Time To Talk About Israel

Maybe it’s time to talk about Israel

I believe that we are at war in the Middle East right now, as we have been so often in the past 77 years, because of Israel.

In 1948, the creation of Israel was a very well-intentioned and humane idea. The centuries long record of victimization of the Jewish people in countries dominated by others, and particularly in the wake of the Holocaust, made the creation of a Jewish State an admirable goal. How wonderful it would be to create a place where Jews could have their own country, where they could be protected from constant persecution and where they could live in peace.

Well, it’s been three-quarters of a century now and it’s time to ask how well that idea has worked out. I suggest not well. Israel has not enjoyed any significant period of peace since its creation.

And that hasn’t just been Israel’s problem. It has also become ours’.

Prior to World War I our relations with the Middle East were limited. We did business there and our major military intervention was when we fought the Ottomans because Thomas Jefferson refused to pay them a tribute. A hundred years later, after World War I, Britain and France took control of most Middle East territories through Mandates from the League of Nations. We refused to accept any of those Mandates and as result, according to Louise Fawcett, an Oxford historian specializing in the Middle East, we were “popular and respected” throughout the region, “seen as good people, untainted by the selfishness and duplicity associated with the Europeans.”

Then, around World War II things changed. It was around this time that the impetus for a Jewish State had gained traction and we were supporting it. On the flip side, there was also a growing sense of nationalism within the Middle Eastern people. They opposed the creation of the Jewish state in the middle of where they were already living.

The opposition of the Gulf States to the creation of Israel took many forms, most of them bellicose. And because of our support for Israel, we became associated with the efforts they opposed. Our interventions on behalf of Israel were not always direct, but they all were the result of the antipathy of the Middle Eastern countries to Israel. It had become in our national interest to engage in military actions against many Middle Eastern countries because their opposition to Israel had generated a build-up of their military and the creation of splinter terrorist groups that posed threats to us. Consequently, we have had an ongoing military presence in the Middle East for over 70 years. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, we have supplied Israel with over $300 billion dollars in total economic and military assistance. We fought wars in Lebanon in 1958 and in Iraq in 1991. Our presence became a major inspiration for Osama Bin Laden’s 9-11 attack which, in turn, led to our wasteful wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have ongoing operations now in Syria. 

No longer are we “popular and respected” among the Arab nations. No longer are we “seen as good people.” Not hardly. We are “The Great Satan.”

I don’t mean that this change in how we are viewed is entirely because of Israel. In Iran, in particular, we did ourselves no favors by overthrowing their elected leader, Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953 and installing the brutal dictatorship of the Shah. But our closeness to Israel has played a dominant role. It is no coincidence that the dual proclamations we hear from Arab states are “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”

And now we have been dragged into another one. This time, as in all the others, we are told that we are waging war to make the peace. To quote one of my favorite philosophers, George Carlin, “Making war for peace is like making love for virginity.”

This war, just like the others, will not bring peace. We will not achieve peace in the Middle East by bombarding the enemies of Israel. That will only serve to intensify the already existing fury that permeates the area. 

I am not arguing for the elimination of Israel, not at all. I am only arguing that we finally recognize that the creation of Israel has not worked out the way we hoped it might. I am only arguing that rather than bring about the deserved peace and safety for the Jewish people that we dreamed of, Israel has brought to the region only more hatred and struggle. I am only arguing that we re-evaluate our attitude about that country and its role in the world. I am only arguing that maybe, just maybe, an American policy with a more even-handed approach in supporting all of the countries of the Middle East might be able to achieve peace a lot better than what we have tried so far.

By saying all of this, I will probably be called a self-hating Jew. So, in response, let me quote another of my favorite philosophers, Larry David, “I may hate myself, but it has nothing to do with being Jewish.”