Facebook Feed

5 days ago

Yoram Ettinger
2023 Jewish demographic momentum in Israel: bit.ly/40qV0aV ... See MoreSee Less
View on Facebook

4 weeks ago

Yoram Ettinger
Purim Guide for the Perplexed 2023: bit.ly/3ZdlxHY ... See MoreSee Less
View on Facebook

4 weeks ago

Yoram Ettinger
אתגר מרכזי לביטחון לאומי: bit.ly/3xkSwh1 ... See MoreSee Less
View on Facebook

Enduring Obama’s Pressure

Israel‘s support among Americans is as robust as always, expected to be reinforced following the midterm November, 2010 election.

 

Anyone claiming that Israel’s Prime Minister cannot endure US presidential pressure – and therefore must accept sweeping concessions – is either dramatically mistaken, outrageously misleading or attempting to justify inability to endure pressure.

 

In August 2010, Israel was ranked by “The Rusmussen Report” – for the second year in a row – as the third most favored ally of the USA (71%), following Canada and Britain, ahead of Germany, Japan, France and Mexico, significantly ahead of Egypt (42%) and Saudi Arabia (21%).  

 

In April 2010, “The Quinnipiac Institute” – often quoted by The New York Time, the Washington Post and CNN – documented public support of Obama’s national security policy, other than one issue: Israel!  By an overwhelming majority of 66%:19% Americans expect President Obama to further his support of Israel.

 

In February 2010, “Gallup” placed Israel as the 5th most popular country in the USA, while the Palestinian Authority was one of three least favorite entities along with North Korea and Iran.

 

In June 2010, “Gallup” determined that terrorism and the federal debt tie as the most worrisome issues to Americans, more than healthcare costs, unemployment, illegal immigration, US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and the environment. In February 2010, “Gallup” confirmed that Americans do not trust the United Nations.  These findings shed light on the broad common denominator between the USA and Israel, which is perceived by Americans as the role model of counter-terrorism and defiance of the UN.   

 

In September 2009, “The Rusmussen Report” found that Israel is one of only five countries that most Americans are willing to defend militarily.  Israel is ranked third (59%) following Canada and Britain. 

 

However, the “Super Poll” is taking place daily on Capitol Hill.  House Members (about 75%) and Senators (about 85%) overwhelmingly support pro-Israel legislation and resolutions, even in opposition to the President. Legislators – and especially the 435 House Members who must run for reelection every two years – are extremely sensitive to the preferences of their constituents.  They are aware of the clout and centrality of the voters under the American system of government, which is the most representative in the world, distributing equal power to Congress and the White House.

 

Congressional support of Israel is expected to rise following the November, 2010 election, when joined by scores of new members, most of whom will be national security-oriented, identify with Judeo-Christian values, suspicious of the UN and consider the Jewish State a unique spiritual and strategic ally in the battle against Islamic terrorism.  Absent from the new Congress – which will be able to restrain/check the President domestically and externally – will be a few of Israel’s harshest critics on Capitol Hill: the immensely powerful Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee David Obey (21 terms), Vic Snyder, Bill Delahunt, Carolyn Kilpatrick (7 terms each), etc.

 

The US public and Congressional identification with the Jewish State has been consistent since the 17th century, with the arrival of the early Pilgrims to America.  Therefore, there are more USA sites bearing Biblical names than in any other country, and statutes of Moses feature prominently in the House Chamber on Capitol Hill and in the US Supreme Court.  In 1891, six years before the First Zionist Congress, the House Speaker, the Chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee and 400 additional distinguished Americans signed the “Blackstone Memorial,” which called for the establishment of a Jewish State in the Land of Israel.  In 1922, both Chambers voted for a joint resolution, urging the establishment of a national Jewish home over the entire area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. 

 

In 2010, most public opinion polls document that support for the Jewish State constitutes one of the very few issues of consensus in an otherwise extremely polarized American society.  The Jewish State has been showered by substantial support, in spite of Obama’s policy, which is increasingly viewed by most Americans as radical-Left, irrespective of the “elite” media and notwithstanding hostility on university campuses and the double-standard in the UN and in Europe.

 

Submission to Presidential pressure, by Israel’s Prime Minister, while ignoring the unique support of the Jewish State by the American public and Congress, would amount to a slap in the face of US democracy, undermining Israel’s most vital interests.  All Israeli Prime Ministers between Ben Gurion (1948) and Shamir (1992) leveraged Israel’s support in the USA, deflecting – in most cases – US Presidential pressure, despite the limited material resources at their disposal.  In 2010, Prime Minister Netanyahu leads a country that enjoys impressive economic, technological, industrial and defense capabilities, while the Free World is increasingly cognizant of the threatening Islamic sandstorms around the corner.  Will Netanyahu follow in the footsteps of the 1948-1992 leaders, rather than pulling the rug from under the feet of Israel’s supporters in the USA?  




Videos

The post-1967 turning point of US-Israel cooperation

Israeli benefits to the US taxpayer exceed US foreign aid to Israel

Iran - A Clear And Present Danger To The USA

Exposing the myth of the Arab demographic time bomb

Israel – from a strategic liability to a strategic asset

“Israel did not grow strong because it had an American alliance. It acquired an American alliance because it had grown strong” (Prof. Walter Russell Mead, a leading historian of US foreign policy).

