What Do We Do About Israel? Part One
Hubris-laden Israelis and resident American Jews would react with extreme indignation at the import of the title question of this article and take umbrage that the question would even be asked.
Too bad.
The reality is that Israel represents a severe economic burden on the United States during a time when we hardly need such a burden.
Another truth is that, if not for American financial and military support, the State of Israel would long ago have ceased to exist.
The grand total of direct American aid to Israel is $114,000,000,000, not including vast consequential costs and indirect aid which one expert calculates at the very tidy sum of $3 trillion: [http://bit.ly/21a1Lc].
Over 60 years, that works out to an average total of $50 billion per annum in direct or indirect assistance.
And what have we gotten in return? Not much, unless we factor in an almost constant conflict in the MidEast which we have subsidized for 6 decades and which now threatens to drag us into that maelstrom.
So, again, what do we do about Israel?
That was a rhetorical query until recently and the answer was also not much, the reason being that Israel wouldn't allow us to do very much.
One would think that such a client state would have had more respect, if not allegiance, to its primary protector on the planet. Yet, that has been far from the case.
Our options: Do we continue to mindlessly back Israel, which bills itself as the only democracy and America's only ally in the region or do we re-evaluate where our true national interests lie?
It's at this point that the uber-powerful Israeli lobby/Zionist lobby/Jewish lobby would normally step to the plate.
See a 5 minute video on one of thousands of explosive articles, reports, and blogsites on the undue influence of that multifaceted lobby on U.S. foreign policy: [http://bit.ly/1X0uJW].
As with any criticism of that influence, that article was condemned as viciously anti-Semitic, which is unfortunate.
Such overreactions only serve to cloud the issue and increase suspicion that the Israel lobby is even more powerful than it is. They are comparable to the reactions of African-Americans who attribute any and all serious concerns to racism.
Since there are many ominous signs that things are about to change for Israel under the Obama administration, the MidEast policy stranglehold Israel has on America may be coming to a close.
Under that circumstance, Israel would be best served by a transparent admission of the past and a resolve to cooperate rather than persist in dominating our national policies.
Regrettably, the Jewish state has, with extreme arrogance, never demonstrated a desire to be seen as a cooperative friend and ally.
Why should they since we've long shown that America's deep pockets are effectively in Israel's back pocket?
(See "The USS Liberty Revisited," http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1135, et al. for vivid examples of Israeli contempt toward America and our armed forces.)
I'm not ready to refer to the Jewish state as an American foe but the future is beckoning America to make a fateful decision.
Do we continue to support and defend a nation which has proven itself to be a self-serving leech or do we cut the ties that bind our two nations?
Under ten previous administrations, save perhaps Carter's, it was fairly understood that America would defend Israel to the death, more likely America's death than Israel's.
However, Obama's sympathies with the 1.4 billion Muslims in our world is gradually displacing prior, official national thinking.
One of the great political ironies of our time is that some 74% of American Jews voted for Obama in 2008 despite clear signals that he would reverse our unstinting commitment to Israel which brings us back to the question: What do we do about Israel?
Suggestions will follow in Part Two.
Too bad.
The reality is that Israel represents a severe economic burden on the United States during a time when we hardly need such a burden.
Another truth is that, if not for American financial and military support, the State of Israel would long ago have ceased to exist.
The grand total of direct American aid to Israel is $114,000,000,000, not including vast consequential costs and indirect aid which one expert calculates at the very tidy sum of $3 trillion: [http://bit.ly/21a1Lc].
Over 60 years, that works out to an average total of $50 billion per annum in direct or indirect assistance.
And what have we gotten in return? Not much, unless we factor in an almost constant conflict in the MidEast which we have subsidized for 6 decades and which now threatens to drag us into that maelstrom.
So, again, what do we do about Israel?
That was a rhetorical query until recently and the answer was also not much, the reason being that Israel wouldn't allow us to do very much.
One would think that such a client state would have had more respect, if not allegiance, to its primary protector on the planet. Yet, that has been far from the case.
Our options: Do we continue to mindlessly back Israel, which bills itself as the only democracy and America's only ally in the region or do we re-evaluate where our true national interests lie?
It's at this point that the uber-powerful Israeli lobby/Zionist lobby/Jewish lobby would normally step to the plate.
See a 5 minute video on one of thousands of explosive articles, reports, and blogsites on the undue influence of that multifaceted lobby on U.S. foreign policy: [http://bit.ly/1X0uJW].
As with any criticism of that influence, that article was condemned as viciously anti-Semitic, which is unfortunate.
Such overreactions only serve to cloud the issue and increase suspicion that the Israel lobby is even more powerful than it is. They are comparable to the reactions of African-Americans who attribute any and all serious concerns to racism.
Since there are many ominous signs that things are about to change for Israel under the Obama administration, the MidEast policy stranglehold Israel has on America may be coming to a close.
Under that circumstance, Israel would be best served by a transparent admission of the past and a resolve to cooperate rather than persist in dominating our national policies.
Regrettably, the Jewish state has, with extreme arrogance, never demonstrated a desire to be seen as a cooperative friend and ally.
Why should they since we've long shown that America's deep pockets are effectively in Israel's back pocket?
(See "The USS Liberty Revisited," http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1135, et al. for vivid examples of Israeli contempt toward America and our armed forces.)
I'm not ready to refer to the Jewish state as an American foe but the future is beckoning America to make a fateful decision.
Do we continue to support and defend a nation which has proven itself to be a self-serving leech or do we cut the ties that bind our two nations?
Under ten previous administrations, save perhaps Carter's, it was fairly understood that America would defend Israel to the death, more likely America's death than Israel's.
However, Obama's sympathies with the 1.4 billion Muslims in our world is gradually displacing prior, official national thinking.
One of the great political ironies of our time is that some 74% of American Jews voted for Obama in 2008 despite clear signals that he would reverse our unstinting commitment to Israel which brings us back to the question: What do we do about Israel?
Suggestions will follow in Part Two.
Source...