In the shadow of Israel
Some prominent supporters of Israel, writing in The Australian, have rejected a contentious study of the Middle East and US policy by American academics John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt. Here is part of the internationally debated study

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...-28737,00.html

April 22, 2006

FOR the past several decades, and especially since the Six-Day War in 1967, the centrepiece of US Middle Eastern policy has been its relationship with Israel. The combination of unwavering support for Israel and the related effort to spread democracy throughout the region has inflamed Arab and Islamic opinion and jeopardised not only US security but that of much of the rest of the world.

This situation has no equal in US political history. Why has the US been willing to set aside its own security and that of many of its allies to advance the interests of another state? One may assume that the bond between the two countries is based on shared strategic interests or compelling moral imperatives, but neither explanation can account for the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the US provides.

Instead, the thrust of US policy in the region derives almost entirely from domestic politics, especially the activities of the Israel lobby. Other special-interest groups have managed to skew foreign policy, but no lobby has managed to divert it as far from what the national interest would suggest while convincing Americans that US interests and those of the other country -- in this case Israel -- are essentially identical.

Since the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Washington has provided Israel with a level of support dwarfing that given to any other state. It has been the largest annual recipient of direct economic and military assistance since 1976 and is the largest recipient in total since World WarII, to the tune of more than $US140billion (in 2004 dollars). Israel receives $US3billion ($4 billion) or so in direct assistance each year, about one-fifth of the US foreign aid budget, and worth about $US500 a year for every Israeli. This largesse is especially striking given that Israel is a wealthy industrial state with a per capita income roughly equal to that of South Korea or Spain.

It is the only recipient that does not have to account for how the aid is spent, which makes it virtually impossible to prevent the money from being used for purposes the US opposes, such as building settlements on the West Bank. Moreover, the US has provided Israel with nearly $US3 billion to develop weapons systems and given it access to top-drawer weaponry such as Blackhawk helicopters and F-16 jets. Finally, the US gives Israel access to intelligence it denies its NATO allies and has turned a blind eye to Israel's acquisition of nuclear weapons.

Washington also provides Israel with consistent diplomatic support. Since 1982, the US has vetoed 32 UN Security Council resolutions critical of Israel, more than the total number of vetoes cast by all the other Security Council members. It blocks the efforts of Arab states to put Israel's nuclear arsenal on the International Atomic Energy Agency's agenda. The US comes to the rescue in wartime and takes Israel's side when negotiating peace.

One may argue that Israel was an asset during the Cold War. By serving as a US proxy after 1967, it helped contain Soviet expansion in the region and inflicted humiliating defeats on Soviet clients such as Egypt and Syria. It occasionally helped protect other US allies (such as King Hussein of Jordan) and its military prowess forced Moscow to spend more on backing its client states. It also provided intelligence about Soviet capabilities.

Backing Israel was not cheap, however, and it complicated US relations with the Arab world. For example, the decision to give $US2.2 billion in emergency military aid during the 1973 war triggered an Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries oil embargo that inflicted damage on Western economies.

Beginning in the 1990s, and even more after 9/11, US support has been justified by the claim that both states are threatened by terrorist groups originating in the Arab and Muslim world, and by rogue states that back these groups and seek weapons of mass destruction. This is taken to mean not only that Washington should give Israel a free hand in dealing with the Palestinians and not press it to make concessions until all Palestinian terrorists are imprisoned or dead but that the US should go after countries such as Iran and Syria. Israel is thus seen as a crucial ally in the war on terror because its enemies are US enemies. In fact, Israel is a liability in the war on terror and the broader effort to deal with rogue states.

Terrorism is not a single adversary but a tactic employed by a wide array of political groups. The terrorist organisations that threaten Israel do not threaten the US, except when it intervenes against them (as in Lebanon in 1982). Moreover, Palestinian terrorism is not random violence directed against Israel or the West; it is largely a response to Israel's prolonged campaign to colonise the West Bank and, until recently, Gaza Strip.

More important, saying that Israel and the US are united by a shared terrorist threat has the causal relationship backwards: the US has a terrorism problem in good part because it is so closely allied with Israel, not the other way around. Support for Israel is not the only source of anti-American terrorism but it is an important one and it makes winning the war on terror more difficult. As for so-called rogue states in the Middle East, they are not a dire threat to vital US interests, except inasmuch as they are a threat to Israel. Even if these states acquire nuclear weapons - which is obviously undesirable - neither the US nor Israel could be blackmailed because the blackmailer could not carry out the threat without suffering overwhelming retaliation.

The danger of a nuclear handover to terrorists is equally remote because a rogue state could not be sure the transfer would go undetected or that it would not be blamed and punished afterwards. The relationship with Israel makes it harder for the US to deal with these states. Israel's nuclear arsenal is one reason some of its neighbours want nuclear weapons and threatening them with regime change merely increases that desire.

A final reason to question Israel's strategic value is that it does not behave like a loyal ally. Israeli officials frequently ignore US requests and renege on promises (including pledges to stop building settlements and to refrain from targeted assassinations of Palestinian leaders). Israel has provided sensitive military technology to potential rivals such as China, in what the US Department of State inspector-general called "a systematic and growing pattern of unauthorised transfers". According to the General Accounting Office, Israel also "conducts the most aggressive espionage operations against the US of any ally".

Israel's strategic value isn't the only issue. Its backers also argue that it deserves unqualified support because it is weak and surrounded by enemies; it is a democracy; the Jewish people have suffered from past crimes and therefore deserve special treatment; and Israel's conduct has been morally superior to that of its adversaries. On close inspection, none of these arguments is persuasive. There is a strong moral case for supporting Israel's existence but that is not in jeopardy. Viewed objectively, its conduct offers no moral basis for privileging it over the Palestinians.

Israel is often portrayed as David confronted by Goliath, but the converse is closer to the truth. Its conventional forces are far superior to those of its neighbours and it is the only state in the region with nuclear weapons. Egypt and Jordan have signed peace treaties with it and Saudi Arabia has offered to do so. That Israel is a fellow democracy surrounded by hostile dictatorships cannot account for the level of US aid: there are many democracies across the world, but none receives the same lavish support. The US has overthrown democratic governments in the past and supported dictators when this was thought to advance its interests; it has good relations with several dictatorships today.

A third justification is the history of Jewish suffering in the Christian West, especially during the Holocaust. Because Jews were persecuted for centuries and could feel safe only in a Jewish homeland, many people now believe that Israel deserves special treatment from the US. The country's creation was undoubtedly an appropriate response to the long record of crimes against Jews, but it also brought about fresh crimes against a largely innocent third party: the Palestinians.

This was well understood by Israel's early leaders. David Ben-Gurion told Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Jewish Congress: "If I were an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country ... We come from Israel, but 2000 years ago, and what is that to them? There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that?"

End Part I