Something critical has shifted in Israel’s right to make its own security decisions
For 77 years, Israel has said that it is not asking the United States to fight its wars. To provide economic aid, yes. To provide weapons, yes. To provide diplomatic support at the UN and other international forums, yes. To be a partner, yes. But to provide American soldiers? Never!
Yet now, in the last three weeks (since the Oct. 10 ceasefire with Hamas went into effect), some 200 American soldiers are stationed in Israel. True, they are not there to fight, but to monitor the next steps of the ceasefire deal, to “help facilitate the flow of humanitarian, logistical and security aid from international actors” into Gaza.
This sounds innocent, but in fact it is an alarming precedent, not for American participation in Israel’s military defense — but just the opposite. For American monitoring of Israel’s defense. It’s a short step between “facilitation” of security aid into Gaza and the “supervision” of Israel security interests in Gaza.
Do we sound paranoid? Check this: The US military has begun flying surveillance drones over the Gaza Strip as part of an effort to ensure that Israel and Hamas uphold the ceasefire agreement, it was confirmed on Oct. 24.
JNS reports that the drones are being used to “monitor” ground activity in Gaza, according to two Israeli military officials and one American defense official, who refused to disclose the UAV’s location.
If that doesn’t sound like interference in Israel’s security, we don’t know what is. As to “ground activity” in Gaza, specifically with reference to Hamas’ adherence to the ceasefire agreement, everybody already knows:
• Hamas has not returned all of the hostages it murdered, as it was obligated to do by Oct. 13 under the ceasefire agreement.
• Since Oct. 13, Hamas fired on and killed two Israeli soldiers, who were in the Israeli zone of Gaza.
• Hamas has fired on other Israeli positions.
• Hamas has no motivation to adhere to the pivotal disarmament clause in the ceasefire agreement and, in fact, is not disarming.
So just exactly what “ground activity” of Hamas can US drones detect that Israeli drones cannot?
No matter how you slice it, the stationing of American troops in Israel and the surveillance of Gaza by American military drones does not bode well for Israel’s independence regarding its own security.
The fact that Israeli military officials agreed to the use of American drones over Gaza offers no reassurance. With American troops on the ground, with an American-brokered ceasefire in place, with a country dependent on US weaponry, with rapid-fire visits to Israel by the president, vice president and secretary of state of the US to Israel, what else could Israel say?
The US and Israel have long partnered in intelligence sharing, with the US reportedly getting the better part of the deal. It’s one thing for the US and Israel to coordinate over attacks on Iran; it’s something else to do so in Israel and over Gaza, where Israel alone, not the US, is mortally threatened.
© IJN 2025
