The American policy towards Israel and much of the wider Middle East accelerated quickly after Kennedy’s death and Johnson’s ascendency to the Oval Office in November 1963. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz claimed in 2018 that ‘Israel has had no better friend’ than the Texan president, and it is not difficult to see why he received such a glowing review. Holding court with numerous influential Jewish American intellectuals, such as Arthur Krim, Abe Fortas, and Arthur Goldberg, Johnson had supported every aid package during his time as a senator and majority leader and had pressed Eisenhower not to sanction Jerusalem in 1956. When President, he enjoyed warm relations with Prime Minister Levi Eshkol and professed to hold deep admiration for Israel and its people. ‘I may not worry as much as Eshkol does about Israel’, Johnson told an ambassador, ‘but I do worry as deeply.’
Johnson’s infatuation with Israel was also blended with his personal distaste for Nasser. Viewing the region through the lens of the binary Cold War struggle, Johnson and many of his advisers viewed Cairo as just another Soviet proxy. After initial attempts to placate Nasser with grain deals, Johnson’s patience ran thin as Egypt began to assert itself throughout the region. After the burning of an American library in Cairo, the White House cut all aid and the two presidents became increasingly vocal critics of one another. Johnson branded Nasser as ‘an instrument of the Kremlin’, while the Egyptian responded by calling his counterpart little more than a ‘cowboy.’
Underpinning many of the rhetorical barbs were Johnson’s strategic objectives for the Middle East. His presidency witnessed steadily increasing Soviet military aid to Egypt and Syria as Moscow attempted to fan the flames of anti-West, pan-Arab nationalism. Israel was thus seen as an essential Cold War bulwark against the Kremlin’s meddling, as well as a vital tool for securing the free flow of oil. To maintain the regional balance of power, Johnson oversaw the sale of more than 200 M48 tanks in 1964 despite reservations from the CIA and his national security advisor, McGeorge Bundy. He would also authorise the unprecedented delivery of A-4 Skyhawk and F-4 Phantom planes. When it came to Israel developing weapons of mass destruction, Johnson looked the other way. He never pressured Jerusalem to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and a disputed anecdote claims that he even asked CIA Director Richard Helms not to share intelligence on Israel’s atomic capabilities with anyone else in his administration.