Conditional support will deter reckless policies (1 - 2)
The American-Israeli relationship...from alliance to "friendship"
Unconditional support has clearly strengthened under President Donald Trump.
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The latest round of the conflict demonstrated the urgent need to change US policy toward Tel Aviv.
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The recent events in Gaza shed light on the US-Israeli relations in an unprecedented way, as the US administration began to complain about the behavior of its Israeli ally in the occupied territories, amid an unprecedented campaign of internal pressures, especially from within the Democratic Party, as demands for US President Joe are increasing. Biden must hold Israel accountable for its actions, and be subject to international human rights laws.
The US administration finds itself in embarrassment and inability to continuously defend Israel's actions, particularly what is happening in East Jerusalem of incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque and pressures to deport the residents of Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, which is strongly opposed by the international community.
And we will try, through this lengthy investigation of the American “Foreign Policy” magazine, to shed light on the changes that occurred in the relationship of the two allies, and the possibilities of it continuing on the same force in the future, and to explore whether Israel is still important in the American strategy for the Middle East, or whether this importance is declining Day after day, which calls for a review of the relationship until it turns into a normal relationship between two friendly countries.
The latest round of fighting between Israelis and Palestinians ended, as usual, with a ceasefire, which left the Palestinians worse off, with the underlying issues not being addressed.
This tour provided further evidence that the United States should no longer give Israel unconditional economic, military, and diplomatic support, as the costs of this policy are high and rising.
Rather than having a special relationship, the United States and Israel need a normal relationship.
In the past, a special relationship between the United States and Israel could have been justified on moral grounds. The creation of a Jewish state was seen as an appropriate response to centuries of violent anti-Semitism in the Christian West, including, but not limited to, the Holocaust. Yet the moral case is compelling only if we ignore the consequences, for Arabs who have lived in Palestine for centuries, and if we believe that Israel is a state that shares basic American values. Here, too, the picture was complicated. Israel may be "the only democracy in the Middle East," but it is not a liberal democracy like the United States, where all religions and ethnicities are supposed to have equal rights (although this goal is not fully achieved). In keeping with the fundamental aims of Zionism, Israel preferred Jews over others. But today, decades of brutal Israeli control have decimated the moral case for unconditional American support.
Escaping from the Punishment
Israeli governments of all political spectrum have expanded settlements, denied Palestinians legitimate political rights, treated them as second-class citizens within Israel itself, and used superior Israeli military force to kill and terrorize the populations of Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon, with virtually impunity.
Given all this, it is not surprising that Human Rights Watch and the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem have recently issued well-documented and convincing reports that describe these various policies as an "apartheid regime."
The drift to the right in Israeli domestic politics, and the growing role of extremist parties in Israeli politics, further damaged Israel's image, including among many American Jews.
useful tool
In the past, it was also possible to argue that Israel was an important strategic asset to the United States, although its value was often exaggerated. During the Cold War, for example, supporting Israel was an effective way to curb Soviet influence in the Middle East, because the Israeli army was a much more powerful military force than the armed forces of Soviet allies, such as Egypt or Syria. Israel also provided useful intelligence on occasion. The Cold War ended 30 years ago, yet unconditional support for Israel today creates more problems for Washington than it solves. Israel can do nothing to help the United States in its war in Iraq. In fact, Washington had to send Patriot missiles to Israel during the first Gulf War, to protect it from Iraqi Scud attacks.
Even if Israel deserves credit for destroying a nascent Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007, or helping to develop the Stuxnet virus, which temporarily damaged some of Iran's centrifuges, the value of that strategy is much less than it was during the Cold War.
Moreover, the United States does not have to provide Israel with unconditional support to reap such benefits.
Meanwhile, the costs of the special relationship continue to rise.
Critics of American support for Israel often begin with the more than $3 billion in military and economic aid Washington provides to Israel each year, even though Israel is now a rich country with a per capita income of nineteenth in the world.
There are undoubtedly better ways to spend this money, but it represents a drop in the ocean of a country with an economy of $21 trillion.
