A well-respected Israeli think tank, the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), has proposed that Israel ask for a security treaty with the United States.
The proposal is in an editorial form and has no signatures attached to it. Therefore it isn’t clear if the proposal comes from the INSS director, Manuel Trajtenberg, or is the consensus of the organization’s research staff.
Such a defense treaty has long been opposed by most of Israel’s security establishment on the grounds it would inhibit the country’s freedom of action and tie Israel irrevocably to the United States.
INSS was originally founded inside Tel Aviv University. Its first head was Major-General Aharon Yariv. When founded it was known as the Center for Strategic Studies. The name was changed to the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, and in 2006 to the current name.
Its most dynamic head until 2021 was General Amos Yadlin. The current executive director, Manuel Trajtenberg, does not have a military or intelligence background. INSS is no longer part of Tel Aviv University.
Saudi treaty?
According to the policy proposal, the reason for Israel to pursue a defense treaty is ostensibly that Saudi Arabia is pursuing such a treaty and that without Israel also applying for one, the Saudi proposal won’t be accepted.
It is quite true that there is serious opposition to Saudi Arabia in the US Congress, mainly on the basis of human-rights complaints. A defense treaty would require a two-thirds vote of approval in the US Senate. Saudi Arabia on its own would fail to get Senate approval and “bundling” an Israeli treaty with a Saudi one is probably not possible, even though INSS somehow thinks it can be done.
It is by no means clear why Israel would want a defense treaty, given its strong need to have freedom of action toward Iran, which may soon start producing nuclear weapons. To begin with, despite many and sundry claims by the United States that it would never allow Iran to possess nuclear weapons, the truth of the matter is different.
The current administration, for example, is helping Iran move forward on the nuclear path by offering numerous concessions to the Iranian regime even before any agreement on Iran’s nuclear program is concluded.
A good example is the findings of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iranian violations of existing nuclear inspections, which the Joe Biden administration has simply swept under the rug.
For Israel the question is difficult in that it can hardly wait until Iran deploys nuclear weapons, at which point trying to eliminate them would potentially involve the use of nuclear weapons either by Iran or pre-emptively by Israel. This is what Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned at the UN, although his remarks were “walked back” by the Prime Minister’s Office.
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