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Why the USA Supports Israel

Why the USA Supports Israel  BY DB

In order to understand why the USA supports Israel, it is imperative to understand the predicament that the president of the United States, Harry Truman, found himself in after the end of World War Two. The United States did not support Israel prior to the predicament Harry Truman found himself in. After Truman made the decision on how to deal with his predicament, The United States did support Israel. So, let’s look at what happened before Truman’s decision, the decision itself, and what happened afterward.

If you have not read my article on the Balfour Declaration and the White Paper, now is the time to do so. That article discusses what happened before WWII. This article starts with WWII.

The president of the United States during the vast majority of WWII was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Harry Truman was his vice president. Roosevelt died shortly before the war ended, and Truman became the president.

Let’s list just 7 things that Truman faced:

  1. During WWII, over 6 million Jews were murdered during what became known as The Holocaust. After the war, when   American citizens were informed of The Holocaust, the vast majority were horrified, and became sympathetic to the Jewish people and supported the idea of giving them a safe place to live. Jews, primarily as a result of the Balfour Declaration, had already started to move to the area known as Palestine which was formed from a small portion of the defeated Ottoman Empire after World War One. A momentum had started to move them there, and it seemed like a good place to “put” the Jews. The thought was that the Arabs had a huge amount of land, and that putting aside a small portion of the land for the Jews was reasonable.
  2. The British Empire had controlled Palestine between WWI and WWII. The British restricted the number of Jews allowed to move into Palestine, and the Jewish people all over the world began to pressure Great Britain to allow more Jews to move there. The British Government, under the White Paper, refused to do so, so the Jewish people appealed to the United States to put more pressure on Great Britain. There were many Jewish people in The United States, and they used their significant influence to pressure the United States to put pressure on the British.
  3. There were millions of displaced people (DP)as a result of the war. The American public had sympathy for them all, and wanted to help them. The prevalent idea was to help the DPs return to their countries of origin, but it was obvious that the Jews would not be able to safely assimilate in the countries they had lived in before the war. “Putting’ them in Palestine seemed like the logical thing to do.
  4. The British were unable and unwilling to deal with Palestine, and they decide to just pack up and leave. The United States became the decision maker on what to do with Palestine. Jews rushed into Palestine from all over Europe without any limitations. They felt that they had no other safe place to go.
  5. The United Nations was formed after the war, and it decided to split Palestine up between Jews and Arabs. The United States went along with this plan. Again, the thought was that giving the Jews a small portion of land was no big deal.
  6. Many Americans thought that God had given the Jews the area of Palestine the original title and deed 3000 years ago, and had taken it away temporarily, and the time had come for its return. Many also saw the creation of Israel as part of God’s plan for the return of Jesus.
  7. The cold war between the USA and the USSR was a major concern. The USA wanted to have as much control over the entire world as possible and deny the USSR control wherever possible. The USSR was actively trying to gain influence in the Middle East. The American government knew that Israel would be an ally, and felt that the Arabs would likely side with the USSR.

Then, In May of 1948, Israel declared its independence as a new country. Truman recognized the new country immediately. It has been argued that he made his decision on moral, political, and practical grounds. This caused the Arabs and all Muslims worldwide to resent the USA immensely. This resentment is still felt by Muslims today.

The Arabs attacked Israel many times throughout the years up to the present day. The Israelis fought back and won. The Arabs and other Muslims worldwide got negative publicity by hijacking airplanes, bombing buildings, kidnapping, and committing other acts of terrorism. The Americans resented this and the momentum of supporting Israel increased, and the Israelis had more support among Americans than the Palestinians as of 2025. In 2026, Gallop polls show a shift toward more support for Palestinians among Americans than Israelis for the first time since Truman made his decision.