The Linkers and the Thinkers": Is Americas Support For Israel Hurting America (3)

The argument that linkers present is that it is in America’s STRATEGIC interest to do everything possible to pressure Israel to do "so and so" in order to gain the good will of the Arabs, and the Muslim world.

Thinkers dispute this strategic claim on two grounds.

1. While it is better for America and Israel, if Israel is at peace with its neighbors, the fact that America supports Israel’s self determination is not the reason why so many in the larger middle-east are at odds with America. For example al-Qaeda spokesmen have repeatedly pointed to Americas corrupting influence in Muslims societies and America’s military presence in countries like Saudi Arabia, for their attacks. Iran's revolution aims at establishing a global Muslim society; of course America and Israel are equally in opposition to this goal. Israel is officially in a state of war with Saudi Arabia yet the Saudi's are staunch allies of America, the same can be said of the Gulf States.

Thus the assertion that Israel is the reason for the instability in the middle-east and that America by supporting Israel losses out strategically is patently false.

Do terrorists use Israel as an excuse to attack westerners, yes, but there is NO real evidence that it is more than an excuse. Should America pull back its support for Israel simply because some terrorists want to kill two birds with one stone -justify their terror and at the same time drive a wedge between America and its natural ally?!

However the thinker concedes that even if it’s just an excuse still it is a minor reason why America should withdraw support from Israel, IF AND ONLY IF there are not real and important reasons not to withdraw support.

In other words if America gains nothing by supporting Israel why bother. The thinker contends that there are tremendous strategic benefits to maintaining a strong relationship with Israel. This leads into the second part of the thinker’s argument.

1. Israel is a reliable AND stable ally in a region where a friendly regime can turn into a mortal enemy in the blink of an eye. Take Iran's secular Mohammad-Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, who was a staunch strategic ally of America until over night the Iranian Islamic revolution occurred... Egypt is a somewhat strong ally of America but Mubarak is old and who knows how influential the Muslim Brotherhood is...etc. Israel however, has real ideological reasons to ally, with America. There are historical ties going back to Truman's support for the establishment of Israel, and cultural ties of the two biggest Jewish communities in the world. Furthermore Israel like America is a nation of immigrants who believe in hard work, equal opportunity, separation between religion and state, protection of basic freedoms etc. Most importantly Israel like America has a stable political structure founded on staunch Democratic foundations. America CAN RELY ON ISRAEL'S SUPPORT REGRDLESS OF WHO IS INCHARGE.

2. Israel has the highest rate of start-ups, per capita in the world, followed by America. This translates into a vibrant and exceptionally innovative economy. Thus Israel developed the cell-phone, and was a major contributor to R&D of solar power, desalination of water, and the first known vaccine for cancer (cervical cancer). Like America, much of Israel’s civilian innovation stems from its security needs and the tremendous investment in advanced military technology. Thus the internet developed as a fall-back communication option for the American military has been transformed into the number one means of communication in the globe -the proverbial "beat your swords into plowshares".
American companies realize this and IBM and Intel have their biggest plants, outside the USA, in Israel. Strong support for Israel translates into preferential exchange of ideas between these two great innovators.

3. The flip-side of pulling support from Israel means that other emerging and ambitious economies will invariably step in. China has already begun to establish cultural roots in Israel. OF COURSE Israel prefers a moral and democratic society like America as a partner, but Israel will NOT BE LOOKED OVER BY AMERICAS COMPETITORS!
Indeed in 2002 Israel canceled a deal to upgrade Chinese military vehicles because of American objections, that may not be the case in the future.

4. Linkers like to point to numbers: there are over a billion Muslims and only 5.9 million Jewish-Israelis and 14 million Jews. America should view the numerical disparity and, for strategic reasons, side with the Muslims. The thinker responds that in this era quantity does not necessarily trump quality. Yes there are over a billion Muslims, and over 350 million Arabs surrounding Israel, but Israelis still the power of the region. The only way to explain this, from a secular standpoint, is that Israel's quality outperforms Arab/Iranian quantity.

5. The above are just strategic reasons why America is blessed by its relationship with Israel. There are myriad moral reasons, religious and secular.
G-d promised the land of Israel to the Jews. Muslims and Christians believe in the Bible, though many Muslims have conveniently turned their back on this.
From a secular standpoint, Israel has rabid anti-Israel and anti-Semitic Arabs in its parliament. Why because they where democratically elected. Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia do not, because they do not believe in equality.

Moreover the reason why Congress and many Americans support Israel is NOT BECAUSE OF THE ISRAELI LOBBY AIPAC BUT BECAUSE OF THE ABOVE REASONS THAT AIPAC REMINDS AND EDUCATES AMERICANS ABOUT.

The recent gaff between America and Israel is unfortunate and normal between friends but for America to pull support from Israel, for the thinker, is a strategic blunder of EPIC PROPORTIONS.