Charles Freilich on the U.S.-Israel “Special Relationship”

The Tikvah Podcast

Tikvah

Judaism, Politics, Religion & Spirituality, News

4.6 • 620 Ratings

🗓️ 8 March 2018

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Militarily, diplomatically, and culturally, the relationship between the United States and Israel is both unprecedented and unique. And, for Israel, it is an indispensable pillar of its national security strategy. Yet, while great-power support has been an important strategic goal for Israel since David Ben-Gurion, the Jewish State has become so dependent on America that it rarely takes major diplomatic or military action without first consulting Washington. Has the “special relationship”—so vital for Israel’s survival—also compromised its sovereignty? Has Israel become too dependent on the United States?

This is precisely the question Charles D. Freilich tackles in his February 2018 Mosaic essay. In the piece, Freilich—a former deputy national security adviser in Israel and a senior fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center—explores the origins of the important alliance between the U.S. and Israel, as well as its costs and benefits to the Jewish State and how best to maintain the health of the alliance in the future.

In this podcast, Dr. Freilich joins Jonathan Silver to discuss his essay as well as his larger vision of U.S.-Israel relations. They detail the tremendous benefits Israel has received from its partnership with America as well as the significant constraints Israel has allowed Washington to place on its freedom of action. As they explore how to strengthen the alliance going forward, their conversation also touches on the Iranian nuclear program, the Palestinian question, and what a serious Israeli national security strategy should look like in the coming years.

Musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim and performed by the ARC Ensemble as well as “Baruch Habah,” performed by the choir of Congregation Shearith Israel.

Transcript

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0:00.0	In 1944, David Ben-Gurion gave a speech called
0:12.0	Imperatives of the Jewish Revolution, in which he described the purpose of the Zionist
0:16.6	movement. In that speech, he said that Jewish exile, Galut, means dependence, material, political,
0:24.2	spiritual, cultural, and intellectual dependence. Our task is to break radically with this dependence
0:31.1	and become masters of our own fate, in a word, to achieve independence. To have survived in the Galut, despite all odds, is not enough.
0:40.1	We must create, by our own effort, the necessary conditions for our future survival as a free
0:45.7	and independent people.
0:47.3	In 1948, of course, the Jewish people did win their independence.
0:51.0	And now nearly 70 years into the history of the Third Jewish Commonwealth,
0:55.6	we ask, what is the state of that independence? Well, of course, Israel is its own country,
1:01.1	it makes its own decisions, it protects its own citizens. But in a new book, Israeli national
1:06.8	security a new strategy for an era of change, former Israeli national security official,
1:12.6	and fellow at Harvard's Belfar Center. Chuck Freilich argues that Israel has grown to rely
1:17.6	as a matter of necessity on the United States, and that reliance, while vital to Israeli security,
1:24.6	poses questions about Israel's independent Zionist spirit. Welcome to the Tikva
1:29.6	podcast on great Jewish essays and ideas. I'm your host, Jonathan Silver. In today's conversation,
1:35.8	I talk about how Chuck Freilich sees Israeli national security and how the national security
1:41.1	strategy he proposes in his new book deals with the U.S.-Israel relationship.
1:46.1	Our conversation focuses on a chapter of his new book that was published online in Mosaic
1:51.3	magazine in February 2018. That chapter, titled In Mosaic, Has Israel grown too dependent on the
1:58.6	United States, contains the controversial proposal that Israel sign a binding defense treaty with America.
2:05.3	If you like listening to the Tikva podcast, you can subscribe on iTunes and Stitcher
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