Israel–United States relations

Since the 1960s, the relationship between Israel and the United States has grown into a close alliance in economic, strategic and military aspects. The U.S. has provided strong support for Israel and has played a key role in the promotion of good relations between Israel and its neighbouring Arab states while holding off hostility from countries like Iran. In turn, Israel provides a strategic American foothold in the region as well as intelligence and advanced technological partnerships. Israel was seen as a counterweight to Soviet influence in the region during the Cold War. Relations with Israel are an important factor in the United States foreign policy in the Middle East.

Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign aid: up to February 2022, the U.S. had provided Israel US$150 billion (non-inflation-adjusted) in assistance. The United States' first free trade agreement was with Israel, in 1985. In 1999, the U.S. government signed a commitment to provide Israel with at least US$2.7 billion in military aid annually for ten years; in 2009 it was raised to $3 billion; and in 2019 raised to a minimum of US$3.8 billion. Since 1972, the U.S. has also extended loan guarantees to Israel to assist with housing shortages, absorption of new Jewish immigrants and economic recovery.

In addition to financial and military aid, the U.S. provides large-scale political support, having used its United Nations Security Council veto power 42 times against resolutions condemning Israel, out of 83 times in which its veto has been used. Between 1991 and 2011, out of the 24 vetoes invoked by the U.S., 15 were used to protect Israel. As of 2021, the United States remains the only permanent member of the United Nations Security Council to have recognized the Golan Heights as non-occupied Israeli sovereign territory, recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and moved its embassy there from Tel Aviv in 2018. Israel is designated by the United States as a major non-NATO ally.

Bilateral relations have developed from an early American policy of sympathy and support for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in 1948 to a partnership that connects the United States – a superpower seeking to balance competing interests in the Middle East – with Israel, a small but militarily powerful nation. Late U.S senator Jesse Helms argued that the military foothold offered by Israel justifies the expense of American military aid, referring to Israel as "America's aircraft carrier in the Middle East".