Diplomatically: 1948, one of the first countries (along with USSR) to recognize the state.
Militarily: 1973 war. The 1948 war involved arms imports from the Eastern Bloc, the 1956 war was a "team" effort with Britain and France, and the 1967 war used French-made aircraft and weapons.
I think it was with Israel.
No. The AID to Israel is as helpful for the US as it is for Israel. The question of US funding in Israel is primarily for military hardware. The US does not provide economic aid to Israel. First, the US Aid to Israel makes up about 0.03% of the US GDP. To put that in perspective, it would pay for around a week in Iraq or half-a-day of Social Security. Additionally, 80% of the money earmarked for Israel can only be spent by Israel on US-produced weapons. This means that the money appropriated for Israel mostly goes to support US firms and US jobs, making it a win-win for both Israel and the US. This is aside from the fact that numerous recent technological innovations in both military and civilian technology have come to the US from Israel, providing economic gains that more than offset the remaining 20%.
Yes, the US sells a lot of weapons to Israel. The US government also gives a lot of money to Israel.
Israel and the US are strong Democratic allis.
Israel is roughly 5,200 miles from the nearest points in the US.
At the time, the US president was Harry S. Truman The first President of Israel was David Ben Gurion.
While the US continues to finance Israel, Israel has no special problems except that of being helplessly dependent upon US generosity. That's why they make US presidential candidates pledge allegiance to Israel.
No, Israel designed their own.
A good deal of US military tech comesfrom Israel. So yes.
No, of course not... but the US would like to control Israel with this new Obama administration. Hopefully that will not happen, and Israel will stand firm. No dividing Jerusalem.
Golda Meir
Mohamed Tawfik is the Ambassador to the US for Egypt.