2013 Briefing Book - Print Version - Aipac

RELATIONSHIP
The United States Has Helped Guarantee Israel’s Right to Exist
In May 1948, the United States was the first country to recognize the new State of Israel. President
Harry Truman announced U.S. support for the fledgling Jewish state only 11 minutes after David
Ben-Gurion announced its establishment.
During the course of the next six decades, American presidents and lawmakers from both parties
built and strengthened the U.S.-Israel bond. Americans have understood that solid relations
between the United States and Israel are rooted in the shared value of democracy and the other
moral principles of Western civilization. Polls have repeatedly indicated that more than two-thirds
of Americans hold a favorable view of Israel, and Americans across a wide range of demographic
groups strongly identify with the Jewish state.
President Harry Truman announced U.S. recognition
of Israel just 11 minutes after its establishment.
Polls have also shown that, more than any other
nation, Israelis have a positive image of the United
States. Eighty to ninety percent of Israelis regularly
describe themselves as being pro-American in public
opinion surveys. In a symbolic measure of solidarity
with the United States following the attacks of 9/11,
Israel renamed a major Jerusalem thoroughfare
“New York Street,” and teeming crowds of Israelis
bestowed a hero’s welcome upon New York’s mayor
and delegations of first responders who visited. In the
years since, from sharing security and counterterrorism
expertise to dispatching humanitarian relief teams
following Hurricane Katrina, Israel has always been
there for the United States, offering everything that the
small nation can muster in support of its friend.
The United States and Israel Have Shared Values
The United States and Israel share all the characteristics of an unbreakable partnership,
rooted in the allies’ shared values and common histories.
38