Why Israel doesn't need the US

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths3/MFUSpolicy.html#9

That link above says it all doesn't it?  Israel can't stand up against it's enemies without the US military aid.  Right?  Wrong.

While it's true that the USA does give a lot of military assistance to Israel it comes with strings attached.  Part of the agreement says that it must buy all of it's weapons from the USA even after it has used up the aid and at regular price.  Now it's really hard to say how much they would save if they could negotiate with the US but I would say it's substantial. 

On top of that Israel really doesn't need the exact weapons that the US sells it.  This is because in reality it modifies every weapon it gets.  This is one of the reasons why Israel has had so much success militarily.  The idea is that an Israeli weapon is just a little bit better than your weapon and that will be enough.  They shorten gun barrels, replace armor, etc. 

While there are not tons of countries lining up to sell arms to Israel I can think of one that sells to anyone that asks.  Russia.  Russia certainly seems anti Israel but really they are not.  They are pro money.  Anyone who wants to buy gets and they haven't turned down anyone yet.  Russian weapons are cheaper but of a lesser quality.  When you consider that Israel is going to modify them anyways the quality is not a huge concern.  Also when you consider that we are paying more for the weapons that we buy that are over and above the initial aid, the aid is really much smaller than it seems.

Israel is a very strong country economically.  I don't need to go into details but we are not worried about money.  Sure we have budget constraints just like any country but we certainly are able to finance ourselves just fine.

Where the issue of support is concerned, I believe the military and financial aid is pretty much a wash.  We can do without.  However support is more than just money.  There is political support.  There is recognition as a state.  And there is the US veto.  The US veto has been there for us in the UN for so long and it has bailed us out many times. 

If the US were to threaten cutting military aid to Israel I don't think we should worry but if they threaten to stop using their veto then I think we should take notice.  It's important to recognize what could happen.  Israel is a strong country economically but that could change if we were black listed due to lack of cooperation.  It would not be as bad as it sounds.  Even absent of official national boycotts in most countries, Israel is still subject to private boycotts of individual citizens, organizations, and companies.  Because of this Israel has become a leader in R & D.  We mostly import all goods but we export brain power.  We engineer the world.  You will never see Intel write made in Israel on it's chips, but a large part of it's development was done here.  I don't think this would change.  Exports for sure would change.  Essentially any steps we take should be weighed heavily based on the possibility of isolation and loss of the US veto in the UN.  Other than that we can afford to lose the support financial or otherwise.

One last thought before I close this out.  With all that being said, it is a big risk to be isolated or to lose that veto.  However, I do think we are to scared.  We have taken many bold steps that the world didn't agree with over the years and we have been condemned and criticized but in the end things went back to normal.  Our leaders need to learn to call other country's bluffs more often.