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The goal of United States foreign policy should be to protect the well-being of American citizens. With enemies in the Middle East who kill our fellow countrymen and chant “Death to America,” the United States needs a reliable ally in the region. The U.S. should continue to send Israel aid.

Sending aid to Israel remains critical to the safety and strength of the United States. Hamas killed 40 American citizens on Oct. 7, Hezbollah has killed hundreds of Americans in past years, and Iran attempts to build a nuclear bomb. By fighting these mutual enemies — who often directly chant “Death to Israel, Death to America” —  Israel has saved countless American lives over the decades that would have otherwise been sacrificed in the War on Terror. Concentrated Israeli attacks on Iran this summer gave the U.S. control over the airspace it needed to drop bunker-buster bombs on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites.

Unlike Israel, which engages in missile warfare with these terrorist organizations on a daily basis, the U.S. has no easy way of fighting these enemies without bringing American troops into the Middle East. Even though the war against Hamas is hopefully over after the recent peace deal, Israel continues to battle Hezbollah. By helping Israel fight against Hezbollah and other common enemies, the U.S. limits the loss of American soldiers’ lives and minimizes the threat of terror against its own people.

Without an ally in the region, we have almost no way to even monitor our enemies. Israel uses American aid to develop counterterrorism strategies and keep tabs on threats to both Israel and the U.S. It then takes the knowledge gathered from surveillance and counterterrorism strategies and shares it with the U.S. This mutually beneficial alliance has worked for years and has likely saved many American and Israeli lives. Through helping Israel fight terrorism, America improves its own ability to do so, increasing the security of its own citizens.

U.S. aid sent to Israel often recycles back into and strengthens America’s economy and national security. Most of the military aid that the U.S. sends stipulates that Israel must use most of the funds to purchase American weapons and military equipment. Thus, aid to Israel indirectly subsidizes U.S. defense companies. 

Furthermore, Israel uses a large portion of the remaining financial aid to develop more advanced military technology — which it then shares with the U.S., allowing us to strengthen our own military and national security. When Israel developed the Iron Dome, one of the most advanced defense missile systems in the world, it gave the technology to the U.S. so that America could build its own Iron Dome to significantly strengthen its defenses. Indeed, Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 27 declaring that the United States would do just that.

Supporting Israel is not the moral quandary that the media sometimes makes it out to be. While some claim Israel seeks to destroy the Palestinian people, civilian casualties are an inevitable tragedy in any war, and Israel has been largely successful in limiting them. The expected ratio for urban combat is almost 9-to-1, according to the United Nations. In the 2004 battle of Fallujah, Afghanistan, the ratio was 3-to-1. But Israel has kept the ratio of civilian to combatant casualties in Gaza lower than 2-to-1, according to 2024 estimates using death counts from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry and Israel.  

In addition to limiting civilian deaths, Israel has sent aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Israel has authorized more than 10,000 U.N. aid trucks to enter Gaza since May 2025 and continues to approve distribution sites to serve more than 2.2 million weekly food packages to families in Gaza. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.- and Israeli-backed nonprofit, has delivered more than 50 million meals since May 2025. 

In contrast, Hamas is stealing U.N. humanitarian aid from Gazans and using it to fund more terrorism. Almost 9 in 10 aid trucks are looted before they reach civilians, according to U.N. data. While Israel and the U.S. take great pains to deliver aid to Gazans, Hamas has already begun executing civilians just days after a peace deal was signed.

Losing Israel as an ally in the Middle East would take pressure off terrorist organizations, allowing them to rebuild and continue to threaten the U.S. Pursuing this strong, mutually beneficial relationship with Israel is crucial to the United States’ national defense. We should continue to support Israel because supporting Israel puts America’s security first. 

Leon Rapoport is a sophomore studying mathematics.