A parasite is an organism that lives off another, drawing nourishment and strength while giving nothing in return—often weakening or endangering its host over time. In the realm of international politics, few relationships mirror this biological dynamic as closely as the one between Israel and the United States.
For decades, Israel has fed off America’s economic, military, and diplomatic resources, while entangling Washington in endless regional conflicts, espionage scandals, and reputational damage.
Like any parasite, it thrives by exploiting the host’s generosity—never satisfied, always demanding more, and ultimately endangering the very system that sustains it.
The parasitic entity, at the final stage of the U.S.-Israel relationship, no longer hides its intent—it has drained the host dry. America, once a global power with moral authority and strategic vision, now staggers under the weight of endless wars, diplomatic isolation, and economic strain, much of it in service to Israel’s insatiable regional ambitions.
Having extracted over $170 billion in aid, military protection, intelligence, and vetoes at the U.N., Israel turns around and floods Washington with demands, disinformation, and policies that undermine U.S. interests abroad. As its influence permeates every artery of American foreign policy, the host begins to rot from within—public trust erodes, global alliances fracture, and domestic divisions sharpen.
In the end, like any parasite that overfeeds, Israel will abandon the host once it collapses—leaving America weakened, isolated, and discarded, a spent empire sacrificed for someone else’s survival.
Not convinced? You’ve heard the refrain—on the House floor, on prime-time panels—that Israel is America’s indispensable ally, the keystone of U.S. security. Fine. Read on. By the end of this article, I hope you’ll be ready to press pause on the talking points and weigh the evidence for yourself.
I. The Pattern Was Set Long Before Gaza or Iran
| Year | Incident | What Israel Did | How It Harmed U.S. Interests |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Lavon Affair | Planted bombs in U.S./British cultural centers in Egypt, framing local militants. | Undermined Eisenhower’s anti-colonial diplomacy and forced an embarrassed cover-up. |
| 1967 | USS Liberty | Fighter jets and torpedo boats attacked an unarmed U.S. Navy signals ship, killing 34 Americans. | Nearly triggered U.S. retaliation; survivors say the five-hour assault was deliberate. |
| 1984-85 | Jonathan Pollard spy ring | Stole enough “code-word” material to fill a small closet, then bartered some of it to Moscow. | CIA had to rewrite dozens of HUMINT networks; NATO security was upended. |
| 1999-2005 | Arms sales to China (Phalcon AEW&C, Harpy drones) | Sold U.S.-funded tech to Beijing, then misled the Pentagon about secret upgrades. | DoD froze cooperation; Beijing gained an air-defense edge in the Taiwan Strait. |
| 2019 | “StingRay” cellphone eavesdropping near the White House | Mini-towers mimicking U.S. cell sites traced back to Israeli contractors. | DHS concluded the devices swept up calls in the cabinet corridor. |
| 2021–22 | Pegasus hacks on U.S. diplomats | Israeli-licensed spyware penetrated at least nine State Department iPhones. | Forced Commerce Dept. to blacklist NSO Group, straining cyber-cooperation. |
| 2025 | Haifa port handed to Chinese managers | Despite U.S. protests, China’s SIPG now scans every U.S. destroyer docking in Israel. | Indo-Pacific Command warns of PLAN signals-intelligence gains. |
II. How Deception Became Doctrine
The Lavon Affair showed that Israeli planners would sabotage Western assets—even American ones—if that helped Jerusalem’s regional leverage. Two decades later the USS Liberty incident proved that Israel would risk murdering 34 American sailors and wounding over 170 to hide battlefield plans in Sinai. Both events were white-washed, not punished, cementing a lesson inside Mossad and the IDF: Washington grumbles but ultimately simps to Tel Aviv.
When analyst Jonathan Pollard was arrested in 1985, then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres swore the espionage was “rogue.” Documents declassified since show otherwise: Pollard’s handlers were serving Unit 8200, Israel’s SIGINT command. U.S. officials say some stolen manuals resurfaced in Soviet hands within months—part of a grubby barter for Jewish exit visas.
The damage was staggering. U.S. officials described his haul as “so vast and damaging, the complete list of files is itself top secret”
III. From Jaffa to Beijing—Selling Out the Arsenal
By the late-1990s the Pentagon was bank-rolling Israel’s next-gen avionics. Yet defense contractors quietly marketed the same radar and drone packages to China. The Phalcon deal collapsed under Clinton-era pressure, but only after Beijing engineers had toured Israeli factories; analysts trace those blueprints to the J-10 fighter’s composite-radar nose. A second “misunderstanding” over Harpy loitering drones in 2005 finally triggered U.S. sanctions—Israel’s biggest military-aid scare since the Suez crisis.
