Photo from last Saturday, April 20th, in Washington, D.C.Posted on 04/28/2002 11:36:01 AM PDT by jern
By Ted Rall
It's Time to Cut Israel Loose
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NEW YORK-First, let's get this straight: no nation enjoys a "right to exist." Countries are created by people killing other people who used to live in a place; countries continue to exist as long as their citizens are willing to kill other people to keep them the hell out. Thus, the U.S. exists.
And so does Israel.
Arab countries' newfound willingness to acknowledge the fact of Israel's existence in exchange for steps towards a Palestinian state is nice but ultimately inconsequential. Israel is, period. Who cares whether or not it has the right to exist? Rand McNally doesn't determine nationhood. Force does.
As long as the United States continues to pour in $3 billion a year in aid-more than the total for all other nations combined-Israel will continue to thrive. (By comparison, war-torn Afghanistan (news - web sites) is only slated to get $300 million next year.) As for the willingness to kill other guys to keep them out...well, that's the trouble.
Right-wing extremist Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) has unleashed a horrific onslaught upon Gaza and the West Bank that has left all but the most hardened pro-Israel hawks disgusted. An April 17th Pew Research Center poll shows public support for Israel down to 42 percent in the wake of Sharon's latest incursion.
Sharon's shock troops are using the same tactics-reprisal assassinations, torture, demolitions and mass arrests-that most Israelis' parents and grandparents witnessed as victims of the Third Reich. And we're subsidizing it all.
Strategy and Geopolitics
"Israel, like any country in the world, has the right to defend itself against the cruel terror perpetrated against it from centers of terror located only several kilometers from its population centers," Sharon said April 7th. But with five Palestinians dying for every murdered Israeli, the self-defense argument is falling on increasingly deaf American ears. It's not working, either-the more Sharon retaliates, the more dead Israelis he has to retaliate for.
Sharon's excessive use of force is causing an increasing number of Americans to wonder whether it's time to cut off aid and let both sides slog it out.
It is hard to tell, from a realpolitik standpoint, why we spend so much money on such a sandy waste. "Israel...is a good friend of the United States-one of the best friends we will ever have," House majority leader Dick Armey reiterated April 15th. Yet Israel neither possesses natural resources nor geographically separates us from those of another country. Because of its status as a Jewish state, it almost never contributes troops to American-led military operations, many of which take place in Muslim nations these days. Love it or hate it, U.S. support for Israel is pretty much a one-way deal.
Israel's 5.7 million people live on a plot of sun-bleached rocks the size of New Jersey. Our unconditional support for this tiny country offends hundreds of millions of Muslims spanning the globe from Saudi Arabia to the Philippines, whose countries possess the vast majority of the globe's energy resources. The U.S.-Israeli alliance also provides endless fodder to radical Islamists currently planning the next 9-11. In short, Israel is arguably the greatest single geopolitical liability to the security and economy of the United States.
Our Moral Obligation
Doing good, however, doesn't always mean doing well. The Truman Administration was primarily responsible for the 1948 U.N. mandate that created a fledgling Israel surrounded by hostile enemies. Both the legacy of the Holocaust and the continuing poison of anti-Semitism requires a state where the world's Jews can go to feel safe. To hell with all that Arab oil-don't we have a moral obligation to support the only working democracy in the Middle East in the face of incessant terrorist attacks?
We do owe Israel our support, but not $3 billion a year. U.S. backing began with Israel's creation, lasted through several wars and continued through more than a half-century of generous gifts of cash and state-of-the-art military hardware. As a result, Israel is-unlike its neighbors-a modern, technologically-advanced First World country with European-class infrastructure. If U.S. financial assistance were to end the second you read this, the Israeli army and air force would nevertheless remain the region's best-armed and best-trained for many years to come.
Let the Bird Leave the Nest
That outsized military and economic advantage ensures that the current war-that-won't-speak-its-name between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) would continue for the foreseeable future. American-made fighter jets and helicopter gunships would continue to rain death on the West Bank; born-to-lose Arab teens would still blow themselves up in Israeli markets. Nothing much would change, but at least the U.S. would no longer be intimately implicated in the carnage-and we'd save a huge amount of money in the bargain.
Anyone who has visited the Middle East can't help but be impressed by the energy, intelligence and resolve of the Israeli people. An end to American subsidies would force them to deal with such long-standing structural problems as high unemployment, systemic constitutional tensions and demographic trends that threaten to turn their country into a Jewish state with a Jewish minority.
Independence from Washington doesn't have to lead to Arafat's fantasy of pushing Israel into the sea. A cut in U.S. subsidies could be phased out gradually, perhaps over the next ten years. More importantly, the U.S. should sign a mutual defense treaty committing to come to Israel's aid in the event of an invasion. Independence shouldn't equal abandonment, and support shouldn't equal international welfare.
(Ted Rall's new book, a graphic travelogue about his recent coverage of the Afghan war titled "To Afghanistan and Back," hits stores this week. Ordering and review-copy information are available at nbmpub.com.)
That remains to be seen.
But i think its pretty clear when anti-semitism is involved in a call to quit supporting israel. And i didnt see it in this article.
He's a hard core socialist waiting for the revolution. He's anti-American so logically, he hates the only democracy in the Middle East.If you look further, you may find that he is an anti-semite. I wouldn't waste my time, he's just a stupid P.O.S.
