Belgian intel’s not much use unless we need to know something about their little corner of Europe or their former African colonies, or want a place for diplomats to have a good beer.
Ask yourself why Russia wants to keep Syria as an ally. What does Syria do for Russia?
Israel serves as the sole reliable US ally in the region, by its nature. This is more important than ever due to Turkey having gone wobbly and Qatar having a midlife crisis with the Muslim Brotherhood, and Bahrain having domestic problems of its own.
Israel’s the one place where our aviators can land with no risk of being taken hostage or with any controversy. It’s a safe port for ships to call with no controversy or strain on local relations.
They not only have the motivation but the ability to have our back in an emergency or crisis.
In the course of defending itself, it defends the world. Israel has taken out both the Iraqi and Syrian nuclear programs [which benefits everyone]. It counters Islamic extremism which plagues not just Israel but everyone across the world, especially muslims... and is growing here due to our complacency. Islamic extremists seeking to create a globe-spanning ummah aren’t going to go away anytime soon.
They play bad cop to our good cop in the region.
We work together on rocket and missile defense, cyberwarfare, and a hot of other technology types from drones and bomb defusing robots to vehicle protective measures, and it’s not just an “affirmative action” kind of relationship where their “help” is more of a hindrance as with some countries, their scientists, engineers and tchnicians really do know their stuff.
They have better linguistic resources than we do for translations- and much more familiarity with customs and local politics across the region- we cut our own nose off in the Bush and Obama admins by trying to depend on recruiting Muslims when we should have been using both to double check.
25% of all US exports to the region are bought by Israelis.
Israel’s been on the leading edge of agricultural research and clean water solutions and are working with Americans in these areas, and places like California should pay more attention and take advantage of their expertise.
Not bad for a place the size of a postage stamp.
And that doesn’t even consider all the Nobel Prize winners.