Tuesday, March 11, 2014

The US Has A Special Friend In Israel: Rare Dissent Unveiled

The US has a special relationship with the state of Israel. The reasons are many as are the consequences. Carved out of Palestine at the end of WWII, Israel has been in existence as a sovereign state since 1948. This is not a history of Israel but a few brief points can be made. In 1967 Israel went to war with its neighbors and expanded its territory, into the Sinai peninsula and north and south of Jerusalem into the area now known as the West Bank.

Every few years there are seemingly endless negotiations for peace, but then, the war returns. After the historical peace accords in the late 1970's brokered by the US and cementing relations between Israel and Egypt, conflict again broke out. In the 1980's there was war with Lebanon, the neighbor to the north. In the '80's and '90's conflict with Palestinians within Israel intensified, further hardening the barriers between the portion of Israel known as the Gaza strip and the rest of the country. Another major peace accord between Palestinians and the Israeli state seemed to be coming to conclusion in 1999-2000, only to fall apart.

In the early 2000's conflict was resumed and massive destruction of Palestinian neighborhoods in Gaza and the West Bank became policy for Israel. Random bombings, assassinations and establishment of 'border terrorist-checkpoints' became common. For generations the US has been supplying Israel with billions of dollars in aid and military equipment. Despite official denials and unlike the rest of their neighbors, Israel has nuclear weapons. A great wall began being built to separate inhabitants in  the West Bank from the rest of Israel. Any aid that goes to Gaza or the West Bank is controlled, filtered and combed through by Israeli Defense Forces. Anything else must be smuggled there.

Since September 11, 2001 a policy of the US Government has been to starkly define friends and enemies. Isreal and the UK are called friends, Syria and Iran were called enemies. Iran and Syria supplied arms to allies in Lebanon and Gaza to be used against Israel. The posturing, propaganda and escalation of tactics are regular symptoms of the instability and tension on both sides. There is a quick discussion of the current state of negotiations over the acknowledgement of Isreal as a 'Jewish state' in today's news, on NPR.  In the US the language is so consistent regarding our special friendship with Isreal that dissenting opinions are rarely heard here.

Cultural, intellectual and commercial ties with Israel and the US are strong and deep. In business, in education, in entertainment, engineering and the media, American Jews have been unquestionably necessary in the 20th century for American progress and advancement. In movies, in music, in physics, the humanities and all other arts, imagining an American 20th century without those Americans of Jewish heritage at the forefront of all these fields and more, is impossible. But to hear a dissenting opinion about policy generated by the Israeli state or the US, remains rare.

Willingness to criticize US or Israeli policy can and has led to professional marginalization by one's peers and even, in some cases, clandestine surveillance. So it is with some surprise that last week a number of Americans, who have had reason to criticize Israel or the US with regard to Israel, came together to spend a day presenting their evidence to the public. It was filmed and aired on CSPAN March 7, 2014. The eight hour video is here. I include it here because it shows the kind of transparency that while very rare, is available and possible. It also details the kinds and depth of support the US has for its special friend in the middle east in ways that are seldom heard. This is also one of those few but dramatic differences in attitudes between the west now and the west during the European Renaissance.

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