Here he's basically saying "Let's throw Israel to the wolves! Therefore they will be forced to negotiate!"
Rall apparently hasn't been reading up on his history. 3 of the 4 Arab-Israeli wars were launched before they occupied the West Bank and Gaza.
And don't forget that in most, if not all, Palestinian schools, children are shown maps depicting "Palestine" as all of Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. (Pre-1948) The leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah have openly said their objective is to destroy all of Israel (The Hamas leader said the refugees could just head to America or Europe).
Rall also bitches about the fact that Israel's military is so modernized and high-tech. Well, if the Israelis were fighting with rocks too, would Rall have no problem with that? And the Palestinian's arsenal isn't that antiquidated. They have AK-47s, mortars, assault rifles, explosives. The biggest differences is they have no combat vehicles or aircraft.
I'd also like to say one more thing. I find it to be the utmost hypocrisy that people condemn us for our support of Israel and undemocratic Arab regimes while saying we should be supporting Arafat and the PLO. When the Palestinians finally get their state, they may have their own land, but will political conditions get better for them? Hardly. Arafat is hardly a democrat (by that I mean one who embraces democracy), and in the end the Palestinian Authority would become just another undemocratic Arab regime we are condemned for supporting.
As for the whole Sharon "war criminal" label, take a look at the history of Yasser Arafat career in the PLO and then decide who the real "war criminal" is.
I do not agree with this, deterrence must be of a graduated kind. The Israelis would be defenceless against terrorist attacks, long range rocket, shelling and mortar attacks.
If the Israelis only had a nuclear deterrent, there willingness to use it would be constantly tested, and their existance would become impossible.
A similar situation pertained in europe during the cold war, whem Soviet conventional military force was superior to NATO's. NATO's defence rested on tactical nuclear weapons, the use of which, was never certain, because of a reluctance to cause widespread damage, and civilian casualties.
I wish ole Ted would take a shot at rubbin' me.
That way I could break his friggin' wrist and then twist his arm off and beat the sh!t out of him with it.
Photo from last Saturday, April 20th, in Washington, D.C.Uh, excuse me, Mr. Rall? As far as I know, the Jews in pre-WWII Germany weren't walking into beer halls during Oktoberfest and blowing themselves, and as many non-Jewish Germans as possible, into little pieces. I also don't recall any Jews going house to house in the early morning, shooting German civilians, including 5-year old children, in their beds.
Taunt a tiger, and you just might feel his claws. Assuming that the Israelis are indeed using all of these tactics, the Palis have no one but themselves to blame. The Pali militants have employed terrorism, have committed numerous atrocities and crimes against Israelis, and do not deserve to be treated with anything but disdain, and subjected to the overwhelming force that up to this point, the Israelis STILL have not employed.
The Palestinians should be thankful that Israel hasn't carpet bombed ALL of their miserable hovels, as the Palestinians would no doubt already have done to Israel, if they only possessed the military capability to do so. Israel has nukes. The Palis do not. Now ask yourself, if the situation were reversed, do you honestly believe for one moment that Israel would not be a smoldering crater by now?
This is one thread that requires no arguments from friends of Israel. I propose we just sit back and let the Israel-bashers sign up to keep company with Ted Rall. That says more about them than any expose any of us could write.
In the unlikely event that we ever are so stupid as to leave Israel to the mercy of the unmerciful Arab world and the Israel hating Europeans, we would have no leverage with which to demand that she refrain from conquoring and occupying the whole damn Arab World, which she could do if we got the hell out of the way.
Fact is that if Israel were as evil as the media likes to portray them-they would have attained peace with the Arabs long ago. The old fashioned way, by winning an @$$ kicking contest. We are the anchor that has held them back-a mistake on our part I believe.
The Arabs should be careful what they wish for-one of these days they may get it.
I agree that we should immediately stop ALL aid to any nation which does not FULLY cooperate in defeating Islamic terrorism. That would eliminate all aid to any muslim country, excepting possibly Pakistan (yet to be seen how much it will actually cooperate) and Turkey. Just adopting that policy would probably come close to making your 50% reduction.
As for the aid we give to Israel, the majority of it comes back to US companies in payment for military hardware and consumer goods. Considering our 1-1/2 TRILLION dollar annual budget, I doubt that the .00019% that goes to Israel would go very far towards paying for all those social services you say we can't afford. It might not even pay the unemployment checks for the laid-off defense workers who could lose jobs if Israel didn't buy billions of $ worth of our military hardware. It certainly wouldn't pay for the military and intelligence facilities we would have to establish in the middle east if not for our close relationship with Israel.
If not for our intervention, Saudi Arabia would have been utterly destroyed and it's oilfields taken over by Iraq. It shows it's gratitude by threatening to cut off our oil supply if we continue to support Israel, a nation which presents absolutely NO threat to Saudi Arabia. Yet it refuses to make more than a token contribution of 5 million per year to support the Palestinians, while we contribute 85 million per year to the people who celebrated 9/11 by dancing in their streets.
Israel is a modern, democratic, civilized nation which shares our cultural and democratic values. The rest of the area is a medieval mishmash of tribal barbarism and perpetual warfare. I can't understand how anyone can fail to see who our true friends are in the middle east, or where our best interests lie in that region.
You are quite right of course. I wish I had read your proposition before I hit the reply button for my previous post.
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