This week, one of the most important questions for Israel’s future became sharper: What is the price of strategic dependence, even when it involves our greatest and most important friend?
There is no Israeli who does not understand the importance of the alliance with the United States. Security assistance, intelligence cooperation, diplomatic backing and the values-based bond between the countries are strategic assets of the highest order. In a turbulent and dangerous Middle East, Israel has no more important friend. But precisely for that reason, we must know how to distinguish between an alliance and dependence.
History teaches that small countries cannot afford to give up international partnerships, but it also teaches that they cannot entrust others with responsibility for their fate. Israel was founded precisely on that understanding. After generations in which Jews depended on the decisions of others, a state was established here whose role is to make its own decisions regarding its security and future. Friends can help, advise and support, but they are not the ones who bear the consequences if the decisions turn out to be wrong.
2 View gallery
Attack in southern Lebanon: residents of the north continue to live under threat, while IDF soldiers are still being harmed by Hezbollah
(Photo: Adri Salido/Getty Images)
While residents of the north continue to live under threat, while IDF soldiers are still being harmed by Hezbollah fire, and while the organization continues trying to erode the sense of security along the northern border, a worrying gap seems to have emerged between declarations and reality. We heard forceful statements about a severe blow to Hezbollah infrastructure and a significant response in the Dahieh in Beirut, but at the moment of truth it became clear that the decisions are not made only in Jerusalem.
This is not criticism of the United States, but of us. A sovereign state cannot allow a situation in which its enemies believe the way to stop Israeli action runs through Washington. When Hezbollah, Iran and other actors in the region get the impression that international pressure can stop Israel even when its citizens are under attack, cumulative damage is done to deterrence, and sometimes that damage is greater than any tactical achievement on the battlefield.
To be clear, I am not suggesting a frontal confrontation with Washington. Israel needs the United States, and the United States needs Israel. This alliance has withstood difficult tests over decades and is essential to our national security. But true friendship is based on partnership, not total dependence. Real friendship also allows disagreements and allows one country to say to the other: We listen to your advice, we respect your position, but the responsibility for the lives of our citizens rests with us.
2 View gallery
Trump an Netanyahu: true friendship is based on partnership, not total dependence
(Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
This is exactly the point at which Israel must be clearer. Not every security decision can be subject to diplomatic pressure, and not every military move must receive international approval. The situation in the north is precisely the moment when a country is required to make difficult decisions because it has no other choice. These are the lives of our soldiers, the lives of our residents, and not the lives of anyone else abroad.
There is also an important message here for our allies. Israel is not asking others to fight its wars. Our soldiers are the ones on the front lines, our families are the ones living under threat, and our citizens are the ones bearing the economic and social burden of the prolonged campaign.
Israel’s great challenge in the coming years will not only be to defeat Hezbollah, Hamas or Iran. It will be to preserve our vital alliances without losing independence in decision-making, and to know how to rely on friends without becoming dependent on them.
Ultimately, Israel’s citizens send their sons and daughters to defend the country. They pay the price of war, sirens and uncertainty. Therefore, the decisions concerning their security must also be made in Jerusalem, out of national responsibility, and nowhere else in the world.