In 1948, Israel was misconstrued by the State Department as a burden upon the US, too feeble to withstand an all-out Arab military offensive, jeopardizing US ties with the Arab World and potentially pro-Soviet.

However, since 1967, Israel has emerged as the most effective, reliable and democratic ally of the US, and a formidable force-multiplier for the US.

For example:

*The June 1967 Israeli military victory devastated the pro-Soviet Egyptian military, while Egypt was on its way to become the pan-Arab leader, aiming to topple the pro-US regimes of the Arab oil-producing countries, at a time when the US was heavily dependent upon the Persian Gulf oil.  The resounding Israeli victory spared the US a huge economic and national security setback, and denied the USSR a dramatic geo-strategic gold mine.

*25 US military experts went to Israel to study the lessons of the 1967 Six Day War, and to examine the captured Soviet military systems.  Their findings upgraded the performance of the US armed forces and defense industries.

*As a result of the benefits derived by the US, a team of 50 experts arrived in Israel following the 1973 War, collecting information, which benefited the US militarily and industrially, bolstering the US defense of Europe in the face of Soviet threats.

*The December 1969 “Operation Rooster 53” highlighted Israel’s unique intelligence and battle tactic capabilities, which were shared with the US.  An Israeli commando unit snatched from Egypt an advanced Soviet P-12 radar system, which was stationed throughout the world. The Soviet radar was studied by Israel and transferred to the US, as were additional Soviet military systems, enhancing the capabilities of the US intelligence, special operations forces and the US defense industries.

According to the late Senator Daniel Inouye, who was the Chairman of the Appropriations and Intelligence Committees, the value of the Soviet radar to the US defense industries and armed forces was around $3bn.  He added that the scope of intelligence shared with the US, by Israel, exceeded the intelligence shared with the US by all NATO countries combined.

*In 1966 and 1989 Israel acquired MIG-21 and MIG-23 Soviet combat planes through defecting Iraqi and Syrian pilots. The planes were shared with the US, impacting the global balance of power, and enhancing the performance of the US Air Force and the aerospace industries.

*In 1970, Israel manifested its pro-US posture of deterrence by forcing – through its military presence on the Golan Heights – a pull-back of the pro-Soviet Syrian invasion of pro-US Jordan.  Israel spared the US either a loss of an Arab ally, or the need to get involved militarily in an intra-Arab war, while it was bogged down in Southeast Asia. Moreover, the toppling of the pro-US Jordanian regime would have threatened the existence of the pro-US oil-producing regimes in the neighboring Persian Gulf, while the US was heavily dependent upon Persian Gulf oil. Thus, Israel spared the US a major economic and national security blow, and denied the USSR a geo-strategic bonanza.

*The lessons of the July 4, 1976 Entebbe Rescue Operation – which underscored Israel as a role model of pro-active, daring and innovative counter-terrorism – were shared with the US intelligence and special operations forces.

*The 1981 Israeli destruction of Iraq’s nuclear reactor – in defiance of fierce US opposition – spared the US the potential devastation of a nuclear confrontation during the 1991 Gulf War. It saved the pro-US oil-producing Arab regimes from the jaws of Saddam Hussein.

*In the October 1982 “Operation Mole Cricket 19,” Israel’s Air Force destroyed 29 Soviet surface-to-air missile batteries operated by Syria, perceived to be impregnable. It was the first time that a Western-equipped air force destroyed a Soviet-built surface-to-air missile network.  In the process, in the biggest air battle since the Korean War, the Israeli Air Force downed 82 Soviet MIG combat planes without a single loss to Israel’s Air Force. The game-changing Israeli battle tactics, including jamming technologies, were shared with the US armed forces, bolstering the US military edge over the USSR.

*The 2007 Israeli destruction of the Syria-North Korea-Iran nuclear reactor, spared the region and the globe a potential nuclearized civil war in Syria.

*In 2022, against the backdrop of the highly-vulnerable pro-US Arab regimes, the growing vacillation of Europe, and the intensifying threat of the anti-US Sunni and Shiite terrorism, Israel stands out as “the largest US aircraft carrier,” which does not require a single American soldier on board, sparing the US the need to deploy to the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean additional aircraft carriers and ground divisions.

*In 2022, Israel’s posture of deterrence plays a key role in preventing the collapse of the pro-US Arab regimes and the dominance of the anti-US Iran’s Shiite Ayatollahs and the anti-US Sunni Islamic terrorism in the Middle East, which is crucial to global trade, the war on anti-US terrorism and the US-Russia-China balance of power.

*To paraphrase Prof. Walter Russell Mead’s observation: Israel’s posture of deterrence is not growing stronger due to the recent peace accords with Arab countries. Arab countries concluded peace accords with Israel due to the fact that Israel’s posture of deterrence is growing stronger.

Support Appreciated

 

 

 

 

 

 

 




Videos

The post-1967 turning point of US-Israel cooperation

Israeli benefits to the US taxpayer exceed US foreign aid to Israel

Iran - A Clear And Present Danger To The USA

Exposing the myth of the Arab demographic time bomb