
Why Supporting Zionism Is in America’s Interest
Why should Americans support Zionism?
Not because Israel needs America.
Because America needs strong allies.
Foreign policy is not charity. It is not sentiment. It is not guilt. It is not about rewarding friends or punishing enemies.
Foreign policy is a cold calculation of one question:
Does it make America stronger, safer, and more secure?
If the answer is yes, America should support it.
If the answer is no, America should not.
That is the standard every American alliance should meet.
What are Zionism, Judaism, and being a Jew?
Before answering whether Zionism serves America’s interests, Americans must first understand what Zionism actually is.
Many people confuse Zionism with Judaism or with being a Jew.
They are not the same.
A Jew is someone whose mother is Jewish; the mother may be an atheist, secular, traditional, or a practicing Jew. Jewish is an ethnicity; it does not mean being religious.
Judaism is a religion, and some Jews practice it daily.
Zionism is a political idea. It holds that the Jewish people have the right to a sovereign nation capable of defending itself.
That distinction is important because millions of Jews are not Zionists, while millions of Zionists are not Jews.
To understand the diversity among Israelis, here are some numbers:
Israel has approximately 10.1 million citizens.
7.8 million (77%) of Israelis are Jews.
2.3 million (23%) of Israelis are not Jews.
Among Israeli Jews, 5.3 million (68%) identify as atheists, seculars, or traditional Jews who do not practice Judaism.
2.4 million (31%) of Israeli Jews identify as religious or ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) and practice Judaism daily.
2016 data indicate that 74% of Israeli Jews identify as Zionists. It is reasonable to believe this percentage is higher today.
Some Haredi Jews oppose Zionism because they believe that the establishment of a Jewish state should await the Messiah’s coming. Some liberal Jews oppose Zionism for political reasons.
At the same time, millions of Christians, conservatives, and supporters of Israel are committed Zionists despite not being Jewish.
Support for Zionism is therefore not determined by religion.
It is determined by whether one believes the Jewish people have the right to defend themselves in their sovereign nation. Modern Zionism emerged because history taught a painful lesson.
For nearly two thousand years, Jews depended on the tolerance of others for their survival. Again and again, that tolerance disappeared. Jews were expelled, persecuted, massacred, and eventually subjected to the Holocaust.
Theodor Herzl concluded that the Jewish people could never depend on the goodwill of others.
Jews without the ability to defend themselves ultimately depend on the mercy of those who wish them harm.
His solution was simple.
The Jewish people needed a sovereign state capable of defending itself.
Whether one agrees with Herzl or not, Israel’s existence has fundamentally changed the security of the Jewish people.
For Americans, however, that is not the most important question.
The real question is: Does supporting Zionism benefit America?
I believe the answer is unquestionably yes.
Israel is not America’s charity case.
Israel is America’s most valuable strategic asset.
No nation has contributed more to American security while asking fewer American soldiers to fight on its behalf.
Israel stands on the front line against regimes and terrorist organizations that openly threaten the United States.
It gathers intelligence.
It develops military technology.
It pioneers missile defense.
It advances cybersecurity.
It develops counterterrorism techniques.
It tests military equipment under real combat conditions.
It has made the IDF a powerful and dominant military force in the Middle East.
America benefits from every one of those capabilities.
Israeli intelligence has repeatedly assisted the United States in identifying terrorist organizations, disrupting hostile operations, exposing weapons networks, and assessing emerging threats.
Israeli innovation has strengthened American missile defense, battlefield medicine, unmanned systems, cyber defense, and intelligence capabilities.
These are not political slogans.
They are practical benefits that help protect American lives.
Israel also confronts enemies that America would rather not fight alone.
Iran openly seeks to expand its influence worldwide while financing terrorist organizations hostile to American interests.
When Israel weakens Iran’s military capabilities, destroys terrorist infrastructure, intercepts advanced weapons, or eliminates terrorist leadership, America reaps the benefits.
Every missile destroyed before launch…
Every terrorist commander removed from the battlefield…
Every weapons shipment intercepted…
Every intelligence breakthrough…
Makes both Israel and America safer.
This is not charity.
It delivers the highest returns America receives from any foreign alliance.
Critics often argue that military force should be used only after an attack has occurred.
History teaches a different lesson.
Waiting for an enemy determined to kill you to strike first is not wisdom.
It is gambling with innocent lives.
A government’s first responsibility is to protect its citizens.
If a serious and credible threat is preparing to attack, stopping that threat before innocent people die is not aggression.
It is self-defense.
A nation that refuses to defend itself until after its people have been murdered has failed in its most basic duty.
The principle is ancient and remains relevant today: If someone comes to kill you, rise first and kill him.
Israel has repeatedly acted in accordance with that principle because it cannot afford strategic mistakes.
Its margin for error is measured not by political embarrassment but by too many human lives.
America has also acted preemptively when its leaders concluded that waiting would pose a greater danger.
The first responsibility of every government is to protect its own people.
That principle should never require an apology.
America’s support for Zionism is therefore not based on religion.
It is not based on guilt.
It is not based on emotion.
It is based on America’s national interest.
The greatest long-term ideological threat to Western civilization comes from Islamist movements that reject individual liberty, secular government, freedom of speech, religious freedom, and equality under the law.
Israel has confronted these movements for decades.
America should study Israel’s experience, learn from it, and strengthen the alliance with the nation that has more practical experience dealing with these threats than any other country.
America should never support another nation simply because it asks for help.
America should support nations that strengthen America.
Israel does so.
America should not support Zionism because Israel needs America.
America should do so because America benefits from a strong Israel.
That is not generosity.
That is not charity.
That is not sentiment.
That is a rational foreign policy grounded in national self-interest.
And national self-interest is exactly how every responsible nation should conduct its foreign policy.





