Israel Can’t Substitute for the U.S. in the Middle East

Defense Department nominee Elbridge Colby has contended that the U.S. can do less in the Middle East because Israel can do more if properly armed. Can we imagine an Israeli-Sunni Arab alliance—the Abraham Accords with muscle—that checks Shiite Iran in the Persian Gulf? The Hudson Institute’s Michael Doran even imagines such an entente including Sunni Turkey, standing as an Ottoman wall against the Persians and reinforced with Israeli air power.

None of this makes sense. It ignores Israel’s limitations and exaggerates its strength. Further, the Abraham Accords won’t add Saudi Arabia as a signatory, let alone become a foundation for an anti-Iran alliance, unless America first defeats the Islamic Republic. And Israeli military action against Iran without substantial U.S. participation would likely to trigger a military conflict that Washington would be hard-pressed to avoid.