Israel Can Teach America How to Be More Creative in the Face of Powerful Adversaries

In a 2018 essay for Mosaic titled “Israel and China Take a Leap Forward—But to What?,” Arthur Herman made a timely and consequential contribution to the U.S.-Israel alliance by illuminating some of the dilemmas posed to it by intensifying Sino-American rivalry.

In particular, Herman argued that since mastery of sophisticated, dual-use technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), unmanned systems, and quantum computing are vital terrain in the strategic competition with China, it was incumbent on Israel to establish stronger protections to ensure that its own world-class private-sector companies working in these areas would not be captured by Beijing, through foreign investment, and then leveraged for strategic advantage against the Americans.

In that earlier essay, Herman also flagged the related dangers implicit in Israel’s opening its infrastructure to ownership and operation by Chinese firms. Despite these undertakings’ being ostensibly commercial, he explained, Beijing could exploit its access to critical facilities like maritime ports and next-generation telecommunications networks for intelligence gathering and influence operations. In addition to jeopardizing Israel’s sovereignty, Beijing’s presence was bound to deter and restrict the U.S. military in its own interactions with Israel.