By Mordechai Ben Menachem
I disagree with Walter Russell Mead’s arguments in
The Citizens of this Extraordinary State have every Reason to look Forward with Hope
“Disregarding Truman’s pleas and warnings from Western military leaders that they faced certain defeat, the Jews of Palestine voted for independence. They went on to win the War of Independence, thanks largely to an influx of Soviet-bloc weapons from Czechoslovakia, but 75 years later questions about its future still swirl around the Jewish state.”
Factually incorrect:
A) The Jews of Palestine DID NOT vote for independence. Firstly, there was no vote (though had one been taken, it would have resulted, in my opinion in a vote for independence).
B) There were no pleas and warnings” from Truman. There were some (not many and quite general) from the US State Department. When have they EVER been right, about anything? Truman officially recognized the State of Israel 11 (eleven) minutes after its declaration. See: McDonald, James; My Mission in Israel 1948-1951.
C) “Largely to an influx ofSoviet weapons” No, wile a small amount of weapons arrived from Czechoslovakia, weapons and ammunition also arrived via the actions of the so called Jewish Mafia (with active aid of the Sicilian Mafia). The majority of ammunition came from this source.
“But the most important question facing Israelis today is the future of their relationship with the U.S. There is nothing written in the stars that guarantees its permanence. For the first 25 years of Israel’s independence, American presidents were more interested in cultivating Arab leaders and blocking the Israeli nuclear program than in aligning with Jerusalem. Only after Richard Nixon concluded that an Israeli defeat in the 1973 Yom Kippur War would empower the Soviet Union across the Middle East did Washington move toward a strategic relationship.”
Despite American continued delusions with their own central importance to everything and everyone, our relations with the United States, while important, are far, quite far, from the most important issue facing the country, nor is it the issue most discussed. Many Israelis, including this author, question whether the United States, in its present form, will survive this decade. American seem incapable of comprehending anything longer term than a year. We think in terms of Millenia. Sorry America, you are important, but you are not, and never have been, the sole focus of the world. Nixon helped us in 1973 with ammunition, and we are very grateful to him and to America for it. America has now unilaterally rescinded that agreement for strategic ammunition storage here;; guess what? We will manage; really!
“Today, though, many Americans, especially progressive Democrats, believe that U.S. interests in the face of climate change require a rapid global shift from fossil fuel. Many others, especially among Trump-friendly Republicans, question whether the U.S. should remain globally engaged. The future of the U.S.-Israel relationship depends on how these two debates are resolved.”
American ME relationships in general, and with Israel much more so, have almost nothing to do with supply of oil to America. It does have somewhat to do with the supply of energy to American allies in Europe. Except America, under Biden, rejects all its allies, including Europe, and everyone outside of the US knows this. In reality, Israel is America’s LAST ALLY. America NEEDS Israel today much more than Israel needs America. I know, that is a shocking statement. Practically speaking, every American tech company does primary R&D in Israel. Even Ford, whose founder was Hitler’s primary funder, now does R&D here. How is that for irony? Intel Israel is larger than Intel USA; and the list is large.
Today’s US military, which appears to most of the world as impotent and incompetent, is wholly dependent upon Israel for large portions of its critical intelligence sources, and NOT just in the ME. BTW, that was true during the Cold War, as well.
“How much does the Middle East matter if the world is moving away from fossil fuel? “
This question displays the basic geo-strategic ignorance with which the US suffers. The need for the ME is totally independent from oil. The ME is, as it always has been, at the center of the World Island and is its fulcrum. The examples given in the article are all trivia.
” if isolationist perspectives among Democratic progressives or Republican populists dominate the agenda, U.S.-Israel relations likely will cool”
Again, if the US, or its parts, remains, in any way, engaged in the world, in trade or in geo-stateic interests, Israel is critical for the US; in intelligence, in technology, in innovation and in economics. As one example (of hundreds), Israel is FAR ahead of the US in Artificial Intelligence. Every US company active in tis area, is doing its primary work in Israel. Any American ‘anylist’ who does not take this aspect in consideration, is either ignorant of facts or …
“In any case, Israel today is orders of magnitude stronger, wealthier and more influential than it was in 1948. History offers no guarantees and problems remain, but the citizens of this extraordinary state have every reason to look forward with hope.”
Israel today has a higher birth rate, higher female fertility, higher GDP per capita, higher life expectancy than the United States. Israel has fewer murders, with all the issues with our neighbours, in a year than Chicago in a weekend. Our Social stability is far safer. Our banking stability is far safer. Our population, despite the issues we have at the moment with our ‘fascinating’ politics’, is far more cohesive than the USA.
In other words, by EVERY ‘objective’ measurement, Israel is far more assured of a future than America. By non-objective measurement, we also believe, and this includes the secular population as well, in our promised future.
That is also more than America can say.
Sorry to tell you America, but it really IS time to grow up or to grow down.
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