Does Support for Israel Clash with America First?

The Republican Party has become the de facto pro-Israel
political party. Should it be that way? Does Israel help American now? If so,
how? Does that mean we cannot criticize the country or its government? Should the United States help
pay for Israel’s defense? Are critics on the Right … right to be hostile to
Israel? Last of all, does
it compromise “America First” to support Israel?  Freedom of speech is a godsend, one that
forces us to contend and discuss even the most elementary or transparent of
issues. Anti-Israel and anti-Semitism sentiment is on the rise (especially
among some on the populist Right), and their outrage compels us to revisit
American-Israeli relations. Are we too tied up with other countries? Are we
violating George Washington’s warning in his Farewell Address to avoid foreign
entanglements when we support other countries, including Israel?

Let’s start with the charge “You can’t criticize Israel. You
will pay a (political) price if you do!” Much of the corporate media is
decidedly pro-Palestinian. The hateful Squad in Congress (including incestuous
Ilhan Omar and Rashida Talib) routinely criticize Israel and hobnob with
terrorists, and nothing happens to them. I submit that yes, you can (and
should) criticize Israel, as we should be free to criticize any country. I vigorously
denounced the country’s onerous COVID-19 policies, and I do not celebrate their
having the second largest PRIDE festival in Tel Aviv. Even Israelis themselves
criticize their country! It’s not anti-Semitism to criticize Israel.

How has Israel helped us? They
keep Iran in check, for starters. They bombed
ISIS in the Sinai Peninsula, when most news outlets ignored them. They have
helped other allied countries develop their military prowess, too (Singapore,
for example) or provide intelligence against international terrorism (Australia).

But what about ongoing foreign aid to Israel? I stand for
the most part with US Congressman Thomas Massie, the only Republican to vote
against the $90 million funding for Israel’s Iron Dome. Drug cartels and
human-trafficking dominate our Southern border, and our political class is
paying for the defense of other countries? My problem isn’t with Israel per se,
but with our representatives focusing on every other country but our own. Rep.
Massie’s stance is not anti-Israel or anti-Semitic, but pro-America. We should
expect the same from all our representatives.

I do disagree with Massie’s statement that AIPAC
(America Israel Public Affairs Committee) is foreign influence. Americans
have the right to lobby their government to spend money for other countries,
even though I disagree with them. Unlike Massie, I would have voted to condemn the
BDS movement due to its multiple ties to terrorist organizations. It’s one
thing to say a country should not exist, but it’s another to work with
international terrorist groups who won’t stop with Israel. They want to erase
America, too.

But what about some of the professional pundits on the
right, and their criticism of Israel? Should we agree with them?

Ann Coulter raged against the 2016 Republican presidential
nominees because of their focus on Israel, while ignoring our country’s
immigration problems. She
doesn’t have a problem with Israel per se, either. In fact, Coulter
likes Israel’s border security and wants us to imitate it (so do I). I say
we give Israel $3 billion a year to build our wall.

Robert
Novak was convinced that Israel deliberately attacked the U.S.S. Liberty
during the Six Day War. On June 6^th, 1967 Israeli warplanes fired on
an American ship in the Mediterranean Sea during the fractious Six Day War.
Israel had warned every other nation to clear out of the Mediterranean, but the
Liberty did not get the message in time.

Did Israel attack the ship on purpose to deceive the United
States into the conflict via a false flag operation? Some of the surviving veterans say yes,
but they also admit that
they can’t prove it. After more than U.S. ten commissions on the incident
(including a conference as recent as
2004), there is nothing to substantiate the charge. Besides, Israel did not
have to seduce the United States into war, since they were already winning on
their own. The United States and Israel did endure a twenty-year period of statis
over the incident notwithstanding, and Israel paid a large indemnity. For
the record, Israeli and Jewish scholars in Israel have
not tried to hide discussion on this issue. Robert Novak was entitled to
his opinion, but
he was wrong.

Then
there’s Pat Buchanan. I will never forget his statement on The
McLaughlin Group: “If you want to know ethnicity and power in the United
States Senate, 13 members of the Senate are Jewish folks who are from 2 percent
of the population. That is where real power is at….” My initial reaction was, Wow,
Pat – anti-Semitic much? Today, you hardly hear Buchanan talk about Israel.
What happened? President Trump maintained a solid relationship with the country
and kept the United States out of foreign wars. Yes, Pat, it can be done: you
can be America First and still support Israel.

But is there really a conflict with America First if you
support other countries? I supported Brexit, but I don’t think Britain’s
interests are more important than America’s. I applaud Marine Le Pen’s populist
efforts to break France out of the chokehold of abject secular globalism, but
it's not America’s job to help make that happen. Singapore’s pro-family
policies should be replicated around the world, but I vigorously oppose the
country’s harsh limitations on freedom of speech.

Israel is not a perfect country, but she is special because
like the United States, she was forged by people fleeing persecution to
establish freedom of security of themselves and their posterity. Yes, you can
criticize Israel. No, we shouldn’t have to pay for their defense (we can’t even
pay our own bills!). Israel is a force for good, including for the United
States. Ultimately, however, our real focus should not be denigrating any one
country, anyway, but rather focusing on domestic American interests.