In a speech to Israel’s parliament this past Monday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) reminded the country of the threats of cyberespionage and intellectual property theft from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In what some have mischaracterized as a confrontation, he urged Israel to increase its oversight of foreign investments, given its extensive economic cooperation with China. Although he deserves credit for acknowledging the 2019 establishment of Jerusalem’s foreign-investment advisory committee, he failed to mention this committee’s recent expansion. And while McCarthy commendably reiterated support for the U.S.–Israel alliance, the Chinese threat has contributed to a measure of American disenchantment with Jerusalem. Some view Israel’s diplomatic ambiguity on certain consensus issues as undermining Washington’s already declining position on the international stage.
As Beijing has risen in global influence, bipartisan apprehension in the U.S. toward Sino–Israeli cooperation has risen with it, and rightly so. Now more than ever, though, Israel itself shares concerns about China’s role and has made efforts to show that skepticism about its economic relations with Beijing, and how they affect geostrategic matters, is misplaced.
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