While America began providing funds to the Jewish state in order to bolster a cold-war ally, the benefits to the American economy and the American people of doing so have only increased since the fall of the Soviet Union. This is not only because Jerusalem spends most of the military-aid money it receives on U.S.-manufactured hardware, writes Frank Musmar:
Israeli businesses invest heavily in the U.S. economy, with Israel placing among the top-twenty suppliers of direct investment in the U.S. More than $150 billion was invested by Israeli companies in the U.S. between 2010 and 2015.
Strategically, the U.S. and Israel have developed deep . . . ties to confront common threats. This . . . relationship is a crucial pillar of America’s Middle East security framework, and the partnership is continually growing and expanding into new areas, [drawing] in part upon Israel’s capabilities in designing advanced military, homeland-security, counterterrorism, and cyber-protection technologies that help the U.S. meet its growing security challenges.
Israel is the place where U.S. special-operations units trained before deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Israeli armor-plating technology protects U.S. soldiers. Israel is a cost-effective, battle-tested laboratory for U.S. defense industries, and it provides the U.S. with more intelligence than all the NATO countries put together. American battle tactics are formulated according to the Israeli playbook. . . . It is [also], in effect, the largest U.S. aircraft carrier, yet it does not require a single American boot on the ground.
Read more on BESA Center: https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/us-aid-israel-investment/