President Harry Truman recognized Israel shortly after it declared independence on May 15, 1948, making the United States the first nation to do so. Yet Truman refused to sell Israel weapons to defend itself against the well-equipped invading Arab armies. It would be ten years before the United States sold any weapons to Israel. This contradiction epitomizes the U.S.-Israeli relationship.

U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (center) meets with Israeli Premier Golda Meir (second from right) in her Jerusalem garden on May 2, 1974. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS

The U.S. government has supported Israel's existence but has limited that support to avoid offending the Arab world.

After World War II, the plight of hundreds of thousands of Jewish Holocaust survivors languishing in displaced person camps in Europe captured worldwide attention. Truman pressured Britain to allow them to immigrate to Palestine...