The relationship did not cool for long. Today Chinese cranes unload U.S. vessels in Haifa’s Bayport, a 25-year concession that U.S. Navy admirals call a SIGINT bonanza for Beijing. The same year, Israeli AI firms began joint R&D with Huawei spinoffs on facial-recognition chips—technology now blacklisted by the U.S. Commerce Department.
IV. Spying on the White House and the State Department
In 2019, counter-intelligence agents found a cluster of “IMSI catchers” outside executive-branch offices. Three former senior officials told Politico the devices were traced to Israeli vendors who routinely piggy-back on local carriers abroad. Israel never denied the report; the Trump White House shrugged it off.
Two years later Apple pushed an emergency patch after the Pegasus zero-click exploit infected phones carried by U.S. diplomats in Uganda. The culprit was again an Israeli firm. While Jerusalem insisted it had no visibility into client operations, the hacks punctured a core premise of the alliance: that Israeli cyber tools would never be turned on American officials.
V. Lighting the Fuse with Iran—Again
On 19 June 2025 an Israeli military spokesman claimed fighters had struck Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power station—a facility stocked with Russian technicians and within fallout range of Bahrain’s Fifth Fleet docks. Hours later the IDF retracted the statement, calling it a “mistake,” but not before oil futures spiked and Congressional leaders demanded briefings on escalation control.
U.S. planners believe Iran will target U.S. assets the moment America is seen as an active combatant. Yet Israeli war-cabinet ministers openly frame the showdown as one in which “Washington must choose sides.” If that sounds like a replay of 1981 (Osirak) or 2007 (Syria’s al-Kibar), note the difference: Tehran today can strike Diego Garcia, Riyadh, or Haifa itself. The bill for Israeli brinkmanship could land in downtown Tampa, where U.S. Central Command logs the missile arcs.
VI. Gaza and the Erosion of American Soft Power
Israel’s 2023-25 Gaza campaigns have already kneecapped U.S. credibility across the Global South. Pew polls this month show unfavorable views of both Israel and the United States surging to record highs in 24 surveyed countries, including key swing states like Indonesia and South Africa.
The U.N.’s top human-rights official last week called the destruction in Gaza “horrifying, unconscionable,” implicitly faulting Washington for blanket vetoes at the Security Council. Politico EU notes that America’s popularity has dived fastest in Muslim-majority nations—exactly the arenas where Beijing and Moscow court new security clients.
Put differently: each JDAM that flattens Rafah costs Washington leverage in Jakarta, Nairobi, and Brasília—while giving China an opening to brand itself the “responsible stakeholder.” That is an Israeli political win pursued at direct expense of U.S. standing.
VII. The Road to “Inevitable” Betrayal
Critics inside Israel warn that a state convinced of its permanent exemption from consequences will eventually cross a line even Congress cannot ignore. The pattern—covert action, denial, and retroactive apology—creates its own logic. It teaches each new generation of Israeli planners that the United States is a passive giant: a wallet, a weapons lab, and a diplomatic Kevlar vest.
But the stakes in 2025 are existential for both nations. An Iran-U.S. clash could tip the global economy into stagflation, shatter NATO’s China-pivot, and detonate Gulf desalination plants that keep 50 million people alive. The most sobering truth is that Israel does not need to “betray” America in the cinematic sense of switching sides; it merely needs to keep pursuing maximalist goals under the umbrella of U.S. impunity.
Time to Take Off the Kevlar Vest
US must impose the same red lines it applies to every ally to the Israeli parasite.
- Zero tolerance for espionage or unauthorized tech transfer. Cut Foreign Military Financing for any program re-exported to China.
- Conditionality on aid. Suspend munitions replenishment if civilian-casualty thresholds or U.N. humanitarian corridors are violated.
- An end to “no-daylight” diplomacy. Publicly separate U.S. strategic aims (containment of China) from Israel’s regional gambits.
- A hard veto on unilateral strikes that threaten nuclear fallout. Make future tanker support, satellite cueing, and Iron Dome co-production contingent on prior U.S. sign-off.
Allies are meant to share burdens, not impose them. Pretending otherwise only nurtures the next crisis—one that could finally force Americans to ask why the world’s superpower keeps letting a small Middle-Eastern state treat it like a disposable pawn.
Until Washington confronts that uncomfortable question, the “Israeli betrayal” won’t be a possibility. It will be the next inevitable fact.