Amid cratering support for Israel in the United States, a former senior US official and a former senior Israeli official are offering a new vision for the bilateral relationship.
“We need to establish the relationship anew,” former IDF Military Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin tells The Times of Israel.
“The model in which Israel is assisted by the United States and receives aid has a very low chance of continuing under any future administration,” he says, “and perhaps even under the Trump administration, so we need to find a new basis for the relationship that is a transition from aid to partnership.”
Six in 10 Americans say they have a very or somewhat unfavorable view of Israel, up 20 percentage points since 2022, according to a new Pew Research Center survey released last month.
“We have work to do,” emphasizes former US ambassador to Israel Tom Nides in a Zoom conversation with The Times of Israel. “We have to tell the story of Israel. We have to tell the story about the innovation. We got to tell the story about Israel being a melting pot. Israel is a country of seven-plus million Jews and two million Arabs. We got to talk about what’s been great about the State of Israel and what they have done.”
In order to recast ties in a way that is more relevant for emerging technologies and geopolitical realities, while addressing some of the political concerns about the relationship, Yadlin and Nides are advancing the US-Israel Technology Alliance — Strategic Technology Compact.
The initiative, rolled out at the AI+ Expo over the weekend in Washington, DC, looks to build “the Special Relationship 2.0” by combining American capital, industrial might, and world-class laboratories with Israel’s speed, experience, and engineering ingenuity, according to the organizers.
“The United States has lots of technology,” said Nides. “We’re leading in technology and AI and innovation. It’s not lost on anyone that Israel is the startup nation. These two countries have been working together to create technology innovations and breakthroughs.”
“These two nations working collectively together is both good for Americans, the average American, and good for the average Israeli,” he continued. “And quite frankly, it’s good for the region and for the world as a whole.”
According to a draft proposal of the initiative — created by the US think tank Special Competitive Studies Project and the Israeli consultancy MIND Israel — the US-Israel relationship has rested on defense cooperation, security assistance, shared geopolitical interests, and cooperation between businesses.
“That foundation remains essential,” write the organizers. “But it is no longer sufficient for a century that will be defined by leadership in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, advanced energy, cyber, quantum, bioconvergence, and strategic manufacturing: both military and civilian.”
The US-Israel Tech Alliance looks to move beyond the security foundation for the relationship by creating “a more modern, more reciprocal, and more productive basis for long-term strategic partnership.”
The organizers call for both governments to sign a memorandum of understanding that would see Jerusalem and Washington commit to at least $1 billion per year of public funding of joint projects.
“The United States gains a trusted, battle-tested technology ally that strengthens American leadership in AI, cyber, energy, quantum, and industrial resilience,” according to the draft proposal. “Israel gains durable access to the world’s most important technology ecosystem – including federal programs, laboratories, capital pathways, procurement channels, and scale-up opportunities.”