"Israel: American Ally or Liability?", by William C. Hall

I was amazed to read the following column in a local area newspaper, the “DeLand-Deltona Beacon”, of March 15-18, 2007.

William C. Hall wrote the article for his “Veritas” newspaper column. He is obviously a brave man. I was so impressed that I sent him an email and received his kind permission to reprint the column here. Thank you, Mr. Hall.


‘ISRAEL: AMERICAN ALLY OR LIABILITY?

‘At midnight on May 14, 1948 Israel declared its independence. Eleven minutes later, on orders from President Truman, the United States officially recognized the new nation and in doing so inextricably linked the United States with the fate of a new nation the size of New Jersey. Without American recognition, arms and financial aid, Israel would not have survived. Though unintended, President Truman’s gesture lit the fuse of 9/11.

‘Forty-eight years later, Richard Perle, a Reagan-era official who served under Dick Cheney at the Defense Department and would later serve as an adviser to Donald Rumsfeld in the Bush Defense Department, co-authored a foreign-policy advisory for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The report, titled “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,” advised: “[Israel to] break off ongoing peace initiatives” while characterizing the “removal of Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq [as] an important Israeli strategic objective.” Thus Richard Perle and other influential neocons in the current administration urged us to war in Iraq while not one Israeli soldier went in harm’s way for Israel’s “strategic objective.”

‘When one considers that the fundamental axiom of diplomacy is “nations do not have friends, merely interests,” it is imperative to ask, What compelling interest of the United States is served by a relationship that has led us to war in Iraq as Israel’s surrogate?

‘Even as we distance ourselves from “old Europe” (and they from us) and align our commercial interests more and more with China and India, Israel remains a tiny but disproportionately influential trading partner as well as a significant foreign-policy liability.

‘Our trade balance with Israel favors the United States by $8.1 billion, but it should be noted Israel’s imports are primarily subsidized American arms – an incendiary commerce in the Middle East. Furthermore, Israel is only 19th among our trading partners with a GDP of $114 billion. To put that into perspective, Florida’s GDP is $500 billion. Israel is therefore as economically significant (to us) as Switzerland. It is difficult to imagine a scenario whereby we would go to war on behalf of Switzerland’s interests!

‘In geopolitical terms, Israel is frequently characterized as an important ally, but she is an ally that has not come to our aid in a war in Israel’s front yard. By contrast, the Bush administration has heaped scorn on the French for their refusal to join in our nightmare of holy war with the fanatics who control much of the world’s energy supply.

‘The reason usually given for Israel’s conspicuous absence from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan is the alleged risk of inflaming the Islamic world. Considering current events, it is hard to imagine how much more inflamed Islam could become, and therefore the question remains: Why aren’t Israeli troops fighting alongside Americans – or – why are we still in Iraq?

‘Our foreign policy has been, and continues to be, influenced by a large and well-financed Israel lobby. While we should not disregard our Judeo-Christian heritage and the soil from which it springs, we need to recall Jefferson’s foreign-policy dictum: “Honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.”’

‘Copyright 2007 All rights reserved. Carder Hall Media LLC. Send e-mail to carderw@cfl.rr.com.’