In Israel, several events have once again set off the world-is-collapsing flashing red lights.
There are times when Jews, or more specifically Israelis, seem paranoid. History’s lessons would suggest that such paranoia is reasonable. When the world tried to push a “Two State Solution,” Israelis on left and right pointed out that if the full “West Bank” of the Jordan River was given to the Palestinians, Israel’s “waist” at its shortest point would only be a few miles wide—something that could easily allow for the country to be cut in two. When Israelis kvetched that they heard digging under their houses in the south and north, they were at times told by their own government that it was their imagination. Then, during an earlier Gaza war, Hamas fighters started popping up in Israeli wheat fields. With one more miracle on tap, the crop had just been harvested, so the terrorists were easy pickings for Apache helicopters as they had nowhere to hide.
Two events last week got the locals a bit worried. One was JD Vance’s talk with Joe Rogan, in which he once again badmouthed Israel and claimed that the country wanted war over his MOU. The other was the House vote on a bill from Thomas Massie (R-Loser) to stop funding all military aid to Israel—including defensive systems. While the vote went against the proposed amendment, over 100 Democrats supported the measure. So a paranoid Israeli politician sees both younger Republicans and Democrats turning against the only democracy in the Middle East. Local headlines saw the end of the world. Is the trend dangerous? Is it surprising?
Every year there is the holiday of Passover. When reading the Haggadah on the first night of the holiday, one is implored to see himself as having left the bondage of Egypt. Now we all have good imaginations. It’s not hard for me to see myself wearing some type of white cloth as I complain endlessly about how hot it is, and how there are no air-conditioned buses running in the Egyptian desert. Kidding aside, we are enjoined to see ourselves going through the events that are clearly described in the Exodus of the Jewish people. Now those people of Donald Trump’s generation remember Israel’s founding or its early years when it fought for its existence and had the miraculous victory in 1967. Donald Trump personally has been close to Jews for all of his life. That generation of people who have known Israel for most of its existence is moving on in life. The younger folks, like JD Vance and many of the Democrats who voted for ending military aid to Israel, have grown up with the Palestinian storyline of mean Israel taking their land. Israel to them is Congo or the Netherlands. There is no attachment, no special feeling of a land that took in the remnants of the Holocaust and brought life back to Jews and Judaism. Many of those who fought in 1948 were themselves Holocaust survivors. Add to the challenge American Jews who also are drifting away from support for Israel, who see “justice” for a bunch of terrorists and their supporters more important than backing their brethren and the world’s only Jewish state.
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So, on the one hand, it is no surprise that as the Democrats move from their geriatric pro-Israel leaders to younger socialism-is-cool DSA members, Israel will be left high and dry. It is also no surprise that Groypers and Jew-loathers like Tucker Carlson and his friends will find a niche in the Republican world. I don’t think that their numbers are nearly as big as they believe, as their candidates—like Massie—keep losing primaries to MAGA folks. Israel will have friends, and she will also have options. One of the interesting stories that came out after Lindsey Graham passed away was a conversation between him and Bibi Netanyahu. The latter related that he wants Israel to be free of U.S. aid, so as to avoid the partisan spigot-turning that is being played out now. Graham told him under no circumstances would he give up on the aid, as it is a boon to the U.S. both in military knowledge gained and the plus that the U.S. has in supporting a Jewish state. The former is absolutely true, even for haters like Tucker and Joe Kent. The latter is a function of belief. If one believes that God blesses those who bless the Jews, then $3 billion out of a multi-trillion-dollar budget is money super well-spent. Every country that turned against the Jews or drove them out turned to a smoldering pile of dung.
An interesting set of events is playing out in the middle of Israel right now. The U.S. has dozens of refueling tankers at Ben Gurion Airport, the nation’s primary gateway to the world. Like a host who tries to find a way to politely ask a guest to leave, Israel has been making noises that the large number of USAF planes is interfering with normal airport activities. So Israel has asked the U.S. to move the planes out, especially as Israel is presently on the sidelines of the war. Israel has suggested moving the planes to Israeli air force bases. And finally, the minister of transportation gave an order not to let the tankers land. All of the efforts have fallen on deaf American ears. The tankers will stay put. The airport has lots of anti-missile support and is well-suited for U.S. air operations. So Israel is not the big boss that Tucker and his ilk claim; rather, the U.S. is the one calling the shots, or as Donald Trump recently stated, Bibi Netanyahu understands who the real boss is. And he does.
When a 2,000-meter rowing race begins, it starts in a helter-skelter fashion of very high cadence and short strokes to get the boat moving. At some point, the coxswain will bellow, “Settle!” and the rowers will move into a fast but sustainable pace for the duration of the race. This “Settle!” probably was inevitable for the U.S.-Israel relationship. The Holocaust survivors are moving on to a better world. Those in the U.S. who were there for most or all of Israel’s amazing modern history are also leaving the field of play. Younger folks of both parties who take Israel’s existence for granted and buy into Muslim Brotherhood lies about Israel’s actions with respect toward the Palestinians are not surprisingly turning against her. The October 7, 2023, massacre gained the Jewish state 10 minutes of sympathy but then cued the pre-planned “Israel is evil, genocidal, etc.” program in the West. Remember, 33 Harvard groups blamed Israel for the attack on the day after the pogrom. A few days later, Israel was accused of genocide in Western protests, though the IDF had not begun its formal military response. The massacre should have reinforced the idea of a Jewish state; in the West, it instead let Jew haters from left and right attack Jews and Israel without any connection to the reality of Gaza or the Palestinian operation to wipe out the Jewish state. Did you see any protests in the last three years demanding two states for two peoples? Me neither. It’s all eliminationist now: from the river to the sea, just kill all of the Jews and make Israel vanish. Oops, I mean, Palestine will be free….
The U.S.-Israel relationship will change after Donald Trump. It may become more transactional, and the U.S. does benefit enormously from its friendship with Israel. Every high-tech company has a research office here, and the U.S. gets all of Israel’s military tech and knowledge. The world is not collapsing, but the relationship may well be changing.
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