A lot of time and energy was wasted this month about how we can or should talk about Israel. Pundits and even the President got in on the act, leveling accusations of anti-semitism. We have a movement in this country to stifle any criticism of Israel, which is a mistake. Israel is a foreign country we subsidize and one which interferes in our domestic politics (those two things are related by the way).
Israel appeals to Americans for a variety of reasons – it’s a democratic white settler state born out of the twin traumas of colonial collapse and the holocaust, we have a large Jewish population that sees Israel’s survival and prosperity as vital, and we also have a sizable number of Christians who believe Israel must exist today in order to be destroyed tomorrow so Jesus can return.
Israel’s high tech and defense sector are interwoven into the U.S. military/industrial complex. A lot of the military aid we give Israel goes directly into the pockets of U.S. defense companies. Their intelligence agencies work with ours to thwart Islamist terrorism. But they’ve also stolen our nuclear secrets and interfered in our political system. They look out for their own interests first because, well, they’re a foreign country.
Bibi Netanyahu, the voice and face of Israel to Americans for the last 20 years thanks to his perfect English and ubiquitous availability for TV interviews, is under indictment for corruption. He and Likud have dragged Israel to some dark places and aren’t done yet. The peace process has been abandoned, Gaza is the world’s largest prison, Israeli soldiers routinely shoot unarmed protesters and the Jewish state looks and sounds more nakedly apartheid.
The longer the Israeli right wing retains power, the more it enmeshes itself with nations hostile to the United States. Russian organized crime, corruption and ex-Mossad workers out to make a buck all work against the rules-based system the U.S. has built since the end of World War Two. Israel is hedging its strategic bets, drawing closer to three nations that are anti-democracy and anti-human rights. Netanyahu has forged an alliance with the Saudis, played footsie with Putin and leased the strategic port of Haifa to China for the new exploitation of Africa.
The idea that America must perpetually go along with whatever Netanyahu wants is ludicrous. Israel has an effective public relations arm in American media that tells us Likud is perfectly reasonable and that to question Netanyahu’s policies is anti-semitic. This does us a disservice when formulating our geo-strategy. Israel is not the 51st state, it is an independent country whose interests do not always overlap with ours.
You may remember that 16 years ago Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, head of Likud, achieved his goal of getting the U.S. to invade Iraq and topple Saddam. According to the Israelis, toppling Saddam would cut the Gordian Knot and bring peace to the Middle East. 16 years of war with millions dead or displaced shows the error of that reckless gamble.
Likud is not interested in a two-state solution, it never has been. A free and peaceful neighbor is not on the agenda. Netanyahu’s goals are to secure fresh water, exploit the natural gas off Cyprus (this will be the next throw down between Erdogan and Bibi), keep the Palestinians caged in multiple bantustans and get the Americans/Saudis to deal with the Iranian strategic threat. None of these goals further U.S. interests.
Are you down for all of that? No questions asked?
Wes Clark Jr. 