Military Cooperation
The U.S. and Israel co-develop and jointly operate some of the world's most advanced defense systems. Iron Dome — designed in Israel with American co-funding — has intercepted over 5,000 rockets aimed at civilians, protecting not only Israelis but tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians who would have died in the retaliatory strikes Iron Dome makes unnecessary. Israel became the first foreign country to operate the F-35 Adir stealth fighter, and Israeli combat experience with American weapons systems provides Washington with battlefield data unavailable from any other partner.
Every major American weapons system in the last thirty years — from the F-16 to the F-35, from precision munitions to reactive armor — has been improved by lessons learned in Israeli service. The alliance is not charity; it is the closest defense R&D partnership on earth.
- ◆Iron Dome, David's Sling, and Arrow-3 missile-defense systems
- ◆F-35 Adir — Israel is the first foreign operator and only country cleared to modify the aircraft
- ◆Annual joint exercises: 'Juniper Cobra,' 'Juniper Falcon,' 'Noble Dina'
- ◆U.S. War Reserve Stockpile (WRSA-I) pre-positioned in Israel
- ◆Combined naval operations across the Mediterranean and Red Sea
Economic Partnership
The United States is Israel's largest single-country trading partner, and Israel is a top destination for American venture capital, private equity, and R&D dollars. The 1985 U.S.–Israel Free Trade Agreement was America's first-ever FTA — the template on which NAFTA and every subsequent U.S. trade deal was built.
Roughly 500 major American companies operate R&D centers in Israel — from Intel to Google to Apple to Meta to Nvidia. When you use Google Maps, WhatsApp, Waze, or Wix, or when Intel processors run in your laptop, you are using technology substantially built by Israeli engineers on Israeli soil.
- ◆Free Trade Agreement since 1985 — America's first-ever FTA
- ◆Over $50B in annual bilateral trade in goods and services
- ◆Hundreds of U.S. R&D centers on Israeli soil
- ◆Second only to the U.S. in number of NASDAQ-listed companies
Technology & Innovation
Israel is known worldwide as 'Startup Nation' — more startups per capita than any nation on earth, more Nobel laureates per capita than any but a handful of countries, and more patents per capita than the United States, Japan, or Germany. This is not accidental: universal military service in elite technology units like Unit 8200 produces a steady stream of engineers who leave the army at 21 already trained on real-world systems.
The Silicon Valley–Tel Aviv corridor is now one of the two most important axes in global technology. Every major American tech company runs on innovations that either came from Israel or were built with substantial Israeli engineering: the USB flash drive, instant messaging, Waze, Mobileye's self-driving vision, Check Point firewalls, and the security chips inside iPhones.
- ◆Intel's largest overseas fabrication plant is in Kiryat Gat
- ◆Google, Microsoft, Apple, Meta, Nvidia, Amazon all run major R&D in Israel
- ◆Most startups per capita in the world
- ◆Waze, Mobileye, WhatsApp, Wix, Fiverr, Monday.com — all Israeli-founded
Cybersecurity
Israel is the global leader in cybersecurity. Alumni of Unit 8200 — Israel's signals intelligence corps, roughly analogous to the NSA — have founded hundreds of cybersecurity companies whose products now protect American banks, hospitals, power grids, and government networks. When American critical infrastructure is defended, there is a high probability Israeli-built software is doing the defending.
- ◆Check Point, CyberArk, Wiz, SentinelOne, Palo Alto Networks — Israeli-founded
- ◆The U.S.–Israel Cyber Working Group formalized in 2016
- ◆Shared threat intelligence at classified levels
- ◆Israel absorbs and blocks more state-sponsored cyberattacks per capita than any nation
Intelligence
The intelligence relationship between the CIA and the Mossad is among the closest of any two nations on earth — closer, by many accounts, than with several formal U.S. treaty allies. Israeli intelligence has been credited with disrupting plots against American targets on multiple continents, from the 2003 warning about Al-Qaeda cells in the U.S. to countering Iranian and Hezbollah operations in Latin America.
