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American Empire and Antisemitism
Until the aftermath of October 7th, 2023, I would have been sure that America, in the balance, was squarely in Israel’s corner and ready and willing to do the right thing to defend the Jewish state. I still feel that America is 70% there, but my confidence has frankly been shaken by the egregious antisemitism displayed on American universities, as well as the unabashed linking of further Abraham Accords progress with Israel’s willingness to negotiate a Palestinian state. (Imagine if, after 9/11, the EU had linked support for America’s war against Afghanistan with political support of the Taliban.) Netanyahu has been strongly against rewarding terrorism with political concessions, and I hope he and Israel continue to stand against it.
We need America to stop using “strategic ambiguity” to walk back her support for allies. When Putin invaded Ukraine, it was clear to me that President Biden’s so-called incompetence was intentional, to capitulate on Afghanistan and Ukraine, partly to reorient toward China, and partly to reconsolidate NATO and make more profitable deals going forward. There was never any intention to help Ukraine “win” against Russia, which is amazingly tragic. The U.S. has been losing on purpose. To a certain extent, Nixon to Carter served a similar purpose. America was on the decline, until mysteriously she resurged in the late 80s, up until the early 2000s.
Big picture, what does such a pursuit do to society? It separates the citizen from the state (contrary to the wishes of progressives) and the local from the global. This is mainly because politics are now almost indecipherable. Most people realize that secret deals now define American foreign policy (and much domestic policy), not public discussion or elections. What does such a policy mean for antisemitism? At home, it means people, unable to find straightforward reasons for political upheaval, will put forward increasingly virulent scapegoating conspiracy theories, and unfortunately Jews will bear much of that abuse. In the minds of antisemites, surely the Jews are manipulating world events and causing the world to go downhill.
Abroad, using allies such as Ukraine as bargaining chips does not bode well either for U.S. support for Israel in the future or for the use of U.S. soft power to counter global antisemitism. For part of Israel’s history, the loose tie that bound it to the U.S. was mutually agreed upon. Israel didn’t want to be the 51st state of the U.S., nor did the U.S. seek to annex Israel. Given the events of the last decades, and certainly since October 7th, 2023, it is clear that the U.S. is the only major ally that Israel has. If the U.S. were to utilize similarly ambiguous logic as has been used with Ukraine, it could lead to a capitulation on Israel’s sovereignty. America must not do this.
Finally, as it appears that President Biden’s White House has already accepted that Iran will get a nuclear weapon; if Iran and Saudi Arabia get nukes soon, will they largely use the weapons to threaten each other? Or will they, in concert, use the weapons to coerce Israel into conceding increasingly more of her sovereignty and security preferences? Both are likely and are not mutually exclusive. If the Abraham Accords move forward, America must provide for explicit provisions within the Accords to safeguard Israel’s security interests. Israel cannot abide ambiguity from America’s corner, and America must recognize this fact.
Published in Foreign Policy
Do you mind elaborating?
I’m curious to know where Ricochet and National Review receive most of their funding from and what proportion is “Jewish” money.
It probably wouldn’t make a huge difference since Americans tend to be so indoctrinated with pro-Israel views that they don’t really need much of a financial incentive on top, but it should be made public since Israel is a foreign country.
There is a big kerfuffle going on in the UK at the moment over the Daily Telegraph and Spectator being bought by the UAE ( but with a proposal for them to be managed by Jeff Zucker ! ).
If Saudi Arabia or Qatar were going to buy a large American TV network or newspaper, there would quite understandably be a bit of a fuss, to say the least. So why is it ok for Jews loyal to Israel to own such an overwhelming proportion of US media ?
Three top Iranian military guys.
As you well know, much worse was done to Jews in the last century than being “kicked out” of countries.
Questions for you.
Do you think this was a good idea ?
If you do, do you think it would be a good idea for, say, Russia to blow up three top American military guys while they were in the vicinity of a US consulate in a third country ? ( Substitute some other pair of countries if you like to give an example of what you would or wouldn’t approve of ).
You miss my point. It’s the number of different places that have decided they didn’t want Jews around, not the degree to which they persecuted them. If you fall out with one or two or three different people, maybe you were at fault or maybe they were.
If you fall out with everyone you ever meet, don’t you think it might occur to you that maybe you’re the one doing something wrong ?
And if you really want to get into who treated who the worst, the Bolsheviks ( who were 80 or 90% Jewish ) are surely top of the league table of mass murderers per capita in the last century.
Tom and Jerry used to be fun.
I’m glad I’m from good old American German and Italian stock. No stigma there.
Every regime that has beleaguered the Jews is in the dustbin of history. In truth, America needs Israel more than Israel needs America. America’s moral standing is buttressed by its support for Israel. Should that support disappear, America’s days would be numbered. The nation of Israel has been around for over 3,000 years and America has been here for less than 300. It’s Israel’s longevity that galls the Jew hater who knows, in his heart of hearts, that his kind will come and go while the Jew will persist to the end of time.
