StandWithUs.com - Lesson Plans - unit 8


Rationale and Goals	Discussion Questions	Activities
• To emphasize that the US did not automatically support Israel. The relationship evolved and grew close only after the 1967 and 1973 wars. Israel’s earlier closest allies had been the (former) USSR and France. • To emphasize that US policy was to ally with and help fund Israel AND friendly Arab regimes. The US refused an either/or policy in the Middle East, although Arab countries kept trying to impose that dichotomy on US policy. • To emphasize the enormous benefits, including financial savings, that the US has derived from its close alliance with Israel. • To emphasize the remarkable similarities in values, history, foundational texts, culture, and ideals between the US and Israel, which makes them natural allies and explains the close affinity between them. • To put US aid to Israel in the larger context of US aid to friendly Arab countries and other allies.	1. When and why did the US develop a closer and closer relationship with Israel? How has this relationship benefited the US? How has it benefited Israel? 2. What has the US relationship been with Arab states? How has the US relationship with Israel affected its relationships with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Jordan, the Gulf States, Lebanon and Syria? 3. The Pilgrims and the US Founding Fathers were deeply affected by the Old Testament and by Jewish history. Discuss the many ways we see that affiliation in place names in the New World, concepts of government the Founding Fathers developed, and their views of what the New World could be. (See “References” for articles for this discussion and Michael Oren’s new book Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East: 1776 to the Present.) 4. What are some of the main similarities between modern Israel and the US historically and in the values they have today (for example: taming a wilderness, pioneer experience, common man laboring on the land, welcoming refugees, establishing/settling a country, democracy vs. aristocracy, etc.)?	Activity 1 Activity 2 Activity 3 Complete PDF
Resources
Internet Quotes of U.S. presidents on relationship with Israel. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/presquote.html Early roots of the U.S.-Israel relationship (1776–1948). http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/roots_of_US-Israel.html Overview of U.S.-Israel relationship (1948– 1970). http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/phantom.html Overview of U.S.-Israel relationship (1948-1990s); includes overview of economic and academic ties and shared values initiatives (e.g., security, environment, energy, space), commonalities between Israel and U.S. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/special.html http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths2/USpolicy.html#r6 http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths/mf21.html#t U.S. aid to Israel. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/foreign_aid.html CAMERA article: “Wall St. Journalist Columnist Overestimates U.S. Aid to Israel by Almost $1 Trillion” http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=54&x_article=596 Overview of U.S.-Israel relationship: early 1960s-present (rebuttal to charges made by Walt and Mearsheimer in March 2006) http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=2&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=376&PID=0&IID=1795&TTL=Un derstanding_the_U.S.-Israel_Alliance:_An_Israeli_Response_to_the_Walt-Mearsheimer_Claim U.S.-Israel relationship: rebuttal to charges made by Walt and Mearsheimer in March 2006 http://www.azure.org.il/magazine/magazine.asp?id=331 U.S. policy toward Arab states. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/US_policy_toward_Arabs.html http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths2/USpolicy.html#r8 U.S. policy of evenhandedness in Middle East (1960s-1980s). http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths2/USpolicy.html#r7 Recent media articles on relationship between Israel and U.S. (2004-2007). http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=41 Bibliography of U.S.-Israel relations. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/bibusisrael.html Christian Zionists in the U.S. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Zionism/christianzionism.html Overview of relationships between U.S. and its allies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_the_United_States The relationship between Israel and the US. http://www.azure.org.il/magazine/magazine.asp?id=331 Books The affinity between the U.S. and Israel in values and history Oren, Michael (2007). Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present (W. W. Norton). Christian Zionism–Brog, David (2006). Standing with Israel (Strang Communications Company). On Christian Zionism in Britain: Barbara Tuchman (1956). Bible and Sword (Ballantine). Video The following videos are available at no charge (except for shipping) from: http://www.israelupclose.org/stories.html Vol. 8: American Football Alive in Israel–Super Bowl fever hits Israel… Yes, football mania has indeed reached the Holy Land. Kraft stadium, dedicated by the owner of the New England Patriots, offers a first-class stadium that launched the Israeli American football league. Vol. 13: Baseball in Israel There is a new initiative underway to bring professional baseball to Israel. That’s right, real professional baseball, with major-league players brought in from the United States. The man behind the initiative is American entrepreneur Larry Barras, and the commissioner of the new league is former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer. Volume 16: U.S. Law Enforcement Learns Israeli Security Focuses on training of FBI and other U.S. law enforcement agents who receive anti-terrorist training in Israel.