Is Israel a Liability? | 5-Minute Videos | PragerU

A growing chorus of voices—from the American left and right—now calls Israel “a liability.” They say it’s time to walk away. Are they right? Or is Israel an indispensable ally? Michael Doran, Director of the Middle East Center at the Hudson Institute, confronts this controversy.

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Transcript:
Is Israel a Liability?
Presented by Michael Doran

A growing chorus of voices—from the American left and right—now calls Israel “a liability.”

They say it’s time to walk away.

They call this “foreign policy realism.”

In fact, it’s the opposite.

Israel remains America’s indispensable ally.

Here are five reasons why.

One: The Neighborhood

In geopolitics, as in real estate, three considerations are paramount: location, location, location.

The Middle East holds 48% of the world’s oil reserves and produces nearly a third of its supply.

Some assert that renewables are making oil irrelevant. Not in our lifetimes.

Oil fuels industries. Oil fuels militaries. And oil is priced globally.

Shocks in the Middle East hit the U.S. economy—directly.

Others say America’s own energy boom makes the region irrelevant. That is shortsighted.

What happens in the Middle East doesn’t stay in the Middle East. It moves markets, shakes alliances, and draws in hostile powers.

He who controls the Middle East controls the crossroads of the global economy.

Israel is America’s fortress at that crossroads.

Two: Containing Iran

Critics claim that Israel entangles America with Iran.

This is a profound misunderstanding.

Since its birth in 1979, the Islamic Republic has branded America the “Great Satan” and Israel the “Little Satan.”

Everything Iran does, it does with that order in mind.

To get to the U.S., Iran has to deal with Israel first.

That’s why we, in the interest of our own security, must ensure that Israel has what it needs militarily.

Israel is our front line of defense.

If that bulwark is compromised, Iran will move on to its main targets—dominating the energy resources of the Gulf, and challenging America.

They already have missiles capable of reaching Europe.

Shipping those missiles to Iran’s ally Venezuela would put the Iranians in range of the U.S.—like Soviet missiles in Cuba in 1962, an intolerable threat.

Nuclear weapons in the hands of a terrorist state is not a threat only to Israel.

It’s a threat to us.

Three: Projecting Force

Israel might be small (about the size of New Jersey), but it’s lethal. And it fights.

We can’t say that about many of our allies.

All talk a good game, but few are willing to put their words into action.

Israel is different.

It spends at least 5% of its GDP on defense. The U.S. spends 3.4%.

Many of our NATO allies are struggling to spend 2%. Canada spends 1.3%.

Israel’s air force flies more combat missions annually than NATO’s Western European members combined.

From generals to conscripts, its soldiers are combat-tested.

And they don’t ask others to do their fighting for them.

“Give us the tools, and we’ll finish the job,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.

As the world has seen, that’s not an idle boast.

In a crisis, we want that kind of ally on our side.

Four: Intelligence Gathering

Israel’s intelligence service, Mossad, is unmatched in daring and results.

In 2018, it raided Iran’s nuclear archive—in Tehran.

In 2024, it launched Operation Grim Beeper, detonating Hezbollah pagers and crippling thousands of terrorists.

These operations revealed deep penetration of both Iran and its proxies.

The U.S. is excellent at gathering and processing intelligence data.

So is Israel.

But when it comes to human intelligence—information from people in positions of personal knowledge—Israel has no peer.

When the U.S. needs eyes on the ground, ears in the room, or insight into the minds of our adversaries, we often turn to Israel.

To say that without Israel the U.S. would be blind in the Middle East would be an exaggeration—but not by much.

Five: Geopolitical Consequences

If the U.S. were to abandon Israel, it would trigger a cascade of disasters.

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