Israel’s military agenda is sidetracking its socio-economic agenda.

With one fell swoop of an expensive presidential pen, Donald Trump, the new-old president of the United States, announced a series of actions intended to preserve and strengthen the standing of his country as the world’s major power. This was done against the background of the rise of competing powers like China and the European Union. The main actions in question:  a sharp rise in tariffs, a move that will have a negative effect on the economic growth and standard of living of countries for which a significant amount of their national income derives from exports to the US – Israel for example – and a huge cutback in budgets for social services within the home country.

In short, the Donald Trump’s US has abandoned its historical role as the leader of the Western world, concentrating its gaze inward and turning its back on countries that need US assistance in order to become part of the “Western” camp.

It is no secret that the US did not exactly “suffer” from the unique standing it created for itself in the wake of WW II. It went on to enjoy an unprecedented standard of living, continuous economic growth, the development of the most advanced scientific infrastructure and the unchallenged prestige as the leading power in the “Western world.”

At the same time, the US developed the highest military capacity worldwide — and as such served its allies as the place to go for arms and other wartime supplies in time of need. Israel was the main recipient in this respect: Between 1951 and 2024, it received 317 billion dollars in assistance, including 251 billion dollars in direct military aid. During the present war, dubbed “Iron Swords,” the US finances no less than 70 percent of Israel’s war effort.

This aid creates the illusion that Israelis are able to withstand any development on the war front. Thus, the powers that be are able to change the end-date of the war almost daily.

Had the present US aid been utilized for civilian purposes, it might be acceptable. However, US aid to Israel is now exclusively military.

And it is no secret that the financing goes to support the US arms industry, as the money needs to be spent on US-produced weaponry.

Thus, all things considered, it is the Israeli public that is actually financing the war, either through direct taxation or by continuous cutbacks in the social services they receive.

From the standpoint of those social services, which have, at times, been the pride of Israeli society, the worst thing that is happening is that Israel’s military agenda is now sidetracking its socio-economic agenda.

The generous US financing is what stands behind an unprecedented situation for Israelis. At present, it appears possible to continue the war with no end-date and no endgame. And the fact is that civilian life in Israel in the center of the country continues as if there were no war.

While the fighting continues with no clear endgame, it dictates Israel’s political and social agenda. It is said that the war is a great leveler; however, the production of weaponry is not: a good portion of the millionaires and billionaires that made their fortunes in Israel in the course of the last two or three decades did so by producing arms based on hi-tech.

This development had a destructive effect on the agenda of socio-economic equality, for when most of the resources of the economy are in the hands of a few individuals or corporations, the issue of equality is no longer statistical but rather political: Who is able and permitted to speak with the ruler. And better yet, who, literally, calls the shots.

Since the last elections, Israelis have been witness to attempts to create legislation whose main results have been regime corruption, on the one hand, and mass demonstrations against the attempts of a small minority to take over the government of Israel, on the other.

We appear to be returning to the age of kings, in which the king is not only the most powerful man in the kingdom but also the richest.

// Published originally in Hebrew on Zman Israel