© Courtesy of Washington Challenger
President Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) addressed the Knesset, Israel's parliament, on Monday.
Referring to the US-Israeli alliance marking Israel's 75th anniversary, McCarthy rightly said, "Israel survived because of its values, courage, tenacity and determination." The contrast between Israel's economic and civil society achievements and those of its neighbors bears out McCarthy's analysis . Crucial to Israel, which views the Iranian nuclear threat as the scourge of a second holocaust, McCarthy pledged to help Congress deal with that threat and other Iranian problems. Iran's growing assassination plot shows that the Islamic Republic poses a threat not just to Israel or the United States, but to the entire world.
Fortunately, China remains the battleship of Congress.
Strange as it may seem, the speech never brought up the Palestinians. Of course, elements of Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy do not encourage optimism. The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank suffers from corruption and lacks the support of the Palestinian people. At the same time, Hamas' control of Gaza is hampering peace talks as it seeks to destroy Israel. However, it is in the national interest of the United States to ultimately see a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. McCarthy may hope that Palestinian leaders will one day return to power with the courage of former Israeli prime ministers like Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak, who negotiated a historic peace deal.
McCarthy, however, addressed the issue that plagues US-Israel relations most today: efforts to source high-tech products and research from China and other countries.
This is of particular importance for Israel, which has the world's leading technology industry. Unfortunately, Israeli tech companies have been actively collaborating with China in recent years. In 2017, Netanyahu told Xi Jinping that this was a particularly problematic issue in Benjamin Netanyahu's last government.
McCarthy said that expanding US-Israeli technology cooperation "enables us to capitalize on each other's innovations, particularly in military technology." But "our creativity is threatened by a new threat: the Chinese Communist Party." While CCP can be portrayed as innovators, they behave like thieves. We must not allow them to steal our technology," McCarthy said, referring to Israel's initial efforts to control foreign investment. "I strongly recommend that Israel strengthen its oversight of foreign investments.
US-Israeli technology cooperation and China's efforts to acquire Israeli technology are highly correlated with McCarthy. The bottom line is that while Israel seeks China's involvement in technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing, it cannot hope to deploy America's most advanced technology. Bottom line: The United States cannot help the People's Liberation Army, which is the perfect way to indirectly kill one of its closest allies in the war. To put it bluntly, this is the danger of Israeli-Chinese technology cooperation. "Biden and members of both parties' Congress should urge Israel to take a more cautious stance in its trade relations with China," the Washington Examiner said in a speech last November.
McCarthy deserves credit for leading this effort. The US-Israeli alliance has always been based on shared values and mutual trust to face serious external threats. Facing the threat of war between the US and China over Taiwan, Israel needs to change the side of its technological cooperation with China.
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Tags: opinion, ring road, secret, israel, foreign policy, national security
Lead Author: Tom Rogan
Starting Point: Kevin McCarthy rightly confronts Israel with China's technological threats.
