Israel and the United States

Despite the Israel Lobby’s indoctrination of Congress, it is recognized by almost 40 % of Americans that the incredible anti-Americanism experienced all over the world is caused mainly by the US support of Israel. It is also true that Israel’s influence on the Bush administration was a primary cause for the invasion of Iraq and the constant pressure on Congress and the present administration to start another war this time against Iran. Furthermore, if it is real, the so-called “war on terror” certainly is not aided by our alliance with Israel nor is our relationship with our allies around the world strengthened by our constant praise of Israeli policies in the Middle East. Our support of Israel is promoted primarily by the political power of the Lobby and has no strategic value. In fact that support is not in our national interest and is actually in the end harmful to Israel.

What are some of the arguments used in America for the support of Israel? The moral argument is quite effective. For example, Israel is weak and encircled by those who want to demolish it; Jews have suffered persecution in Europe; Jews are “morally superior” to the Palestinians. Except for European persecution these arguments are pure and simple myths. Moreover, Jews are no longer the victims rather Jews instead have become the persecutors. The treatment of Palestinians has been brutal. The Israel Defense Forces since 2006 have been striking Palestinian civilian targets killing men, women and children by the thousands.

Under these circumstances Israel is hardly the underdog. It is not weak and has always been militarily superior to the Palestinians going back to the first war, the War for Independence in 1948. The Israelis have “superior firepower, manpower, organization and command.” No Arab army would consider invading the Israeli state. They would be wiped out.

America quite often uses the argument for support of Israel that it is a democracy surrounded by dictatorships. It is the only democracy in the Middle East and America supports democracies. That isn’t always true since there are democracies in the world that we do not support. But more importantly Israel’s democratic values are a little different than ours. In the U.S. people of any race, color or religion enjoy equal rights. In Israel Arabs do not enjoy equal rights. In fact Palestinian Arabs are treated in a highly discriminatory manner and it is accepted by most Israeli Jews that Arabs be unequally treated. The excuses used are that they are dirty and smell bad, they are ignorant and uneducated. The average Jew ignores the fact that Palestinians are kept in poverty by Israeli law. Evicting Palestinian families from their homes is a continuing policy that forces them to live in slums.

Special interest groups of all kinds actively influence members of Congress and have for decades. A particularly powerful interest group is the Israel Lobby which is made up of Jewish organizations, registered lobbyists and wealthy or not so wealthy Jewish individuals. This lobby is a “loose coalition” that strives to influence U.S. foreign policy in favor of Israel. It is extremely effective in supporting policies in the Middle East that often have no strategic or moral value for the U.S. The organization that has the most influence in Congress and is the core of the Israel Lobby is the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). This committee’s effectiveness in Congress is overpowering. When an issue comes up involving Israel, there is never any debate. The critics are silent. Every other issue whether it is education, energy, abortion, gay rights, you name it, the debate is always brisk and animated. There is an extended exchange of views. But when the issue involves Israel, there is very little dialogue or none. And any Congressman or Senator that takes an adversarial position in regard to an Israel issue supported by AIPAC usually ends up persona non grata. The motto is: “Cross AIPAC, you play with fire.”

Now as for the Palestinians, it will not be easy but there are a number of things we can do. According to some experts in international affairs, we could encourage other countries to “isolate Israel as we did in the case of South Africa.” We could aid the Palestinians economically to help develop their own state. Of course, they would have to stop all violence against Israel. And Israel would have to stop its violence against the Arabs.

Continuing the present policy just makes things worse and destroys our reputation in the world. Opinion polls indicate that the American people would support pressing Israel to settle. At the moment the hard line lobby stands in the way.


References:

Mearsheimer and Walt. The Israel Lobby. 2007
Fisk, Robert. The Great War For Civilization. 2005.
Wikipedia