Biden Has an Important Lesson for Israel. Is the Jewish State Listening? | Opinion

The decision by the Biden administration to withhold weapons from the State of Israel is the realization of one of the Israel Defense Forces' worst nightmares, and while the two countries have had ups and downs over the past 76 years, there have been few moments as low as this one.

Biden's announcement that he has stopped sending some weaponry—so far it has been just a few shipments—is nothing like the delays to the delivery of Hellfire missiles during the 2014 Gaza war, or to the delivery of F-15 fighter jets after Israel bombed the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981.

The Reagan administration's anger over the bombing of Iraq's nuclear reactor was isolated and limited and did not last long. The attack was in June and by December, the countries had signed a strategic defense accord. In 2014, while the delays to the Hellfire missile shipments was highly problematic, it was decided as Israel was winding down the war and not—as it is today—gearing up for a major offensive against 15,000 armed Hamas terrorists in Rafah, and as it is being bombarded daily by Hezbollah in Lebanon.

And the main difference? In 2014, President Barack Obama didn't say anything publicly. Then, the administration hid behind unnamed sources. This time, President Joe Biden is expressing his dismay with Israel and announcing his new policy in his own voice and for everyone—including Hamas and Hezbollah—to hear.

It is true that Israel and the United States have been on a collision course since the war began after the Hamas invasion on Oct. 7, and that both sides are to blame. There is the historic baggage between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu carried over from the Obama years when Netanyahu flew to Washington and spoke before Congress against the Iran deal Obama and Biden—then vice president—were trying to get signed.

In addition, during the year preceding the Hamas attack, Israel had been ripped apart by a controversial set of judicial reforms the Netanyahu government was trying to legislate, leading to American fears that Israel's democratic character was in danger.

Nevertheless, placing blame at this point is not important. Instead, what Israel needs to do now is review the decision and the long-term consequences it will have on the military as well as its alliance with the U.S. If Biden, who calls himself a Zionist, can do this to Israel, future presidents will think that they can potentially do even more. This is how Israel needs to look at what has happened.

The bombs that have been delayed are just one item on a long list of what Israel needs from the U.S. If this administration or another one were to decide one day to end an Israeli war, it doesn't have to stop supplying M4 carbines or smart kits for bombs. All it has to do is stop sending spare parts for the Israeli Air Force's fleet of F-15s, F-35s, F-16s, C-130s, Blackhawks and Apache Longbows, G550 Gulfstreams, Boeing refueling tankers and more.

If an air force does not have spare parts, it cannot fly. It is that simple.

Which is why Biden's announcement is a wake-up call for the IDF along the lines of the 1967 arms embargo that the French war hero and president Charles De Gaulle imposed on Israel after the Six Day War. Until then, France had served as Israel's main weapons supplier—the air force flew Mirage fighter jets, the countries were jointly developing long-range missiles and Israel's first nuclear reactor came from France.

The lesson for Israel today is critical. In the more immediate term, Jerusalem will need to try to repair relations with Biden and work to ensure that it keeps receiving spare parts, weapons, and the supplies that it requires. Looking ahead and in the longer term, it's imperative for Israel to develop its domestic manufacturing capability for the systems and weapons it has traditionally relied on from the US.

In 1967, after De Gaulle's decision, Israel learned this lesson and started investing serious resources in research and development of weapons, radars, drones, tanks, and more. It focused on small-to-medium platforms and, besides the Merkava tank which is made in Israel, the IDF buys all of its larger platforms outside of the country—submarines in Germany and aircraft in the U.S.

Will this need to change? Not immediately. But in the long term, the Israeli government will need to internalize an important message – the Jewish state cannot rely on anyone but itself. It is a harsh reality that has the potential to change the country, but it is one that Israel cannot ignore.

Yaakov Katz is a senior fellow at JPPI, a global think tank for the Jewish people, and the author of Shadow Strike: Inside Israel's Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power and Weapon Wizards: How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.