U.S. - Israeli Strategic Cooperation in the Post-Cold War Era: An American Perspective by Karen Puschel

Author:Karen Puschel [Puschel, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Middle Eastern, Social Science, Political Science, World, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9780367214159
Google: XAKaDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 46180195
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2020-06-30T00:00:00+00:00

The Human Factor

Still, a momentum had developed behind strategic cooperation that far outweighed any misgivings. This was due not only to support from the president and secretary of state, but also to key mid-level officials in both the Defense and State Departments who were unusually adept at manipulating the bureaucratic machinery. The type of institutionalized relationship that developed in just a few short years would not have been possible had there not been highly-motivated officials to initiate and follow through on new ideas, and to come up with creative sources of funding for new projects. Suggestions originally made by Prime Minister Begin and rejected in the early 1980s now found a sympathetic hearing from the JPMG, which was charged with judging such ideas on the basis of merit and practical benefits.

As cooperative projects increased, so too did the number of US officials involved with and exposed to Israel. This was particularly important for the US military which, historically, had had little contact with Israel. While difficult to quantify, this exposure contributed to greater understanding of Israel’s problems and, in some cases, a genuine appreciation for strategic cooperation, as the following story illustrates.

In 1984, as the JPMG was getting organized, a military-to-military group was established to direct the day-to-day workings of the new cooperative projects. Control of the group on the American side fell to a submarine officer assigned to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). At that time, the JCS had had no prior dialogue with the IDF and was still a most skeptical participant in the strategic cooperation program. But despite both this institutional bias and the complete lack of any prior exposure to Israel, the JCS officer in charge of the military group, Admiral Jack Darby, became one of the most genuinely enthusiastic proponents of closer cooperation with Israel. This occurred, as it would for many other unnamed officers, through Darby’s personal experiences with Israel, including his visits there.

As with most everything else surrounding strategic cooperation, Darby was invisible to most of the outside world. It was thus fitting that, following his death in the late 1980s, an Israeli plaque dedicated to his role in strategic cooperation would appear without fanfare or publicity in a forest in the Carmel Mountains.37 It would stand as testimony to the quiet relationship that had built up between many such individuals on both sides.

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