Jews as masculine and strong. Israelis were also seen as pragmatic and individualistic—characteristics prized by Americans. Images linked Israelis to the pioneers of the American West. They were people who could tame the desert wilderness and transform a backward region into a forward-thinking, modern state. Surrounded by Eastern Arabs, Israel was seen as a “gutsy underdog,” like the undersized David slaying the mammoth Goliath.28 Americans started to see cultural similarities, rather than differences, and even came to admire Israel for its accomplishments, which contributed to acceptance of Israel as an ally. Mart shows that popular culture impacted public opinion and forces one to consider the cultural and intellectual side to U.S.-Israel relations, rather than viewing it as simply a political-strategic relationship.29
Many Americans feel a cultural closeness to Israel, and during the Cold War this translated into bipartisan political support for Israel. Beginning with the Truman administration, the Cold War consensus called for both Democrats and Republicans to advance an anti-communist foreign policy. This meant that Israel, a Western, democratic, noncommunist state, received American backing within a region perceived to be Eastern, or Oriental. Gradually, Americans started to view Israel as a crucial ally in the fight against the Soviet Union for global supremacy, and therein culture and Cold War politics overlapped.
The Democratic Party more quickly embraced the State of Israel than the Republican Party, though Republican support for Israel would accelerate during the late 1960s and 1970s. Support for labor, at one point a primary concern of the Democratic Party, inspired some Americans to offer assistance to Israel, which between 1948 and 1977 was governed by a labor-dominated coalition of political parties. Labor leaders emphasized their anti-communist position by arguing that Israel could serve as a Cold War ally, situated to the right of communism but also acceptably to the left of laissez-faire capitalism.
The Democratic Party also promoted civil liberties. Like African Americans, Jewish Americans experienced virulent prejudice from many racist Americans and, following World War II, helped to advance the Civil Rights Movement. (For instance, two Jewish activists and one black activist were murdered in Mississippi during the Freedom Summer of 1964, which formed the basis of the movie Mississippi Burning.) However, the relationship soured by the end of the 1960s. The Nation of Islam and the Black Power movement were often very critical of Zionism and what was perceived to be Israeli imperialism during and after the 1967 war, which contributed to a split between the two groups. The New Left in the United States also became critical of Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and Israeli treatment of Palestinians in occupied territories, despite the presence of many Jewish leaders and rank-and-file members in the movement. Nevertheless, liberal Democratic support for Israel remained strong, and still today, the majority of Jewish Americans lean to the political left.
States with large urban populations have proven to be another Democratic Party ally of Israel. Major American cities, such as New York, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles, contain large numbers of Jewish Americans, with many who vote and actively participate in, and contribute to, political campaigns. Therefore, it behooves legislators from these states to demonstrate that they are responsive to concerns regarding the State of Israel.
Slowly during the Cold War, the interests of Israel and the Republican Party started to align. The Cold War consensus ended with Vietnam, and while liberals tried to reduce defense spending and focus on human rights, some Republicans, conservative Democrats, and Cold War hawks aimed to continue containment. Many conservatives disagreed with détente, which meant a relaxing of tensions with the Soviet Union, and started to view Israel as a powerful ally that could help America continue its global war against communism. Israeli military victories seemed even more impressive (and important) when juxtaposed alongside the quagmire in East Asia.
An emerging neoconservative doctrine added another layer of support for Israel. Some Cold War liberals grew disenchanted with the counterculture of the 1960s and with a liberal foreign policy that was regarded as too willing to give ground to communist forces, especially in light of the perceived weakening of American resolve due to Vietnam. Neoconservatism was driven by the writings of Jewish American intellectuals like Irving Kristol and Norman Podhoretz, and especially by the monthly magazine Commentary. Neoconservatives countered the increasingly anti-Israel New Left by pushing for a more assertive foreign policy based on American military might. As some Americans questioned the logic of U.S. internationalism and the employment of force without meaningful diplomacy, neoconservatives feared that liberals were naïve and that the United States might become more isolationist, which would lead to the spread of communism. Neoconservatives, therefore, advocated for a more vigorous defense policy that required a well-armed Israel.
Larger defense contracts for U.S. allies abroad, such as Israel, satisfied the needs of certain constituencies that relied on such contracts for federally subsidized employment. In 1968, Lockheed made 88 percent of its sales to the federal government; McDonnell Douglas, 75 percent; General Dynamics, 67 percent; Grumman, 67 percent; Martin-Marietta, 62 percent; and Boeing, 54 percent.30 As the U.S. economy faltered in the 1970s, Congress had an incentive to subsidize the weapons industry, since weapons manufacturing was a source of high-paying, skilled-labor jobs in many congressional districts. Even as defense spending dipped in the middle of the 1970s, foreign military sales to the Middle East reached new heights. While many U.S.-made products suffered from international competition, U.S.-made weaponry was generally regarded as the most technologically advanced in the world. Beyond their deadly effectiveness, American weapons represented an important item of trade. U.S.-made weapons found many different homes during the Cold War (and after), with Israel being an important one. The United States has used defense and finance agreements to empower friendly regimes and open the door for more U.S. products and capital, all while providing jobs for Americans. Few countries could absorb and use American weaponry like Israel. Naturally, legislators from states with large defense industries have been some of the most vocal supporters of weapons sales to Israel. Although Dwight Eisenhower warned against a military-industrial complex, military power was deemed crucial in the fight against communism.
Of all the cultural factors that undergird the U.S.-Israel special relationship, religion is probably the strongest.31 A reversal of anti-Semitism paved the way for the development of a Judeo-Christian relationship. In Western history, some of the most violent oppressors of Jews have been Christians. But the declaration of the State of Israel inspired many conservative Christians, especially evangelicals and fundamentalists, to advocate for Israel for purely religious reasons. (That support, however, would slowly seep into the political sphere as well.) These Christians emphasized the Judaic foundation of Christianity and rationalized support for Israel based on Genesis 12:3, when GOD told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”32 For some Christians, literal interpretations of the Word view the modern State of Israel as a necessary precursor to the return of Christ. According to premillennial eschatology, Jews must occupy the Holy Land prior to Christ’s return to the Mount of Olives. But with the return of Christ comes the Rapture, a cataclysm for all Jews who will be paid back for their sins against Christ. Thus, Jews must occupy the Holy Land only for Christ to smite the Jews. Despite this dubious reasoning, American Christian Zionist support for Israel has proven to be substantial and impacts the voting behaviors of many Americans.
Christian Zionist sympathies became more pronounced after the 1967 Six-Day War, which enlarged the State of Israel and unified Jerusalem under Jewish control, and found more focused political expression in the late 1970s and early 1980s through the efforts of Ronald Reagan, Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson. In the process, evangelicals and fundamentalists started to back hardline positions regarding Israeli occupation of Arab lands, as opposed to Catholics and liberal Protestants, who did not. In that way, political geography took on added importance during the Cold War. As the New Deal coalition dissolved in the midst of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement, Richard Nixon’s “southern strategy” split the South away from the Democratic Party. From 1968 moving forward, many Southerners—including Southern Baptists and other evangelicals—would become allied with the Republican
