According to a Napolitan News Service survey published on May 13, 2026, only 33% of American voters believe Israel is an ally — and one in five believe it’s an outright enemy. 

That’s a staggering disconnect from reality, and it didn’t happen by accident.

It happened because commentators like Tucker Carlson have spent years telling their audiences that Israel is a burden, not a partner — that America gets nothing in return, that the alliance is charity, that Israel somehow exploits the United States and drags it into wars. 

All of it defies reality.

The U.S. Government Views Israel as a “Model Ally”

Start with what the U.S. government itself says. In its National Defense Strategy published in January 2026, the Pentagon didn’t just call Israel an ally — it called Israel a model ally, singling it out for defending American interests “with critical but limited support from the United States.” 

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth doubled down in April 2026, praising Israel for fighting alongside America in the war against Iran and telling the press that other U.S. allies should “take notes” from Israel on how to be a partner.

And here’s what makes Israel genuinely different from nearly every other American ally: the U.S. has no military bases there. America maintains roughly 750 bases in more than 80 countries — costing taxpayers an estimated $80 billion a year to protect foreign populations. Israel is not on that list. Unlike Japan, Germany, or South Korea, Israel handles its own defense. It doesn’t need American troops. 

Israel Fights America’s Battles So American Soldiers Don’t Have To

What Israel does instead is fight — and in doing so, it fights for American interests too. Israel shares real-time intelligence with Washington. It battle-tests American weapons under live combat conditions and sends the data back to U.S. manufacturers, making those weapons better and more competitive on the global market. It strikes targets — including Iranian nuclear sites — that would otherwise require massive American deployments to address. 

Israel’s June 2025 air offensive against Iran, featuring 200 U.S.-made F-35, F-16, and F-15 aircraft, didn’t just damage Iran. It showcased the superiority of American combat aircraft to the entire world, exposed the weaknesses of Russian and Chinese air defense systems, and drove up U.S. weapons exports. 

American Special Operations forces also benefit directly from Israel’s hard-won experience countering car bombs, suicide bombers, and IEDs — lessons learned in blood that the U.S. military has absorbed and applied.

Compare all of that to what happens when America relies on bases in Arab countries without Israel covering its back. Iranian missile and drone attacks on those positions have killed more than a dozen U.S. service members, wounded hundreds more, and knocked out critical infrastructure — refueling planes, radar systems, air defense batteries, communications hubs. At various points, the U.S. military had to scatter thousands of troops out of secure bases and into hotels, office buildings, and makeshift facilities just to keep them alive. That degraded readiness and effectiveness.

The Alliance Pays for Itself Many Times Over

Then there’s the economic case, which is just as strong. America’s $3.8 billion annual investment in Israel generates an estimated return of over $40 billion per year. 

The F-35 program alone tells the story: Israel was the first country to fly the jet in combat, back in 2018, at a moment when U.S. defense analysts were ready to write the program off as unfixable. Israeli pilots and engineers worked alongside Lockheed Martin to identify and solve the critical problems. By 2025, the program supported 290,000 American jobs, generated $72 billion in annual U.S. economic output, contributed $40 billion in exports, and carried a $173 billion order backlog — with billions more in corporate and personal income taxes flowing to the U.S. Treasury every year as a result.

And that’s before counting Israel’s broader economic footprint in the United States. In 2024 alone, Israel purchased $14.8 billion in American goods, adding $13.2 billion to U.S. GDP. Israelis invest nearly $24 billion in the U.S. economy. More than 2,500 American companies — including Intel, Google, and Microsoft — operate inside Israel, benefiting from its talent, its innovation, and its tech ecosystem. U.S. aid to Israel isn’t charity. It’s one of the best-returning strategic investments America makes anywhere in the world.

Takeaway

The narrative that Israel is a burden — pushed by Tucker Carlson and other professional Israel critics — is an absurd lie that is unfortunately catching on with many Americans. 

Israel is the only American ally that asks for no troops, costs no bases, and still manages to fight America’s enemies, test America’s weapons, share intelligence with America, and return America’s investment many times over. Every dollar sent to Israel comes back as jobs, exports, battlefield lessons, and a deterrent force that keeps American soldiers out of yet another grinding Middle Eastern war. The question was never whether America can afford to support Israel. Based on the numbers, the question is whether America can afford not to. 

Sources

Napolitan News Service, Jewish Journal, Pentagon, Times of Israel, JINSA, Quincy Institute, INSS, The Ettinger Report, US Trade Representative, U.S. Embassy Jerusalem