Israel's Allies

Small, Surrounded,
Not Alone

Israel sits in the hardest neighborhood on Earth. But it has never stood by itself: at its side is the most powerful nation in history, and a circle of friends that keeps widening.

Enemies are loud; allies are quieter, and easy to forget. Yet the truth of Israel's standing is the opposite of isolation: a deep, decades-old bond with the United States, a wave of Arab states making peace, durable treaties on two borders, partners across Europe and Asia, and the support of tens of millions of ordinary people who will never appear on a map.

The United States

The cornerstone. The closest alliance Israel has, and one of the closest in the world.

Since 1948, Washington has been Israel's indispensable partner: in arms, in money, in diplomacy and in the shared conviction of two democracies. A standing agreement commits the US to roughly $3.8 billion a year in military aid ($38 billion over a decade), helps fund the Iron Dome that intercepts the rockets, guarantees Israel's qualitative military edge, and shields it at the UN Security Council with the veto, used dozens of times. In 2026, US and Israeli forces struck Iran's nuclear and military program together, the alliance at its sharpest.

It runs both ways. The aid is not a blank cheque: under the agreement nearly all of it must be spent on American weapons, so the money flows back to US factories and defense jobs, in effect a subsidy for both sides. In return the United States gets one of its most valuable partners. The two countries jointly built the missile shields that guard Israel, Iron Dome, David's Sling and Arrow, and the US Army has since bought Iron Dome for its own forces. Israel feeds combat-tested upgrades back into American jets and weapons, shares intelligence that has foiled attacks far beyond the Middle East, and serves as a forward base for US technology and research. Washington designates Israel a major strategic partner for a reason: this is an alliance of mutual benefit, not charity.

And that is only the defense side. The civilian bond runs just as deep. Two-way trade reached about $55 billion in 2024, up 9 percent in a single year, and Israel, a country of barely ten million, sells America more than it buys. Three government-backed binational foundations, BIRD for industry, BSF for science and BARD for agriculture, have together put well over $1.4 billion into joint US-Israel research since the 1970s, seeding everything from medical devices to clean energy. And in the pharmacy Israel is quietly everywhere: about one in six generic prescriptions filled in the United States is made by Israel's Teva, the world's largest generic drugmaker, helping keep American medicine affordable.

$3.8B
US military aid per year, most of which is spent back in the US on American-made arms.
Both ways
Jointly developed missile defense, shared intelligence, and combat-tested tech flow back to the US.
The veto
The US has used its Security Council veto dozens of times to protect Israel.
$55B
Two-way US-Israel trade in 2024, up 9% on the year, with Israel running a surplus.
1 in 6
US generic prescriptions filled with a medicine from Israel's Teva, the world's largest generic maker.
$1.4B+
Joint R&D from the US-Israel binational foundations (BIRD, BSF, BARD) since the 1970s.

The Abraham Accords

2020: the wall of Arab rejection began to fall.

For seventy years the Arab world's official line was no recognition, no peace. Then in 2020 the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalized relations with Israel, followed by Morocco and Sudan. Embassies opened, flights began, billions in trade followed. It was a quiet revolution: Israel and much of the Gulf realigning together, in no small part against the shared threat of Iran.

The Abraham Accords signing at the White House in 2020, with Israel's prime minister and the foreign ministers of the UAE and Bahrain.
The Abraham Accords signing at the White House, 15 September 2020: Israel's prime minister alongside the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.Official White House photo. Public domain.

The peace treaties

Two borders made quiet, and kept that way for decades.

Egypt (1979, after Camp David) and Jordan (1994) signed full peace treaties with Israel, ending generations of war on its longest frontiers. The peace is often called "cold," more between governments than peoples, but it has held through war after war, a foundation of the region's stability.

Friends across the world

Beyond the headlines, a web of partners.

Germany

Bound by the weight of history, a steadfast supporter and supplier of the submarines that anchor Israel's deterrent.

India

A booming strategic partnership: one of Israel's largest arms customers and a fellow democracy facing jihadist terror.

Greece & Cyprus

Eastern Mediterranean partners in energy and defense, drawn close as Turkey drifted.

Azerbaijan

A Muslim-majority neighbor of Iran, a major energy supplier to Israel and a quiet security partner.

The UK & Canada

Long-standing Western allies, intelligence partners and consistent (if sometimes critical) friends.

Central Europe

The Czech Republic, Hungary and others are among Israel's most reliable voices inside the EU.

The people, not just the states

The support that never shows up in a treaty.

Israel's deepest reservoir of friendship is not governmental at all. Tens of millions of Christians, evangelicals above all, support Israel out of faith and conviction, a force in American politics larger than the Jewish community itself. And the Jewish diaspora, scattered by the very exiles this site traces, remains tied to the homeland by an unbroken thread. States calculate; these millions simply stand.

Why it matters. The story Israel's enemies tell is of a pariah, friendless and condemned. The map says otherwise. Alliances shift and friends can disappoint, but the long arc since 1948 runs one way: from a tiny state encircled by armies sworn to destroy it, to a country woven into the security, trade and affection of much of the world.