Operation Roaring Lion, which in recent weeks has delivered heavy and unprecedented blows to terrorist infrastructure and altered the strategic equation vis-a-vis our enemies, puts on display the full height of Israel's military, intelligence and technological power. As we watch plumes of smoke rising above enemy targets in Lebanon and Iran, the surgical precision of targeted killings, and Israeli Air Force jets dominating the skies, the heart fills with natural pride. Yet it must be said that behind the roar of the engines lies a cold, sobering reality that we must stop repressing: Israel's Roaring Lion is possible, to a decisive extent, only because of the US strategic and logistical oxygen pipeline.
In the previous life before October 7, an initiative floated through the political and diplomatic sphere that sounded to many like a modern and necessary declaration of independence. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, יחד with other figures on the economic and diplomatic right, began speaking openly about the possibility that Israel could gradually reduce its dependence on US security assistance. The rationale was clear and appealed to the proud Israeli ear: we are no longer a needy Third World state. We have become the "startup nation," a technological power with one of the world's highest GDPs per capita. The argument was that a gradual renunciation of the "dollars from Washington" would grant Israel complete diplomatic freedom of action, without the White House "asterisks" that limit construction in the settlements or interfere in security policy.
In light of the flames of the longest multi-front war in our history, that initiative now looks like yet another misconceived doctrine born of hubris, smashed against the ground of reality. Operation Roaring Lion demonstrated in the most brutal way the monstrous rate at which a modern, high-intensity war consumes munitions. The stockpiles Israel accumulated over years are being drained at a dizzying pace. Iron Dome and David's Sling interceptors, which cost a fortune, and smart bombs, none of these grow on trees in the Negev. Israel's defense industry is among the most advanced in the world, but it does not have, and never will have, the mass industrial production capacity required to sustain a months-long war against Iran and its proxies at the same time. Without the unceasing air and sea lifts from the US, Israel's war machine would have run into dangerous friction, perhaps even partial paralysis, within a matter of weeks.
Beyond the steel and explosives lies the critical issue of financing. A war on this scale costs the Israeli economy many billions of dollars every day. The Israeli economy is absorbing an enormous shock, from reserve call-ups that paralyze businesses to credit rating downgrades. The special aid packages approved by the US administration, totaling tens of billions of dollars, are not some welcome "bonus." They are the safety net preventing the Israeli economy from collapsing under the burden of fantastical defense expenditures, while preserving budgetary stability for welfare, healthcare and education.
The latest diplomatic turn underscores the complexity of this alliance. Donald Trump's surprise entry into the circle of direct negotiations with Iran aimed at ending the war, together with his statement that Israel had "behaved beautifully" and acted with determination, reflects a new model of relations. Trump, true to form, translates military achievements into diplomatic currency. He understands that the success of Operation Roaring Lion has created the leverage he needs to impose a new arrangement on Tehran. From his perspective, Israel provided the military "goods," and now the time has come for American coercive diplomacy.
The populist fantasy of a completely independent Israel has shattered. Reality has shown that Israel is indeed a strong regional power, but its strength stems from the synergy between Roaring Lion and the US strategic, economic and diplomatic umbrella. To win so complex a war of survival and turn a military victory into a sustainable arrangement, we must recognize that the alliance with Washington is not a constraint. It is our existential force multiplier.
