This isn’t necessarily a new claim, but it’s come back like crabgrass since Israel is taking Hamas to the woodshed in Gaza. The Left has finally embraced who they really are in this issue, becoming comfortable in their antisemitic skin. They’re shouting slogans that aren’t too dissimilar from what the Nazis shouted in 1939, except this version has an Islamic face to it. I’m talking about the supposed Jewish lobby and the ungodly influence the American Israel Public Affairs Committee supposedly has. It doesn’t matter which crank you encounter on this issue; AIPAC is some shadow government, and all aid to Jerusalem is detrimental to American interests. It’s made worse by the fact that it has received scholarly credibility, as seen in 2007’s "The Jewish Lobby" by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, although I doubt the intifada crowd has read the work.
Yet, this side has earned some support among the Right, with these folks oddly trying to go through old clips of the late Charlie Kirk to show some Israel skepticism. None exists. Kirk was not anti-Israel. In fact, he even wrote a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing his support. I won’t get into who’s who, but you’ve seen people on the Right spewing absolute nonsense on Twitter. It’s a free country, but it’s not like our officials arrive in Jerusalem every quarter with a massive check like Publisher’s Clearing House. Also, American businesses benefit from this relationship.
Israel gets US military aid, most of which, around 75 percent, goes through our defense industry. Israel gets the weapons to defend itself. America supports the only democracy in the Middle East, along with its intelligence-sharing interests. Israel can only buy American regarding armaments. So, wholesome people might get huffy over this being foreign welfare, but it’s not. If it is, then it’s a bit of an odd arrangement. Israel receives aid, but it can only buy American goods, and it only helps American workforces. In fact, only about 5 percent of aid is spent inside Israel, and even that small amount is being phased out under the newest aid agreement. The relationship works because Jerusalem sees the bigger picture: we get paid for our weapons, and they stay alive.
However, this debate isn’t immune to criticism. The bombs stamped ‘made in America’ have long been a source of contention among the pro-terrorist sects, and there is something to be said about those wary of the industrial military complex. If you pay this industry all this money to make weapons, you need to test them somehow. Endless wars keep things fed, but that’s nothing new. Does AIPAC lobby hard for this stuff? Yes. But it’s the American defense contractors who make the key runs up the middle for first downs.
Helping Israel defeat Hamas is 'America First' for multiple reasons. Dead terrorists and a domestic jobs program obviously benefit Americans. America's well-being is supported by democracies abroad—this is a no-brainer for members of Congress. It’s not a hard sell, because anyone can see where the mutual interest rests. If one wants to have a debate about aid to Israel, then they should turn their attention to Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing—the primary drivers for this operation. And I doubt those who wish to cut off aid to the Jewish State will find much support, as that would be putting a domestic jobs program in the crosshairs. And we all know how members of Congress love to get behind initiatives that could result in job losses in their districts, said by no one ever.
