, (2) freeze all Jewish construction in East Jerusalem, (3) release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and (4) agree to discuss a partition of Jerusalem and a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem during the negotiations. Obama threatened that neither he nor any senior administration official would meet Netanyahu and his senior ministers during their upcoming visit to Washington.
On 26 March 2010, Netanyahu and Obama met in the White House. During the meeting, Obama demanded that Israel extend the settlement freeze after its expiration, impose a freeze on Jewish construction in East Jerusalem, and withdraw troops to preset locations. Netanyahu did not give any concessions on these issues. Obama then suggested that Netanyahu and his staff stay at the White House to consider his proposals so that he could inform Obama right away if he changed his mind, and was quoted as saying: "I'm still around, let me know if there is anything new". Netanyahu and his aides went to the Roosevelt Room, spent a further half-hour with Obama, and extended his stay for a day to restart peace negotiations, but left without any official statement from either side.
On May 19, 2011, Obama called for a return to the pre-1967 Israeli borders with mutually agreed land swaps. Netanyahu objected. The speech came a day before Obama and Netanyahu were scheduled to meet. On September 20, 2011, President Obama declared that the US would veto any Palestinian application for statehood at the United Nations, asserting that "there can be no shortcut to peace". In 2012, President Obama signed into law a bill that would extend by another three years the program of United States guarantees for Israeli government debt.
Reaction in Israel was mixed to the President Obama's Geneva interim agreement on the Iranian nuclear program. Prime Minister Netanyahu strongly criticized it as a "historic mistake". However, Kadima Party leader Shaul Mofaz, opposition leader Isaac Herzog, and former Aman chief Amos Yadlin voiced some support for the agreement, stating that it was more important to maintain good ties to Washington than to rebuke the agreement.
On December 23, 2016, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution calling for an end to Israeli settlements. The Obama administration's UN ambassador, Samantha Power, was instructed to abstain. President-elect Donald Trump attempted to intercede by publicly advocating the resolution be vetoed. The resolution passed 14 to 0. Netanyahu said "the Obama administration not only failed to protect Israel against this gang-up at the UN, it colluded with it behind the scenes. Israel looks forward to working with President-elect Trump and with all our friends in Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, to negate the harmful effects of this absurd resolution." On December 28. 2016, US Secretary of State John Kerry strongly criticized Israel and its settlement policies. On January 5, 2017, the United States House of Representatives voted 342–80 to condemn the UN Resolution.
After President Donald Trump's inauguration, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his intention to lift all restrictions on construction in the West Bank. In September 2017 it was announced that the US would open their first permanent military base in Israel. On December 6, 2017, President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The US Embassy was opened in Jerusalem (while keeping the offices in Tel-Aviv) on May 14, 2018, the 70th anniversary of the Independence of Israel.
Currently, Israel receives $3 billion annually in US assistance through Foreign Military Financing (FMF). Seventy-four percent of these funds must be spent on the acquisition of US defense equipment, services, and training.
The United States views the growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank as an impediment to the success of peace negotiations, acknowledging that most world powers view the settlements as illegal. Israel, on the other hand, views the land as a security bulwark and religious Jewish Israelis consider the land to be a God-given inheritance.
After capturing East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel annexed it and incorporated it into the Jerusalem Municipality, and has built neighborhoods and homes in Arab neighborhoods there, along with government offices. Israel has insisted that Jerusalem is its eternal and indivisible capital. Until recently, the United States did not agree with this position. In 1995, however, both houses of Congress overwhelmingly passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act to move the embassy to Jerusalem, no later than May 31, 1999. Executive branch opposition to such a move delayed the move by all successive administrations. On December 6, 2017 President Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital and announced his intention to move the American embassy to Jerusalem. On January 22, 2018 Vice President Mike Pence in an address to the Israeli Knesset announced that the embassy would be moved before the end of 2019. On October 18, 2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the US Consulate-General in Jerusalem would be merged into the US Embassy in Jerusalem.
In January of 2018, the Trump administration withheld more than half of the funds to the UN agency in charge of Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. The US was the largest donor to UNRWA up to that point. In June, White House senior advisor Jared Kushner pressed Jordan to strip more than 2 million Palestinians of their refugee status so that UNRWA would no longer need to operate there. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas criticized the policy and accused the US of trying to liquidate the issue of the Palestinian refugees before negotiations between Israel and Palestinians. In August, the Trump administration reiterated its calls for a change of mandate of UNRWA and called its financial situation "unsustainable". Then in late August 2018, the Trump administration cut off all aid to UNRWA.
The Trump administration has adopted a strongly pro-Israel position appears to be a major change from previous administrations which, to varying degrees, sought to strike a balance between the competing interests in the region. Relations with Israel will continue to be a pressing issue on the President's desk.