PThe closer the presidential election gets in the United States, the more the two candidates compete in commitments of unwavering support for Israel, and even in assurances that such support will be further increased. Donald Trump consistently presents himself as the best ally Israel has ever had in the White House, while multiplying statements that are more embarrassing than convincing: Jewish voters who would not vote for him « should have their heads examined »and a victory for the current vice-president would mean the disappearance of Israel « after two years ».
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But Kamala Harris is not to be outdone, she hammers on all occasions “Israel’s right to defend itself”. Certainly, the Democratic candidate prefers to insist on “the important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people” rather than mentioning the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, a historic partner of Donald Trump, and whose relations with President Joe Biden are notoriously tense.
It nevertheless remains unlikely that the United States, whoever wins the November 5 election, will substantially reduce the now colossal aid it grants to Israel.
Increasingly massive support
The United States was the first country to recognize Israel, just a few hours after the proclamation of the independence of the Jewish state, in May 1948. But we too often forget that, despite this decisive support, Washington has long refused to take sides in the dispute arising from the first Israeli-Arab war, as well as the exodus of some 750,000 Palestinian refugees.
It was, moreover, American diplomacy which pushed, in December 1948, for the adoption by the UN General Assembly of resolution 194, which allows a “right of return” for these Palestinians, by offering them the alternative between repatriation and compensation. And it was again the United States which, a year later, laid the foundations of UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for assisting these Palestinian refugees until such a dispute is resolved. During the first Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip, in November 1956, Republican President Dwight Eisenhower demanded and obtained the unconditional withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Palestinian enclave, as well as from the Egyptian Sinai peninsula.
It was not until June 1964 that an Israeli prime minister, Levi Eshkol, was officially received at the White House, by a Democratic president, Lyndon Johnson. It is from this period that the first military deliveries from the United States date to an Israeli army still largely equipped with French equipment. Such a trend increased after the June 1967 war and Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territory of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, as well as the Egyptian Sinai and the Syrian Golan.
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