The real costs of the special relationship are political.
moral standing
As we have seen over the past days, unconditional support for Israel makes it difficult for the United States to claim a high moral standing on the world stage. The administration of President Joe Biden is keen to restore America's reputation and image, after four years under former US President Donald Trump, and it wants to clearly distinguish between the behavior and values of the United States, and those of its opponents such as China and Russia. In the process, it is re-establishing itself as the central hub of a rules-based order. That is why US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told the UN Human Rights Council that the administration would put "democracy and human rights at the center of our foreign policy."
But when the United States stands alone, vetoes three separate Security Council resolutions on cease-fires, repeatedly reaffirms Israel's "right to defend itself," authorizes an additional $735 million in arms to Israel, and offers the Palestinians a blank letter on the issue. their right to live in freedom and security while upholding the two-state solution; Its claim to moral superiority is exposed as hollow and hypocritical. In an unsurprising move, China was quick to criticize the US position, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi highlighted Washington's inability to act as a fair mediator and offered to host Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. It may not have been a serious offer, but Beijing is doing worse than Washington has in recent decades. Another permanent cost of the "special relationship" is the disproportionate consumption of the scope of its foreign policy with Israel.
Biden, Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan face bigger problems, worrying about the actions of a small Middle Eastern country.
Yet, once again, the United States is embroiled in a crisis of its own making, that demands its attention and is taking valuable time away from dealing with climate change, China, the pandemic, disengagement from the Afghans, economic recovery, and a host of more problems. weight.
And if the United States had a normal relationship with Israel, it would get the attention it deserves, but no more.
terrorist threat الخطر
Third, unconditional support for Israel complicates other aspects of US diplomacy in the Middle East.
Negotiating an agreement on Iran's nuclear weapons would be much easier if the administration did not face continued opposition from the Netanyahu government, not to mention the fierce opposition of hardline elements of the Israel lobby, here in the United States.
Once again, a more normal relationship with the only Middle Eastern country with nuclear weapons would help Washington's long-term efforts to limit proliferation elsewhere.
And the desire to protect Israel forces Washington to enter into relationships with other governments in the Middle East, which have little strategic or moral meaning.
And US support for countries in the region is aimed, in part, at keeping them on good terms with Israel and against the Palestinian resistance movement (Hamas).
Fourth, decades of unconditional support for Israel helped create the threat the United States faced from terrorism.
Osama bin Laden and other key figures in al-Qaeda were an example of this, as the combination of unwavering American support for Israel and harsh Israeli treatment of the Palestinians was one of the main reasons that prompted them to attack the "far enemy."
This wasn't the only reason, but it wasn't a simple concern.
As the official 9/11 Commission report on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, which he described as the “main architect” of the attack, wrote: “By his account, Khalid Sheikh’s enmity toward the United States stemmed not from his experiences there as a student, but from his violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy in the interest of Israel".
The dangers of terrorism will not disappear if the United States has a normal relationship with Israel, but a more just and morally defensible stance will help reduce anti-Americanism;
and attitudes that have contributed to violent extremism in recent decades.
The special relationship is also linked to America's greater adventures in the Middle East, including the decision to invade Iraq in 2003.
• When the United States stands alone, vetoes three separate Security Council resolutions on a cease-fire, repeatedly reaffirms "Israel's right to defend itself", authorizes additional $735 million in weapons to Israel, and provides the Palestinians with a blank letter regarding their right to live in freedom and security while upholding the two-state solution; Its claim to moral superiority is exposed as hollow and hypocritical.
• Even if Israel deserves praise for destroying a nascent Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007, or helping to develop the "Stuxnet" virus, which temporarily damaged some of Iran's centrifuges, the value of that strategy is much less than it was during the Cold War years.
• The dangers of terrorism will not disappear if the United States has a normal relationship with Israel, but a more just and morally defensible stance will help reduce anti-Americanism; and attitudes that have contributed to violent extremism in recent decades. The special relationship is also linked to America's greater adventures in the Middle East, including the decision to invade Iraq in 2003.
• Israeli governments of all political spectrum have expanded settlements, denied Palestinians legitimate political rights, treated them as second-class citizens within Israel itself, and used superior Israeli military force to kill and terrorize the people of Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon, with virtually impunity.
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