Because Israel operates in the Middle East every day and speaks the languages of every hostile actor in the region, its intelligence product on Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, ISIS, and Syrian networks is unmatched.
- ◆Cooperation formalized since 1951
- ◆Joint counter-terror operations across four continents
- ◆The only Middle East partner with signals intelligence at U.S.-equivalent scale
Trade
The 1985 U.S.–Israel Free Trade Agreement remains one of the most successful bilateral trade agreements in American history. It eliminated tariffs on virtually all goods, and bilateral trade has grown more than tenfold since. American exports to Israel — from Boeing aircraft to John Deere tractors to pharmaceuticals — support tens of thousands of American manufacturing jobs.
- ◆Zero tariffs on nearly all industrial goods
- ◆$50B+ in annual trade, growing every year
- ◆Cross-border venture capital exceeding $20B annually
- ◆Israel a top-5 destination for U.S. defense exports
Joint Research
Three binational foundations — the U.S.–Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF), Binational Industrial R&D Foundation (BIRD), and Binational Agricultural R&D Fund (BARD) — have funded thousands of joint research projects since 1972. Their combined output includes Nobel-laureate physics, breakthrough cancer therapies, drip irrigation adopted by American farmers, and satellite communications used by the U.S. military.
- ◆BSF, BIRD, and BARD binational foundations since 1972
- ◆Over $1B invested — hundreds of active projects at any given time
- ◆Fields: agriculture, energy, space, health, materials, AI
- ◆Direct output: multiple Nobel Prizes
Medical Innovation
Israeli medical innovation saves American lives every day. The PillCam — the swallowable capsule that images the intestines — was invented in Israel. So were the ReWalk exoskeleton that lets paraplegics stand, Given Imaging's diagnostic tools used in tens of thousands of American hospitals, and multiple cancer immunotherapies. Teva Pharmaceuticals, headquartered in Israel, is the world's largest generic drug maker — meaning most Americans have Israeli-made medicine in their bathroom right now.
- ◆PillCam — ingestible imaging camera invented in Israel
- ◆ReWalk — bionic exoskeleton FDA-approved for personal use
- ◆Teva Pharmaceuticals — world's largest generic drug producer
- ◆IsraAID medical teams deployed to U.S. natural disasters
Historical Alliance
The alliance is 76 years old and has never been broken. President Harry Truman recognized Israel eleven minutes after independence, overruling his entire State Department. President John F. Kennedy authorized the first major U.S. arms sale — Hawk missiles — in 1962. Every American president since Truman, Republican and Democrat, has affirmed the special relationship.
There have been disagreements — Suez in 1956, settlements, Iran policy — but no rupture. The alliance is stitched into American life at every level: 7 million American Jews, tens of millions of Christian Zionists, majorities in every Gallup poll for 40 years, and bipartisan supermajorities in every Congress.
- ◆1948: U.S. recognizes Israel eleven minutes after independence
- ◆1985: America's first-ever Free Trade Agreement
- ◆2016: Largest military-aid Memorandum of Understanding in U.S. history ($38B / 10 years)
- ◆2020: Abraham Accords brokered by the United States
Emergency Support
The alliance flows in both directions. After Hurricane Katrina, Israeli medical teams were among the first foreign responders on the ground in New Orleans. After 9/11, Israel provided the U.S. with detailed intelligence on Al-Qaeda networks. During COVID-19, Israeli supply-chain expertise helped stabilize American PPE and vaccine logistics. Israel routinely sends field hospitals to American natural disasters and international crises where the U.S. cannot easily deploy.
- ◆IsraAID responders across the United States
- ◆Medical & rescue teams to Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Harvey, and California wildfires
- ◆Rapid PPE and vaccine supply-chain support during COVID-19
- ◆Israeli field hospitals rated Type 3 (highest classification) by the WHO