Israel and the United States: Chips Off The Democratic Block

America has professed internationally that they are an ally of Israel. While this is undoubtedly true, it must not be forgotten that America also contributes a considerable amount of financial aid to the Arab nations as well. On a daily basis, Israelis live with the reality that death might find them through suicide bombings and other terrorists acts should they be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Apart from the September 11th attacks, Americans have been immune to the terrorism that characterizes the Middle East region. Most view the suicide bombers as mentally insane people who have nothing to live for. In fact, this is an incorrect assumption. Americans have been conditioned from birth to believe in the freedoms of democracy, of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; just as Arabs have been conditioned to believe in the tenets of Islam. It has been instilled in them through the power of religion that they are soldiers in a jihad, a holy war, and that the only thing to live for is the destruction of the Jews. Should their task involve self destruction in the midst of their personal contribution to the cause, so be it.

Little children, no older than two or three, have been seen with fake bombs strapped to their bodies held aloft by proud parents. About half go on to be educated at the same level as any collegiate student in the United States. These are not mentally insane people, but a rather logical, driven group, however destructive and hostile their end goal might be. While American media frequently chastises Israel and tallies the small number of Arab terrorists that Israel eradicates, they fail to understand the life or death game that is played everyday. Therefore, though America has been, by far, the most loyal and consistently helpful nation to befriend Israel, they have been more of a mediator between the Arabs and Israelis, as opposed to solely an advocate of Israel and a castigator of the Arabs. “Not surprisingly, the United States has become the only viable intermediary in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

For Israel, the United States – Since at least 1967 – Has been the one actor consistently sympathetic (and far less vulnerable to Arab pressure.) Countries such as Britain, France, Italy and Japan, and international or regional institutions such as the United Nations and the European Union, have on occasion been supportive but (with some notable exceptions – As in the case of the Federal Republic of Germany) have shown themselves all too ready to succumb to one or another external consideration: the Arab oil embargo of 1973-74, the lure of markets for arms exports, terrorism, or even (especially in the case of France and Russia) the desire to demonstrate their political distance from the United States.”