The Linkers and the Thinkers": Is Americas Support For Israel Hurting America (2)

The Linkers position is premised on the notion that if Israel is disliked by its neighbors America will be disliked by Israel’s neighbors. This is because America is perceived as supporting Israel. Monetarily in the form of 2.2 billion a year, militarily by sharing much of Americas advanced weaponry , and politically by defending Israel in the UN, UNHRC, and UNSC.

If supporting Israel is so detrimental to American interests then why does America support Israel? The linker responds that the Israeli lobby has a tight hold on the US congress and demands support for Israel, as the price for electoral backing by AIPAC.
Some more intelligent linkers concede that America has a moral obligation to support Israel.
This moral obligation is an extension of the Truman doctrine which sought to constrain post World War II Soviet expansion, by supporting all Democracies. Israel is the only Democracy in the Middle-East. Linkers contend that America’s political and strategic obligations trump their moral obligations.

This is the crux of the Carter/Brzezinski/Obama argument. America is faced with an either or scenario, support Israel or support the Arabs. Their conclusion is that they must, from a strategic perspective, support the Arabs –in some instances by pressuring Israel. In other words there is no middle-ground. Brzezinski, Obamas Foreign policy advisory recent statements reflect this either-or perspective. In response to the question of what America should do if Israel attempts to use Iraqi airspace to bomb Iran nuclear facilities:

" Well, we have to be serious about denying them that right. That means a denial where you aren’t just saying it. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not. No one wishes for this but it could be a Liberty in reverse."(http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2009/09/brezinski-calls-for-obama-to-shoot-down-israeli-jets-a-liberty-in-reverse.html)

In other words EITHER let Israel use Iraqi space controlled by America to prevent Iran from going nuclear -a threat the Israelis see as existential -OR take the Iran side, and by proxy Syria and Lebanon, and shoot down Israeli planes. This despite the fact that America agrees (from a moral standpoint and as Thinkers argue also from a strategic standpoint) that Iran should not have nuclear weapons. Thus taking the position that, strategically, Iran is more important than Israel, even though morally Israel is in the right.

Furthermore the linkers assert that there is no gray area – a scenario like Israel doing what it must and America criticizing Israel after the fact, which America must.

The linkers take this perspective and apply it to the Israel decision to build in Jerusalem. They claim that Israel must be stopped at all costs because strategically it’s in America’s interest to do so. After all the stability of the middle-east is linked to Israel’s actions.

Indeed the linkers rhetorically contend, "would America rather have Iran, Syria, and the rest of the Muslim world as allies or little troublesome Israel"?

There are many variations of this argument. For example some linkers concede that Israel is not the cause of ALL instability in the larger middle-east, but that it is one cause that needs to be addressed.In other words Israel is a smaller problem to American interests then hard-core linkers think, BUT STILL A PROBLEM.

Some that take this view, explain that America would be better off allying with Iran and Turkey -both non Arabic states- then they would with the Israel/Jordan/Egypt/Saudi Arabia faction. After all Iran and Turkey are burgeoning powers in the region AND are Muslim. Indeed this view is relatively comprehensive in that explains Iran's drive for nuclear weapons and Turkeys reorientation towards the region as an attempt to create the political capital to bend American foreign policy. The linker urges America to accept.

The bottom line is that Linkers argue that it is in America’s strategic interest to pressure Israel or pull support.

For the Thinker it is strategically AND morally essential for America to ally completely with Israel. This will be discussed in part three of this series.