Thank you!
Thank you!
Ricochet receives most of its funding through hosting podcasts, advertisements on the shows which have a large audience, and by selling subscriptions—which we do not bar Jews from purchasing. A number of that minority of members are smart, engaged politically and write posts frequently. And they write them well. That’s why they’re regularly featured on the site’s Main Feed. Not because there are major players, part of a nefarious conspiracy, who have decided to pay us off for ever-more influence.
That many Jews care about Israel makes sense. That many non-Jews don’t care about Israel makes sense. That non-antisemites go on and on about “Jewish money”… not so much. If there’s some point you’re aiming at that members aren’t comprehending, I’d suggest it might be because you aren’t making it well.
Seriously? You think TPTB “want more?” That’s a pretty loathesome charge, She. Actually, TPTB want this to be a place where freedom of speech is practiced. I would be happy to see the anti-Semites here keep their vile views to themselves, but unfortunately tolerating vile views comes with free speech.
First, the Jewish religion gave us the impetus for our civilization, which I for one am grateful for.
Second, the vision of political Zionism from decades before the state of Israel was founded in 1948 was one of coexistence with Arabs in the region. Read Herzl’s Old New Land.
And much like the current state of affairs, it wasn’t the Jews who started the conflict. Why would anyone fault them for defending themselves well? That makes no sense.
Your hatred is not a good look.
It would have depended on what happened in Afghanistan. I’m not sure Trump could have pulled off anything other than a Vietnam style decent interval.
Successful American foreign policy is dependent on how other nations perceive our strength and willingness to use it.
Did anyone else crack up when they read this?
Most Americans I know think it’s reprehensible to suggest that Jews are not “real Americans.”
As a Catholic, I really despise the suggestion, because that’s the attitude that Catholics first faced in this country – Catholics couldn’t be “real Americans”, because they had allegiance to the Church. It was despicable applied to Catholics and it’s despicable applied to Jews.
Time will tell. All I know is everything gets settled with force, ultimately.
Personally, what I see is most Middle East countries wanting to get along with Israel and trade with them and a few jerks like Iran that want to level them. The Palestinians look like huge offenders, and so does Iran.
I think they had recognizable law and order 1000 years before everybody else.
This is great analysis. Thank you.
I am moderately informed on this at best, but I think it was crazy to leave simply because the airbase was excellent there and we could keep a lid on terrorism organizations, plus it’s really nice to have radar defeating jets between Iran, Russia, and China. ` I’m not going to get in a big argument about it, though.
And, of course, now, we have let in 2 million *got-aways at the border. Iran and China have obviously paid the cartels to get their spies and terrorists in. Really such a great idea to let the cartels get so big and not control the borders. Really smart.
And I think Trump would have listened to the advice from the generals etc and not gotten out, especially since the Taliban were not meeting their obligations under an agreement to POSSIBLY leave.
However, it seems pretty clear that FJB just wanted an applause line for a speech on the 20th anniversary of 9/11.
Yep.
This is one of the worst comments threads I’ve ever seen on Ricochet. Not the immediate above (seemed like a good place to comment), but the ignorant, ridiculous anti-Jewish talk. Really? Even Taki’s mag doesn’t go this far…
It was a great idea. Iran funds and arms Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, and various militias across the region. An Iraq- based militia fired missiles at the Israeli resort city of Eilat in the past couple of days. Iran has destroyed Lebanon, and is up to its neck in wars in Syria and Yemen. The October 7th attack was launched at a time when Israel was entering peace accords with multiple Arab States, and was edging towards an accord with Saudi Arabia. That has been derailed- at least for now.
Israel carried out a targeted attack on three very senior Iranian generals. Good shot, and entirely legitimate.
Ok, thanks for clarifying.
How do you define “legitimate” though ? I assume you wouldn’t regard it as legitimate for Iran to blow up three Israeli generals while they were visiting London for instance.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/04/02/israel-hamas-war-latest-british-aid-worker-gaza-air-strike/
Well just to pick a random example, which is the last thing I happened to see in the news – a Brit, a Pole and an Aussie were just killed in an IDF terrorist attack. If you really have been brainwashed into thinking “America’s moral standing is buttressed by its support for Israel” you need to get out more. By that I mean have a look at what other countries think of America and in particular what they think of America’s unconditional support for Israel.
Israel is becoming a pariah. If you get a UN vote of about 150-1, with America being the only country supporting Israel, you’re not making any friends.
That sounds like something one of those “Hasbara” guys would say !!!
Honest question: are you one of them ?
False equivalence: the IDF doesn’t have a military presence in the UK, and Israel and the UK aren’t in a permanent state of war.