Assaf Orion, a retired Israeli brigadier general and defense strategist whose broad research scope ranges from relations with China to Israel’s regional political-military strategy and policy, is the Liz and Mony Rueven International Fellow with The Washington Institute.
Articles & Testimony
Now that China has supplanted terrorism on the list of Washington’s foreign policy priorities, Israel’s relationship with Beijing will have to change.
During a meeting with a U.S. China expert, an Israeli speaker asked, “We keep hearing from you what we should not be doing with China. Why don’t you tell us how we can be of help?” In that question lie both the key to avoiding a bilateral crisis and a useful pointer for taking U.S.-Israel relations to the next level. Given their mainly regional priorities, Israel’s intelligence agencies will never be as knowledgeable about China as are America’s. Bringing them up to speed with U.S. policy and intelligence support would help place Israel’s existing defense exports to Asia within the context of America’s interest in building partner capability in the Indo-Pacific, without requiring Jerusalem to adopt an overtly hostile position toward China. Granted, a U.S.-Israel crisis over China is still possible, and one can assume it would be over technology and innovation...
