Max Fisher, The New York Times
Published: 25 May 2021 02:45 PM BdST
Updated: 25 May 2021 02:45 PM BdST Israeli ground forces at the Gaza Border on May 16, 2021. The New York Times
Israel, a small country surrounded by adversaries and locked in conflict with the Palestinians, depends absolutely on US diplomatic and military support. By giving it, the United States safeguards Israel and wields significant leverage over its actions. );
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That’s the conventional wisdom, anyway. For decades, it was true: Israeli leaders and voters alike treated Washington as essential to their country’s survival.
But that dependence may be ending. While Israel still benefits greatly from US assistance, security experts and political analysts say that the country has quietly cultivated, and may have achieved, effective autonomy from the United States.
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Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images
By now, you’ve probably seen the videos: dark skies, illuminated by exploding balls of light, like alien spaceships doing battle or a terrifying fireworks display, scored by air raid sirens.
This is the view of Israel’s Iron Dome, the aerial defense system the country uses to intercept incoming short-range rockets. The intensifying conflict this week between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militia in control of Gaza, has offered a renewed glimpse of the Iron Dome in action.
The system has been in place for about a decade, developed with heavy financial and technical backing from the United States. It is, according to Israeli officials, about 90 percent effective at blocking the short-range rockets commonly used by Hamas and other groups in the region.