American hypocrisy, in the name of democracy

Even as the Biden administration sounds the alarm on Israel’s democratic character, it provides support of many billions of dollars to countries where the courts are for show only, whose rulings are dictated by the government, and where human rights have been trampled on for many years.

By  Nadav Shragai, ISRAEL HAYOM  24.2.23

The White House in Washington | Photo: AP/Ron Edmonds

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s low-key reaction to the “Breaks Speech” by US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides, and the fact that the entire right-wing government has actually ignored the blatant US attempt to interfere in the great debate in Israel about the legal reform, aroused among some of us – and, I must admit, myself included – a burst of nostalgia and a strong desire for a different Israeli response.

Even though, Netanyahu made it clear that “Israel will remain a strong and independent democracy”,  it was impossible not to remember another American storm, 41 years ago after Israel annexed the Golan Heights, and the US’ response to that.

The US ambassador to Israel at the time, Sam Lewis, declared that “accepting the Golan Law is nothing more than sticking a knife in the back of the US.” Later, the US joined the Security Council’s decision and stated that the Israeli ruling is null and void and that Israel must repeal the law within two weeks. US Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger even declared that he was punishing Israel by suspending the security memorandum of understanding that had been signed with the latter only two weeks earlier, and delaying the supply of F-16 fighter jets.

But back then Israel rubbed its eyes in surprise: Prime Minister Menachem Begin summoned US Ambassador Lewis and “told him exactly what I thought” without unnecessary diplomatic mannerisms. “What kind of attitude is it ‘to punish’? Are we your vassal state? Are we a banana republic? Are we 14-year-old kids who, if we don’t behave well, get rapped on the knuckles …? You don’t scare us with your punishments. We are not frightened by your threats … You have no right to punish Israel. The nation of Israel existed for 3,700 years without a memorandum of understanding with the US and will continue to exist for another 3,700 years without such a memorandum. Please notify the secretary of state that the Golan Law will remain in effect. Please inform the secretary of state that the memorandum of understanding that you have suspended; we are completely canceling.”

And as if this was not enough for Begin, he sent the secretary of the cabinet at that time, Aryeh Naor, to read the words of reprimand against the US ambassador, word for word, to the whole world.

Nides also treated us condescendingly in a recent podcast, somewhat like children: “We’re telling the prime minister, as I tell my kids. Pump the brakes. Slow down, try to get a consensus, bring the parties together.” Nides made it clear that we the US will not ignore actions that go against its democratic values and then explained: “The one thing that binds our countries together is a sense of democracy and a sense of democratic institution. That’s how we defend Israel at the UN, that’s how we stand up for the values that we share.”

Thus Nides continued the approach of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who directly told Netanyahu that the bond between Israel and the US is founded on democratic values.

An alliance of interests

The concern expressed by Nides and Blinken for our democracy is heartwarming, but in this case, our friend, the greatest democracy in the world, takes the name of democracy in vain. The US does not respect the results of the elections in Israel and the internal democratic process that took place and continues to exist here. Moreover, this new and fabricated formula, of partnering with and supporting Israel only on the basis of “shared democratic values,” sounds good but is not real. The US invests in Israel not only because of “shared values,” but mainly because of shared intelligence, security, economic and military interests. For example, a large part of the US aid remains in the US as Israel’s payment for weaponry systems.

Yes – there are also values, but the Americans are now using them selectively.

The Americans are providing support of many billions of dollars to countries that are very far from democracy; countries where the courts are often courts for the sake of appearance only, whose rulings are dictated by the government, and where human rights have been trampled on for many years. There would have been no point in arguing with them if it hadn’t been for Biden’s insomnia and that of his representatives here and their serious concern for Israeli democracy; the one that allows – just as it should – a protest by tens and hundreds of thousands in the streets against a government that was elected in strictly democratic elections only four months ago.

It suffices to look at Amnesty reports on Egypt, Jordan, and other countries to which the US is pumping aid, to learn about the state of human rights there. Egypt, for example, has continuously conducted “arbitrary mass arrests, severe suppression of the right to freedom of expression, association, and assembly, and the illegal killing of demonstrators and detainees,” in Jordan, babies, who were born out of wedlock, are separated from their mothers, women, who held extramarital relationships, are arrested, and men in Jordan are allowed to control women as if they were their property.

Saudi Arabia, well padded with many deals with the US, is not exactly a model of democracy for the world, but America is concerned with the only country in the region that was, is, and will be in the future, a democratic country, with or without legal reform.

The Americans claim: Netanyahu also interfered in our internal affairs, when he gave a speech to Congress, against the position of the then US President, Barack Obama, on the nuclear agreement with Iran. True, but the difference is overwhelming: That agreement directly concerned the possibility of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons that would be aimed against Israel. What concerns our national security more than such an issue? The event this time is different: there is no connection between the legal reform in Israel and national security or any other core interest of the US. So why is it the US’s business?

Put your foot on the brake

I would like to cautiously raise a suspicion here, and that is that some of the opponents of the judicial reform approached the Americans and asked them to intervene in the internal dispute among us. Currently, the evidence for this is only circumstantial, but one day, it will deem fit to find out the true facts. In the meantime we must hope, for the sake of all of us – both supporters and opponents of the judicial reform – that Netanyahu will respond to this blatant interference in our internal affairs, at least as strongly as he responded to the US support for the Security Council’s scandalous statement in late February regarding Jewish settlements.

There also, Israel has the right to an independent policy but is definitely an issue that influences US’ foreign policy, which is not the case in the saga of the legal reform.

Forty years after the US defined the Golan Law as stabbing a knife in its heart, current Ambassador Nides was asked at a conference in Jerusalem whether the American administration would continue its policy of recognizing the Golan as part of the State of Israel and he replied: “Absolutely, yes”.

In 40 years’ time, perhaps another American ambassador will serve here who will similarly recognize the reality that Israel, as an independent state, has created in the heart of its historical homeland, Judea and Samaria. Half a million Jews already live there today, and in four decades, when the number doubles and a million Jews live there, even the US vote this week at the Security Council will be regarded as an irrelevant historical episode, not to mention its position on the issue of the legal reform.

The latest American intervention in the judicial reform debate, based on “shared democratic values,” is dangerous for us all – both supporters and opponents of the reform. Today it is the reform and tomorrow it will be issues related to Israel’s war on terrorism, religious or secular legislation on matters concerning the relationships between the ultra-Orthodox and secular sectors in Israel, and even the activation of the GSS to fight crime in the Arab sector in Israel, which the US will decide are incompatible with our “shared democratic values.”

We should, therefore, politely ask our dear friend, who has invested here mainly for personal interests, but also due to “shared values”, to take a deep breath and put their foot on the brake. Theirs, not ours.