The cooperation between Israel and the United States during the war with Iran marks the culmination of a long shift in the relationship between the two countries. For years, Washington effectively served as Israel’s patron, providing funding to purchase U.S. military equipment and a diplomatic umbrella (including veto protection in the UN Security Council) in exchange for general alignment with U.S. policy preferences and close cooperation on intelligence and military technology. Through the latest joint military action against a mutual enemy, the relationship has now entered a qualitatively different phase. Rather than acting alone or being excluded from a U.S.-led coalition, as it was during both Gulf wars, Israel has operated as a full partner, sharing targets and operational responsibilities with U.S. forces.

Israel’s newfound status, however, has also revealed just how outdated the existing U.S.-Israeli framework for defense industrial cooperation has become. For 50 years the United States has provided Israel with funds to purchase U.S.-made equipment. This Cold War–era model originally aimed to build up the capabilities of a young state surrounded by hostile neighbors while establishing some U.S. leverage over Israeli policy in order to protect Washington’s relations with Arab states. This framework served both sides well for decades, but it is no longer suited to the realities of the Middle East today. Israel is now a major regional power, boasts an advanced economy, and is no longer at odds with many of its neighbors. It does not need American financial aid to either survive or thrive.

Political leaders in both Israel and the United States have begun recognizing the anachronistic nature of the current arrangement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, giving voice to the growing disquiet in Israel’s security establishment that dependence on U.S. largess has unnecessarily constrained Israel’s military actions, recently insisted that the country had “come of age” and should seek to wind down over “the next ten years” the U.S. military aid it receives. The Trump administration has been adamant that partners and allies across the globe wean themselves off subsidies and grants from the United States and fund their own defense needs. Meanwhile, criticism of U.S. military aid to Israel has become increasingly common on both sides of the American political aisle.

The confluence of deepening strategic ties, mutual recognition of the disadvantages of patronage, and U.S. political polarization has presented the United States and Israel with a rare opportunity to refresh their relationship. Washington should maintain the mutually beneficial aspects of technological, intelligence, and military cooperation but stop supplying aid to Israel, allowing the country to stand on its own feet. Instead of a client, Israel should be the United States’ genuine partner.

PATRON-CLIENT PRIVILEGE

The United States became Israel’s major arms supplier following the Six-Day War in 1967, after the country’s first patron, France, imposed an arms embargo on Israel and aligned itself with the Arab states. Initially, Washington provided Israel with long-term loans to purchase U.S. fighter jets, but following the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Nixon and Carter administrations replaced the loans with grants to facilitate Israeli withdrawals from areas........

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