alternatehistory.com

IOTL, even though the Israeli Labour Movement was the strongest political group in the country, Israel aligned itself with the Capitalist West. The main reason for allying with the US rather than the Soviets was that the Americans were willing to lend money to the newly-established state, which was very important since Israel during the early 50's was on the verge of economic collapse due to massive waves of immigration which tripled its population. Another factor in deciding Israel's alignment was Ben-Gurion personal hate against the Soviet Union. Now, since Ben Gurion was an extraordinary personality and I doubt there were an awful lot of people who were as competent, and as popular as he was who were enthusiastic about the Soviet Union during Israel's defining years, I don't think we have a chance of getting a successful Israeli PM who would align himself with the Warsaw Pact, lets say Ben Gurion was a little more Socialist. and the Israeli public was more willing to cooperate with the USSR (IOTL Czechoslovakia already sold Israel military aircraft and Stalin was among the first world leaders to recognize Israel's independence).
What does this mean about Israel - in both the domestic and foreign aspects - and what does this mean for the Middle East? Do the Arabs align themselves with NATO and the US? Would Israel survive without American support, but with Soviet support instead? For starters, I assume this means that the Soviets, rather than holding back Russian Jews from immigrating to Israel would actually actively encourage them to move to the Jewish State. What else?
Top