Drea McGriff: Short List of Reasons to Support Israel

Here's a SHORT list of reasons supporting Israel IS in America’s interest (via @DreaMGriff28)

)1. U.S.-Israeli alliance contributes more than ever to American security, as bilateral cooperation to deal with both military and nonmilitary challenges

2. Israel remains a counterweight against radical forces in the Middle East, including political Islam and violent extremism.

3. Israel prevented the further proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the region by thwarting Iraq and Syria's nuclear programs.

4. Israel and the US work together to develop sophisticated military technology, such as the David's Sling counter-rocket and Arrow missile defense systems

5. Israel's military research and development complex has pioneered many cutting-edge technologies that are transforming the face of modern war, including cyberweapons, unmanned vehicles (such as land robots and aerial drones), sensors and electronic warfare systems, and advanced defenses for military vehicles.

6. Economically — The United States-Israel Free Trade Agreement, established in 1985, was the first free trade agreement entered into by the United States.  Since its entry into force, trade between the countries has increased ten-fold to $49 billion in 2016.  The reopening of the Israeli market to U.S. beef in 2016 is a sign of Israeli interest in further opening our trade relations.

Israelis now invest close to $24 billion in the United States, nearly triple what it was a decade earlier.

7. The U.S.-Israeli economic and commercial relationship now spans IT, bio-tech, life sciences, health care solutions, energy, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, defense industries, cyber-security, and aviation, to name just a few sectors

8. Critical components of leading American high-tech products are invented and designed in Israel, making these American companies more competitive and more profitable globally.   Cisco, Intel, Motorola, Applied Materials, and HP are just a few examples.

 

9. Cooperation in addressing water issues: Water is another area where the United States and Israel are increasingly working together.  After addressing their own century-long water crisis via breakthrough technologies in desalination, recycling, conservation, management and irrigation, Israelis are now working more closely than ever before with Americans—especially in the Southwestern United States—to help us tackle our huge water challenges. The new reverse osmosis desalination plant in Carlsbad, California, designed by IDE, an Israeli company, is one of the largest and most technologically advanced in that region

 

Israel is our ally. Our ally suffered a horrific terrorist attack. Defending our ally isn’t just something we should do morally it is in America’s interests