US DoD Has Transferred Israel to CENTCOM

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The US Department of Defense (DoD) has transferred responsibility for military-to-military engagement and defense planning with Israel from US European Command (EUCOM) to US Central Command (CENTCOM). The move was explained as a result of the recent easing of tensions between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

CENTCOM, one of 11 US Defense Department unified combatant commands, is responsible for the command and control of all US military forces in the Middle East, including Egypt, as well as Central Asia and parts of South Asia. 

According to janes.com, before the realignment, EUCOM was responsible for co-ordinating military-to-military links with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from its headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. Now CENTCOM will fulfill these functions from its main headquarters in Tampa, Florida, and deployed headquarters in the Middle East.

The move announced by the Pentagon on 15 January is “part of unified command plan changes,” the DoD said. “When the Reagan administration set up CENTCOM in 1983, officials left Israel as part of EUCOM. Arab nations, except Egypt, did not recognize the Jewish state. US military co-ordination in the region – including multilateral exercises and operations – would have been complicated.”

“The easing of tensions between Israel and its Arab neighbors subsequent to the Abraham Accords [in 2020] has provided a strategic opportunity for the United States to align key partners against shared threats in the Middle East,” it added. 

Pro-Israel groups have for years called on the Pentagon to include Israel in CENTCOM in order to cooperate in the fight against Iran.